Jeremiah 5–6

No One Is Right

5The Lord says, “Walk up and down the streets of Jerusalem.

Look around and discover these things.

Search the public squares of the city.

If you can find one person who does honest things,

who searches for the truth,

I will forgive this city.

²Although the people say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’

they don’t really mean it.”

³Lord, don’t you look for truth in people?

You struck the people of Judah,

but they didn’t feel any pain.

You crushed them,

but they refused to learn what is right.

They became more stubborn than a rock;

they refused to turn back to God.

⁴But I thought,

“These are only the poor, foolish people.

They have not learned the way of the Lord

and what their God wants them to do.

⁵So I will go to the leaders of Judah

and talk to them.

Surely they understand the way of the Lord

and know what God wants them to do.”

But even the leaders had all joined together to break away from the Lord;

they had broken their ties with him.

⁶So a lion from the forest will attack them.

A wolf from the desert will kill them.

A leopard is waiting for them near their towns.

It will tear to pieces anyone who comes out of the city,

because the people of Judah have sinned greatly.

They have wandered away from the Lord many times.

⁷The Lord said, “Tell me why I should forgive you.

Your children have left me

and have made promises to idols that are not gods at all.

I gave your children everything they needed,

but they still were like an unfaithful wife to me.

They spent much time in houses of prostitutes.

⁸They are like well-fed horses filled with sexual desire;

each one wants another man’s wife.

⁹Shouldn’t I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?” says the Lord.

“Shouldn’t I give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves?

¹⁰“Go along and cut down Judah’s vineyards,

but do not completely destroy them.

Cut off all her people as if they were branches,

because they do not belong to the Lord.

¹¹The families of Israel and Judah

have been completely unfaithful to me,” says the Lord.

¹²Those people have lied about the Lord

and said, “He will not do anything to us!

Nothing bad will happen to us!

We will never see war or hunger!

¹³The prophets are like an empty wind;

the word of God is not in them.

Let the bad things they say happen to them.”

¹⁴So this is what the Lord God All-Powerful says:

“The people said I would not punish them.

So, the words I give you will be like fire,

and these people will be like wood that it burns up.

¹⁵Listen, family of Israel,” says the Lord,

“I will soon bring a nation from far away to attack you.

It is an old nation that has lasted a long time.

The people there speak a language you do not know;

you cannot understand what they say.

¹⁶Their arrows bring death.

All their people are strong warriors.

¹⁷They will eat your crops and your food.

They will eat your sons and daughters.

They will eat your flocks and herds.

They will eat your grapes and figs.

They will destroy with their swords

the strong, walled cities you trust.

¹⁸“Yet even then,” says the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely. ¹⁹When the people of Judah ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these terrible things to us?’ then give them this answer: ‘You have left the Lord and served foreign idols in your own land. So now you will serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you.’

²⁰“Announce this message to the family of Jacob,

and tell it to the nation of Judah:

²¹Hear this message, you foolish people who have no sense.

They have eyes, but they don’t really see.

They have ears, but they don’t really listen.

²²Surely you are afraid of me,” says the Lord.

“You should shake with fear in my presence.

I am the one who made the beaches to be a border for the sea,

a border the water can never go past.

The waves may pound the beach, but they can’t win over it.

They may roar, but they cannot go beyond it.

²³But the people of Judah are stubborn and have turned against me.

They have turned aside and gone away from me.

²⁴They do not say to themselves,

‘We should fear the Lord our God,

who gives us autumn and spring rains in their seasons,

who makes sure we have the harvest at the right time.’

²⁵But your evil has kept away both rain and harvest.

Your sins have kept you from enjoying good things.

²⁶There are wicked men among my people.

Like those who make nets for catching birds,

they set their traps to catch people.

²⁷Like cages full of birds,

their houses are full of lies.

They have become rich and powerful.

²⁸They have grown big and fat.

There is no end to the evil things they do.

They won’t plead the case of the orphan

or help the poor be judged fairly.

²⁹Shouldn’t I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?” says the Lord.

“Shouldn’t I give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves?

³⁰“A terrible and shocking thing

has happened in the land of Judah:

³¹The prophets speak lies,

and the priests take power into their own hands,

and my people love it this way.

But what will you do when the end comes?

Jerusalem Is Surrounded

6“Run for your lives, people of Benjamin!

Run away from Jerusalem!

Blow the war trumpet in the town of Tekoa!

