Jeremiah 6

Chapter 6

Destruction of Jerusalem Impending

¹“Flee for safety, O sons of ^aBenjamin,

From the midst of Jerusalem!

Now blow a trumpet in Tekoa

And raise a signal over ^1bBeth-haccerem;

For evil looks down from the ^cnorth,

And a great destruction.

²“The comely and ^adainty one, ^bthe daughter of Zion, I will cut off.

³“^aShepherds and their flocks will come to her,

They will ^bpitch their tents ¹around her,

They will pasture each in his ²place.

⁴“^1aPrepare war against her;

Arise, and let us ²attack at ^bnoon.

Woe to us, for the day declines,

For the shadows of the evening lengthen!

⁵“Arise, and let us ¹attack by night

And ^adestroy her ²palaces!”

⁶For thus says the Lord of hosts,

“^aCut down her trees

And cast up a ^bsiege against Jerusalem.

This is the city to be punished,

In whose midst there is only ^coppression.

⁷“^aAs a well ¹keeps its waters fresh,

So she keeps fresh her wickedness.

^bViolence and destruction are heard in her;

^cSickness and wounds are ever before Me.

⁸“^aBe warned, O Jerusalem,

Or ^1bI shall be alienated from you,

And make you a desolation,

A land not inhabited.”

⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts,

“They will ^athoroughly glean as the vine the ^bremnant of Israel;

Pass your hand again like a grape gatherer

Over the branches.”

¹⁰To whom shall I speak and give warning

That they may hear?

Behold, their ^aears are ¹closed

And they cannot listen.

Behold, ^bthe word of the Lord has become a reproach to them;

They have no delight in it.

¹¹But I am ^afull of the wrath of the Lord;

I am ^bweary with holding it in.

“^cPour it out on the children in the street

And on the ¹gathering of young men together;

For both husband and wife shall be taken,

The aged ²and the very old.

¹²“Their ^ahouses shall be turned over to others,

Their fields and their wives together;

For I will ^bstretch out My hand

Against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord.

¹³“For ^afrom the least of them even to the greatest of them,

Everyone is ^bgreedy for gain,

And from the prophet even to the priest

Everyone ¹deals falsely.

¹⁴“They have ^ahealed the brokenness of My people superficially,

Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

But there is no peace.

¹⁵“Were they ^aashamed because of the abomination they have done?

They were not even ashamed at all;

They did not even know how to blush.

Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

At the time that I punish them,

They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.

¹⁶Thus says the Lord,

“Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ^aancient paths,

Where the good way is, and walk in it;

And ^byou will find rest for your souls.

But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

¹⁷“And I set ^awatchmen over you, saying,

‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’

But they said, ‘We will not listen.’

¹⁸“Therefore hear, O nations,

And know, O congregation, what is among them.

¹⁹“^aHear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people,

The ^bfruit of their ¹plans,

Because they have not listened to My words,

And as for My law, they have ^crejected it also.

²⁰“^aFor what purpose does ^bfrankincense come to Me from Sheba

And the ^1csweet cane from a distant land?

^dYour burnt offerings are not acceptable

And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”

²¹Therefore, thus says the Lord,

“Behold, ^aI am ¹laying stumbling blocks before this people.

And they will stumble against them,

^bFathers and sons together;

Neighbor and ²friend will perish.”

The Enemy from the North

²²Thus says the Lord,

“Behold, ^aa people is coming from the north land,

And a great nation will be aroused from the ^bremote parts of the earth.

²³“They seize ^abow and spear;

They are ^bcruel and have no mercy;

Their voice ^croars like the sea,

And they ride on horses,

Arrayed as a man for the battle

Against you, O daughter of Zion!”

²⁴We have ^aheard the report of it;

Our hands are limp.

^bAnguish has seized us,

Pain as of a woman in childbirth.

^25aDo not go out into the field

And ^bdo not walk on the road,

For the enemy has a sword,

^cTerror is on every side.

²⁶O daughter of my people, ^aput on sackcloth

And ^broll in ashes;

^1cMourn as for an only son,

A lamentation most bitter.

For suddenly the destroyer

Will come upon us.

²⁷“I have ^amade you an assayer and a tester among My people,

That you may know and assay their way.”

²⁸All of them are stubbornly rebellious,

^aGoing about as a talebearer.

They are ^bbronze and iron;

They, all of them, are corrupt.

²⁹The bellows blow fiercely,

The lead is consumed by the fire;

In vain the refining goes on,

But the ^awicked are not ¹separated.

^30aThey call them rejected silver,

Because the ^bLord has rejected them.