Jeremiah 6–8

6^aO ye children of Benjamin, ^bgather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and ^cblow the trumpet in ^dTekoa, and set up ^ea sign of fire in ^fBeth-haccerem: for evil appeareth ^gout of the north, and great destruction. ²I have likened the daughter of Zion to a ^||comely and ^hdelicate woman. ³ⁱThe shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; ^lthey shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his ^mplace. ⁴ⁿPrepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up ^oat noon. Woe unto us! for ^pthe day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. ⁵Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces. ⁶For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, ^qHew ye down trees, and ^||rcast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city ^sto be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her. ^7tAs a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: ^uvviolence and ^vspoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds. ⁸Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest ^wmy soul ^†depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land ^xnot inhabited.

⁹Thus saith the Lord of hosts, ^yThey shall throughly glean ^zthe remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets. ^10aTo whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, ^btheir ear is uncircumcised, and ^cthey cannot hearken: behold, ^dthe word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it. ¹¹Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; ^eI am weary with holding in: I will pour it out ^fupon the children abroad, and upon ^gthe assembly of ^fhyoung men together: for even the husband with the wife ⁱshall be taken, ^hthe aged with him that is full of days. ¹²And ^kltheir houses shall be turned unto others, with their ^lfields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. ¹³For ^mfrom the least of them even unto the greatest of them ⁿevery one is given to covetousness; and ^ofrom the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. ¹⁴They have healed also the ^†hurt ^pof the daughter of my people slightly, ^qsaying, Peace, peace; when ^rthere is no peace. ^15sWere they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, ^tthey were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: ^stherefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. ¹⁶Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for ^uthe old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, ^vand ye shall find ^wrest for your souls. ^xBut they said, We will not walk therein. ¹⁷Also I set ^xxwatchmen over you, ^ysaying, Hearken to the sound of ^zthe trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. ¹⁸Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. ^19aHear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even ^bthe fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. ^20cTo what purpose cometh there to me ^dincense from ^eSheba, and ^fthe sweet cane from a far country? ^gyour burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. ²¹Therefore thus saith the Lord, ^ggBehold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish. ²²Thus saith the Lord, ^hBehold, a people cometh from ⁱthe north country, and a great nation ^kshall be raised from the sides of the earth. ²³They shall lay hold on bow and ^lspear; they are ^mcruel, and ⁿhave no mercy; ^otheir voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion. ²⁴We have heard the fame thereof: ^pour hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and ^qpain, as of a woman in travail. ²⁵Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and ^rfear is on every side. ²⁶O daughter of my people, ^sgird thee with sackcloth, and ^twallow thyself ^uin ashes: make thee ^vmourning, as for an only son, most ^wbitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us. ²⁷I have set thee for ^xa tower and ^ya fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and ^ztry their way. ^28aThey are all grievous revolters, ^bwalking with slanders: they are ^cbrass and iron; they are all ^dcorrupters. ²⁹The bellows are burned, ^cthe lead is consumed of the fire; ^ethe founder melteth in vain: for ^fthe wicked are not plucked away. ^30g||Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.

7The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ^2aStand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. ³Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ^bAmend your ways and your doings, and ^cI will cause you to dwell in this place. ^4dTrust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these. ⁵For if ye ^bthroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye ^ethroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; ⁶If ^fye oppress not ^ethe stranger, ^egthe fatherless, and the widow, and ^eshed not innocent blood in this place, ^hneither walk after other gods ⁱto your hurt: ^7ckThen will I cause you to dwell in this place, in ^kkthe land ^kthat I gave to your fathers, ^lfor ever and ever.

⁸Behold, ^dye trust in ^mlying words, that cannot profit. ⁹Will ye ⁿsteal, murder, and commit adultery, and ^oswear falsely, and ^pburn incense unto Baal, and ^hwalk after other gods whom ye know not; ¹⁰And come and stand before me in this house, ^†which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? ¹¹Is ^qthis house, which is called by my name, become ^ra den of ^srobbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord. ¹²But go ye now unto ^tmy place which was in ^tuShiloh, ^vwhere I set my name at the first, and see ^wwhat I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. ¹³And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, ^xrising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and ^yI called you, but ye answered not; ¹⁴Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto ^zthe place which I gave to you and to your fathers, ^was I have done to Shiloh. ¹⁵And I will cast you out of my sight, ^aas I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of ^bEphraim. ^16cTherefore ^dpray not thou for this people, ^cneither lift up ^ecry nor prayer for them, neither ^fmake intercession to me: ^cfor I will not hear thee. ¹⁷Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women ^gknead their dough, ^hto make cakes to the ^||iqueen of heaven, and ^hkto pour out drink offerings unto other gods, ^lthat they may provoke me to anger. ^19mDo they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord: ⁿdo they not provoke themselves ^oto the confusion of their own faces? ²⁰Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, ^pmine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, ^ppand upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, ^pqand shall not be quenched.

²¹Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; ^rPut your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and ^rreat flesh. ^22sFor I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, ^t†concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: ²³But this thing commanded I them, saying, ^suObey my voice, and ^vI will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and ^wwalk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that ^xit may be well unto you. ^24yBut they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, ^ybut ^zwalked in the counsels and ^ain the ^||imagination of their evil heart, and ^†bwent backward, and not forward. ²⁵Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day ^cI have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, ^cddaily rising up early and sending them: ^26eYet they hearkened not unto me, ^enor inclined their ear, but ^fhardened their neck: ^gthey did worse than their fathers. ²⁷Therefore ^hthou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: ⁱthou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. ²⁸But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, ^knor receiveth ^||correction: ^ltruth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

^29mCut off thine ⁿhair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on ^ohigh places; for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. ³⁰For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord: ^pthey have set their abominations in the house ^qwhich is called by my name, ^pto pollute it. ^31rAnd they have built the high places of ^sTophet, which is in ^tthe valley of the son of Hinnom, ^uto burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; ^rvwhich I commanded them not, neither ^†came it into my heart. ^32wTherefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called ^sTophet, nor ^tthe valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: ^xfor they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place. ³³And ^ythe carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; ^zand none shall ^afray them away. ³⁴Then will ^bI cause to ^ccease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, ^cthe voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, ^dthe voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for ^ethe land shall be desolate.

8At that time, saith the Lord, ^athey shall bring out the bones of ^bthe kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the…