Jeremiah 5–6

5TH CHAPTER

Judah’s Complete Rejection of the Lord

¹Walk around the streets of Jerusalem. 

Look around, and think about these things. 

Search the city squares. 

See if you can find anyone 

who does what is right and seeks the truth. 

Then I will forgive Jerusalem. 

²People say, “As the Lord lives …” 

Yet, they lie when they take this oath. 

³Lord, your eyes look for the truth. 

You strike these people, but they don’t feel it. 

You crush them, but they refuse to be corrected. 

They are more stubborn than rocks. 

They refuse to turn back. 

⁴I thought, “These are poor, foolish people. 

They don’t know the way of the Lord 

and the justice that God demands. 

⁵Let me go to important people and speak to them. 

They know the way of the Lord 

and the justice that God demands.” 

But they, too, had broken off their yokes^a

and torn off their chains. 

⁶That is why a lion from the forest will attack them. 

A wolf from the wilderness will destroy them. 

A leopard will lie in ambush outside their cities. 

All who leave the cities will be torn to pieces, 

because they rebel so often 

and they become more and more unfaithful. 

⁷“Why should I forgive you? 

Your children abandoned me. 

They took godless oaths. 

They committed adultery, even though I satisfied their needs. 

They traveled in crowds to the houses of prostitutes. 

⁸They are like well-fed stallions that are wild with desire. 

They neigh for their neighbors’ wives. 

⁹I will punish them for these things,” declares the Lord. 

“I will punish this nation. 

¹⁰“Go among Jerusalem’s rows of grapevines and destroy them, 

but don’t destroy all of them. 

Cut off the branches because they don’t belong to the Lord. 

¹¹The nations of Israel and Judah are unfaithful to me,” 

declares the Lord. 

¹²They lie about the Lord and say, 

“He doesn’t exist! 

Nothing bad will happen to us. 

We won’t experience war or famine. 

¹³The prophets are nothing but windbags. 

The Lord hasn’t spoken through them, 

so let what they say happen to them.” 

¹⁴This is what the Lord God of Armies says: 

Because you’ve talked like this, 

I’m going to put my words in your mouth like a fire. 

These people will be like wood. 

My words will burn them up. 

¹⁵Nation of Israel, I’m going to bring a nation from far away 

to attack you, declares the Lord. 

It is a nation that has lasted a long time. 

It is an ancient nation. 

You don’t know the language of this nation. 

You can’t understand what its people say. 

¹⁶Their arrow quivers are like open graves. 

They are all mighty warriors. 

¹⁷They will devour your harvest and your food. 

They will devour your sons and your daughters. 

They will devour your flocks and your cattle. 

They will devour your grapevines and your fig trees. 

With their swords they will destroy 

the fortified cities you trust. 

¹⁸Yet, even in those days, declares the Lord, 

I won’t destroy all of you. 

¹⁹They will ask, “Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?” Answer them, “You have abandoned me and served foreign gods in your land. So you will serve foreigners in a land that isn’t yours.” 

²⁰“Tell this to the descendants of Jacob, and make this heard in Judah: 

²¹Hear this, you stupid and senseless people! 

You have eyes, but you cannot see. 

You have ears, but you cannot hear. 

²²Don’t you fear me?” asks the Lord. 

“Don’t you tremble in my presence? 

I made the sand a boundary for the sea, 

a permanent barrier that it cannot cross. 

Although the waves toss continuously, 

they can’t break through. 

Although they roar, they can’t cross it. 

²³But these people are stubborn and rebellious. 

They have turned aside and wandered away from me. 

²⁴They don’t say to themselves, 

‘We should fear the Lord our God. 

He sends rain at the right time, 

the autumn rain and the spring rain. 

He makes sure that we have harvest seasons.’ 

²⁵Your wickedness has turned these things away. 

Your sins have kept good things away from you. 

²⁶“Wicked people are found among my people. 

They lie in ambush like bird catchers. 

They set traps and catch people. 

²⁷Like cages filled with birds, their houses are filled with deceit. 

That is why they become powerful and rich. 

²⁸They grow big and fat. 

Their evil deeds have no limits. 

They have no respect for the rights of others. 

They have no respect for the rights of orphans. 

But they still prosper. 

They don’t defend the rights of the poor. 

²⁹I will punish them for these things,” declares the Lord. 

“I will punish this nation. 

³⁰“Something horrible and disgusting is happening in the land: 

³¹Prophets prophesy lies. 

Priests rule under the prophets’ directions, 

and my people love this. 

But what will you do in the end?” 

