Jeremiah 6

Impending Disaster for Jerusalem

¹Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin,

from the midst of Jerusalem!

Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,

and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem,

for disaster looms out of the north,

and great destruction.

²The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,

the daughter of Zion.

³Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her;

they shall pitch their tents around her;

they shall pasture, each in his place.

⁴“Prepare war against her;

arise, and let us attack at noon!

Woe to us, for the day declines,

for the shadows of evening lengthen!

⁵Arise, and let us attack by night

and destroy her palaces!”

⁶For thus says the Lord of hosts:

“Cut down her trees;

cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.

This is the city that must be punished;

there is nothing but oppression within her.

⁷As a well keeps its water fresh,

so she keeps fresh her evil;

violence and destruction are heard within her;

sickness and wounds are ever before me.

⁸Be warned, O Jerusalem,

lest I turn from you in disgust,

lest I make you a desolation,

an uninhabited land.”

⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine

the remnant of Israel;

like a grape gatherer pass your hand again

over its branches.”

¹⁰To whom shall I speak and give warning,

that they may hear?

Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,

they cannot listen;

behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;

they take no pleasure in it.

¹¹Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;

I am weary of holding it in.

“Pour it out upon the children in the street,

and upon the gatherings of young men, also;

both husband and wife shall be taken,

the elderly and the very aged.

¹²Their houses shall be turned over to others,

their fields and wives together,

for I will stretch out my hand

against the inhabitants of the land,”

declares the Lord.

¹³“For from the least to the greatest of them,

everyone is greedy for unjust gain;

and from prophet to priest,

everyone deals falsely.

¹⁴They have healed the wound of my people lightly,

saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

when there is no peace.

¹⁵Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?

No, they were not at all ashamed;

they did not know how to blush.

Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”

says the Lord.

¹⁶Thus says the Lord:

“Stand by the roads, and look,

and ask for the ancient paths,

where the good way is; and walk in it,

and find rest for your souls.

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

¹⁷I set watchmen over you, saying,

‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’

But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’

¹⁸Therefore hear, O nations,

and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.

¹⁹Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,

the fruit of their devices,

because they have not paid attention to my words;

and as for my law, they have rejected it.

²⁰What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba,

or sweet cane from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,

nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.

²¹Therefore thus says the Lord:

‘Behold, I will lay before this people

stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;

fathers and sons together,

neighbor and friend shall perish.’”

²²Thus says the Lord:

“Behold, a people is coming from the north country,

a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.

²³They lay hold on bow and javelin;

they are cruel and have no mercy;

the sound of them is like the roaring sea;

they ride on horses,

set in array as a man for battle,

against you, O daughter of Zion!”

²⁴We have heard the report of it;

our hands fall helpless;

anguish has taken hold of us,

pain as of a woman in labor.

²⁵Go not out into the field,

nor walk on the road,

for the enemy has a sword;

terror is on every side.

²⁶O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth,

and roll in ashes;

make mourning as for an only son,

most bitter lamentation,

for suddenly the destroyer

will come upon us.

²⁷“I have made you a tester of metals among my people,

that you may know and test their ways.

²⁸They are all stubbornly rebellious,

going about with slanders;

they are bronze and iron;

all of them act corruptly.

²⁹The bellows blow fiercely;

the lead is consumed by the fire;

in vain the refining goes on,

for the wicked are not removed.

³⁰Rejected silver they are called,

for the Lord has rejected them.”