Jeremiah 5–6

No One Is Honest

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

Look around.

Think about what you see.

Search through the market places.

See if you can find one honest person who tries to be truthful.

If you can, I will forgive this city.

²They take all of their oaths in my name.

They say, ‘You can be sure that the Lord is alive.’

But their oaths can’t be trusted.”

³Lord, don’t your eyes look for truth?

You struck your people down.

But they didn’t feel any pain.

You crushed them.

But they refused to be corrected.

They made their faces harder than stone.

They refused to turn away from their sins.

⁴I thought, “The people of

Jerusalem are foolish.

They don’t know how the Lord wants them to live.

They don’t know what their God requires of them.

⁵So I will go to the leaders.

I’ll speak to them.

They should know how the Lord wants them to live.

They must know what their God requires of them.”

But all of them had broken off the yoke the Lord had put on them.

They had torn off the ropes he had tied them up with.

⁶So a lion from the forest will attack them.

A wolf from the desert will destroy them.

A leopard will hide and wait near their towns.

It will tear to pieces anyone who dares to go out.

Again and again they have refused to obey the Lord.

They have turned away from him many times.

⁷The Lord says, “Jerusalem, why should I forgive you?

Your people have deserted me.

They have taken their oaths in the names of gods

that are not really gods at all.

I supplied everything they needed.

But they committed adultery.

Large crowds went to the houses of prostitutes.

⁸Your people are like stallions that have plenty to eat.

Their sinful longings are out of control.

Each of them goes after another man’s wife.

⁹Shouldn’t I punish them for that?”

announces the Lord.

“Shouldn’t I pay back the nation

that does those things?

¹⁰“Armies of Babylonia, go through their vineyards and destroy them.

But do not destroy them completely.

Strip off their branches.

Those people do not belong to me.

¹¹The people of Israel and Judah

have not been faithful to me at all,”

announces the Lord.

¹²They have told lies about the Lord.

They said, “He won’t do anything!

No harm will come to us.

We will never see war or be hungry.

¹³The prophets are nothing but wind.

Their message doesn’t come from the Lord.

So let what they say will happen be done to them.”

¹⁴The Lord God rules over all. He says to me,

“The people have spoken those words.

So my words will be like fire in your mouth.

I will make the people like wood.

And the fire will burn them up.”

¹⁵“People of Israel, listen to me,”

announces the Lord.

“I am bringing against you

a nation from far away.

It is an old nation. And it will last for a long time.

Its people speak a language you do not know.

You can’t understand what they are saying.

¹⁶The bags they carry their arrows in are like an open grave.

All of their soldiers are mighty.

¹⁷They will eat up your crops and your food.

They will strike down your sons and daughters.

They will kill your sheep and cattle.

They will destroy your vines and fig trees.

You trust in your cities that have high walls around them.

But the people in them will be killed with swords.

¹⁸“In spite of that, even in those days I will not destroy you completely,” announces the Lord.

¹⁹“ ‘Jeremiah,’ the people will ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all of this to us?’

“Then you will tell them, ‘You have deserted the Lord. You have served other gods in your own land. So now you will serve another nation in a land that is not your own.’

²⁰“Here is what I want you to announce

to the people of Jacob.

Tell it in Judah.

Tell them I say,

²¹‘Listen to this, you foolish people,

who do not have any sense.

You have eyes, but you do not see.

You have ears, but you do not hear.

²²Shouldn’t you have respect for me?’ announces the Lord.

‘Shouldn’t you tremble with fear in front of me?

I made the sand to hold the ocean back.

It will do that forever.

The ocean can’t go past it.

The waves might roll, but they can’t sweep over it.

They might roar, but they can’t go across it.

²³But you people have stubborn hearts.

You refuse to obey me.

You have turned away from me.

You have gone down the wrong path.

²⁴You do not say to yourselves,

“Let us have respect for the Lord our God.

He sends rain in the fall and the spring.

He promises us that the harvest will come

at the same time each year.”

²⁵But the things you have done wrong

have robbed you of those gifts.

Your sins have kept those good things

far away from you.’

²⁶“Jeremiah, some of my people are evil.

They hide and wait just as people hide to catch birds.

They set traps for men.

²⁷A hunter uses tricks to fill his cage with birds.

And my people have filled their houses with a lot of goods.

They have become rich and powerful.

²⁸They have grown fat and heavy.

There is no limit to the evil things they do.

In court they do not state the case

of children whose fathers have died.

They do not stand up for poor people.

²⁹Shouldn’t I punish them for that?”

announces the Lord.

“Shouldn’t I pay back the

nation that does those things?