6TH CHAPTER

The Lord’s Rejection of Judah

¹“Take cover, people of Benjamin! 

Run away from Jerusalem! 

Blow the ram’s horn in Tekoa. 

Raise the flag over Beth Hakkerem, 

because disaster and widespread destruction 

are coming from the north. 

²“My people Zion are like lovely pastures. 

³With their flocks, shepherds will come to them, 

pitch their tents all around them, 

and each of them will tend his own flock. 

⁴⸤The shepherds say,⸥ ‘Prepare yourselves for war against Zion. 

Let’s attack at noon! 

How horrible it will be for us. The day is passing, 

and the shadows of evening are growing longer. 

⁵Let’s attack at night and destroy its palaces.’ ” 

⁶This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

Cut down its trees. 

Build up dirt mounds to attack Jerusalem. 

This city must be punished. 

There is nothing but oppression in it. 

⁷As a well keeps its water fresh, 

so Jerusalem keeps its evil fresh. 

Violence and destruction can be heard in it. 

I see that it is sick and wounded. 

⁸Pay attention to my warning, Jerusalem, 

or I will turn away from you. 

I will make your land desolate, 

a land where no one will live. 

⁹This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

Thoroughly pick through the faithful few of Israel 

like someone picks through a grapevine. 

Like someone picking grapes, pass your hand over its branches again. 

¹⁰Whom can I speak to? 

Whom can I give a warning to? 

Who will listen? 

Their ears are plugged, 

and they aren’t able to pay attention. 

When the Lord speaks his word to them, 

they show contempt for it and object to it. 

¹¹I am filled with the anger of the Lord. 

I am tired of holding it in. 

“Pour it out on the children in the street 

and on the gangs of young men. 

A man and his wife will be taken away 

as well as very old people. 

¹²Their households, their fields, and their wives 

will be turned over to others. 

I will use my power against those who live in the land,” 

declares the Lord. 

¹³“All of them, from the least important to the most important, 

are eager to make money dishonestly. 

All of them, from prophets to priests, act deceitfully. 

¹⁴They treat my people’s wounds as though they were not serious, saying, 

‘Everything is alright! Everything is alright!’ 

But it’s not alright. 

¹⁵Are they ashamed when they do disgusting things? 

No, they’re not ashamed. 

They don’t even know how to blush. 

So they will die with those who die. 

They will be brought down when I punish them,” says the Lord. 

¹⁶This is what the Lord says: 

Stand at the crossroads and look. 

Ask which paths are the old, reliable paths. 

Ask which way leads to blessings. 

Live that way, and find a resting place for yourselves. 

But you said that you wouldn’t live that way. 

¹⁷I posted watchmen over you. 

Pay attention to the sound of the ram’s horn. 

But you said that you wouldn’t pay attention. 

¹⁸Listen, you nations, 

and learn, you witnesses, what will happen to them. 

¹⁹Listen, earth! 

I’m going to bring disaster on these people. 

It is the result of their own plots, 

because they won’t pay attention to my words. 

They reject my teachings. 

²⁰Incense that comes from Sheba is no good to me. 

Sugar cane that comes from a distant land is no good to me. 

I won’t accept your burnt offerings. 

I’m not pleased with your sacrifices. 

²¹This is what the Lord says: 

I’m going to lay stumbling blocks in front of these people. 

Parents and children will stumble over them. 

Neighbors and their friends will die. 

²²This is what the Lord says: 

An army is going to come from the north. 

A great nation is preparing itself in the distant parts of the earth. 

²³Its people take hold of bows and spears. 

They are cruel and have no compassion. 

They sound like the roaring sea. 

They ride on horses. 

They march like soldiers ready for battle 

against my people Zion. 

²⁴We have heard the news about them. 

Our hands hang limp. 

We are gripped by anguish and pain 

like a woman giving birth to a child. 

²⁵Don’t go into the field or walk on the road. 

The enemy has a sword. 

Terror is all around. 

²⁶Wear sackcloth, and roll around in ashes, my people. 

Mourn as if you have lost your only child, and cry bitterly. 

The destroyer will suddenly attack us. 

²⁷“Jeremiah, I have put you in charge of testing and refining my people. 

You will know how to test their ways. 

²⁸They are all vicious rebels. 

They go around slandering. 

They are all like bronze and iron. 

They corrupt themselves. 

²⁹The bellows of the blast furnace blow fiercely 

to make the fire melt away the lead. 

It is useless to go on refining 

because the impurities can’t be removed. 

³⁰⸤People⸥ will call them useless silver 

because the Lord has rejected them.”