Raise the warning flag over the town of Beth Hakkerem!

Disaster is coming from the north;

terrible destruction is coming to you.

²Jerusalem, I will destroy you,

you who are fragile and gentle.

³Shepherds with their flocks will come against Jerusalem.

They will set up their tents all around her,

each shepherd taking care of his own section.”

⁴They say, “Get ready to fight against Jerusalem!

Get up! We will attack at noon!

But it is already getting late;

the evening shadows are growing long.

⁵So get up! We will attack at night.

We will destroy the strong towers of Jerusalem!”

⁶This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:

“Cut down the trees around Jerusalem,

and build an attack ramp to the top of its walls.

This city must be punished.

Inside it is nothing but slavery.

⁷Jerusalem pours out her evil

as a well pours out its water.

The sounds of violence and destruction are heard within her.

I can see the sickness and hurts of Jerusalem.

⁸Listen to this warning, Jerusalem,

or I will turn my back on you

and make your land an empty desert

where no one can live.”

⁹This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:

“Gather the few people of Israel who are left alive,

as you would gather the last grapes on a grapevine.

Check each vine again,

like someone who gathers grapes.”

¹⁰To whom can I speak? Whom can I warn?

Who will listen to me?

The people of Israel have closed ears,

so they cannot hear my warnings.

They don’t like the word of the Lord;

they don’t want to listen to it!

¹¹But I am full of the anger of the Lord,

and I am tired of holding it in.

“Pour out my anger on the children who play in the street

and on the young men gathered together.

A husband and his wife will both be caught in his anger,

as will the very old.

¹²Their houses will be turned over to others,

along with their fields and wives,

because I will raise my hand

and punish the people of Judah,” says the Lord.

¹³“Everyone, from the least important to the greatest,

is greedy for money.

Even the prophets and priests

all tell lies.

¹⁴They tried to heal my people’s serious injuries

as if they were small wounds.

They said, ‘It’s all right, it’s all right.’

But really, it is not all right.

¹⁵They should be ashamed of the terrible way they act,

but they are not ashamed at all.

They don’t even know how to blush about their sins.

So they will fall, along with everyone else.

They will be thrown to the ground when I punish them,” says the Lord.

¹⁶This is what the Lord says:

“Stand where the roads cross and look.

Ask where the old way is,

where the good way is, and walk on it.

If you do, you will find rest for yourselves.

But they have said, ‘We will not walk on the good way.’

¹⁷I set watchmen over you

and told you, ‘Listen for the sound of the war trumpet!’

But they said, ‘We will not listen.’

¹⁸So listen, all you nations,

and pay attention, you witnesses.

Watch what I will do to the people of Judah.

¹⁹Hear this, people of the earth:

I am going to bring disaster to the people of Judah

because of the evil they plan.

They have not listened to my messages

and have rejected my teachings.

²⁰Why do you bring me offerings of incense from the land of Sheba?

Why do you bring me sweet-smelling cane from a faraway land?

Your burnt offerings will not be accepted;

your sacrifices do not please me.”

²¹So this is what the Lord says:

“I will put problems in front of Judah.

Fathers and sons will stumble over them together.

Neighbors and friends will die.”

²²This is what the Lord says:

“Look, an army is coming

from the land of the north;

a great nation is coming

from the far sides of the earth.

²³The soldiers carry bows and spears.

They are cruel and show no mercy.

They sound like the roaring ocean

when they ride their horses.

That army is coming lined up for battle,

ready to attack you, Jerusalem.”

²⁴We have heard the news about that army

and are helpless from fear.

We are gripped by our pain,

like a woman having a baby.

²⁵Don’t go out into the fields

or walk down the roads,

because the enemy has swords.

There is terror on every side.

²⁶My people, put on rough cloth

and roll in the ashes to show how sad you are.

Cry loudly for those who are dead,

as if your only son were dead,

because the destroyer

will soon come against us.

²⁷“Jeremiah, I have made you like a worker who tests metal,

and my people are like the ore.

You must observe their ways

and test them.

²⁸All my people have turned against me and are stubborn.

They go around telling lies about others.

They are like bronze and iron

that became covered with rust.

They all act dishonestly.

²⁹The fire is fanned to make it hotter,

but the lead does not melt.

The pure metal does not come out;

the evil is not removed from my people.

³⁰My people will be called rejected silver,

because the Lord has rejected them.”