³⁰“Something horrible and shocking

has happened in the land.

³¹The prophets prophesy lies.

The priests rule by their own authority.

And my people love it that way.

But what will they do in the end?”

Babylonia Will Attack Jerusalem

6The Lord says, “People of Benjamin, run for safety!

Run away from Jerusalem!

Blow trumpets in Tekoa!

Warn everyone in Beth Hakkerem!

Horrible trouble is coming from the north.

The Babylonians will destroy everything with awful power.

²I will destroy the city of Zion,

even though it is very beautiful.

³Shepherds will come against it with their flocks.

They will set up their tents around it.

All of them will take care of their own sheep.”

⁴The Babylonians say, “Prepare for battle against Judah!

Get up! Let’s attack them at noon!

But the daylight is fading.

The shadows of evening are getting longer.

⁵So get up! Let’s attack them at night!

Let’s destroy their strongest forts!”

⁶The Lord who rules over all speaks to the Babylonians. He says,

“Cut some trees down.

Use the wood to build ramps against Jerusalem’s walls.

I must punish that city.

It is filled with people who treat others badly.

⁷Wells keep giving fresh water.

And Jerusalem keeps on sinning.

Its people are always fighting and causing trouble.

When I look at them,

I see nothing but sickness and wounds.

⁸Jerusalem, listen to my warning.

If you do not, I will turn away from you.

Your land will become a desert.

No one will be able to live there.”

⁹The Lord rules over all. He says to me,

“People gather the few grapes that are left on a vine.

So let Israel’s enemies gather the few people

who are left alive in the land.

Look carefully at the branches again.

Do it like someone who gathers the last few grapes.”

¹⁰Who can I speak to? Who can I warn?

Who will even listen to me?

Their ears are closed

so they can’t hear.

The Lord’s message displeases them.

They don’t take any delight in it.

¹¹But the Lord’s anger burns inside me.

I can no longer hold it in.

The Lord says to me, “Pour out my anger on the children in the street.

Pour it out on the young people who are gathered together.

Husband and wife alike will be caught in it.

So will those who are very old.

¹²I will reach out my hand

against those who live in the land,”

announces the Lord.

“Then their houses will be turned over to others.

So will their fields and their wives.

¹³Everyone wants to get richer and richer,

from the least important of them to the most important.

Prophets and priests alike

try to fool everyone they can.

¹⁴They bandage the wounds of my people

as if they were not very deep.

‘Peace, peace,’ they say.

But there isn’t any peace.

¹⁵Are they ashamed of their hateful actions?

No. They do not feel any shame at all.

They do not even know how to blush.

So they will fall like others who have already fallen.

They will be brought down when I punish them,”

says the Lord.

¹⁶The Lord tells the people of Judah,

“Stand where the roads cross, and look around.

Ask where the old paths are.

Ask for the good path, and walk on it.

Then your hearts will find rest in me.

But you said, ‘We won’t walk on it.’

¹⁷I appointed prophets to warn you. I said,

‘Listen to the sound of the trumpets!’

But you said, ‘We won’t listen.’

¹⁸So pay attention, you nations.

Be witnesses for me.

Watch what will happen to my people.

¹⁹Earth, pay attention.

I am going to bring trouble on them.

I will punish them because of the evil things they have done.

They have not listened to my words.

They have said no to my law.

²⁰What do I care about incense from the land of Sheba?

Why should I bother with sweet-smelling cane from a land far away?

I do not accept your burnt offerings.

Your sacrifices do not please me.”

²¹So the Lord says,

“I will bring an army against the people of Judah.

Parents and children alike will trip and fall.

Neighbors and friends will die.”

²²The Lord says to Jerusalem,

“Look! An army is coming

from the land of the north.

I am stirring up a great nation.

Its army is coming from a land that is very far away.

²³Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears.

They are mean. They do not show any mercy at all.

They come riding in on their horses.

They sound like the roaring ocean.

They are lined up for battle.

They are marching out

to attack you, city of Zion.”

²⁴We have heard reports about them.

And our hands can’t help us.

We are suffering greatly.

It’s like the pain of a woman having a baby.

²⁵Don’t go out to the fields.

Don’t walk on the roads.

Our enemies have swords.

And there is terror on every side.

²⁶Put on black clothes, my people.

Roll among the ashes.

Cry with bitter sobbing

just as you would cry for an only child.

The one who is going to destroy us

will come suddenly.

²⁷The Lord says to me, “I have made you like one who tests metals.

My people are the ore.

I want you to watch them

and test the way they live.

²⁸All of them are used to disobeying me.

They go around telling lies about others.

They…