JeremiahChapter 6

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¹"Run for safety, people of Benjamin!
Run away from Jerusalem!
Blow the ram's horn in Tekoa!
Send up a signal over Beth-haccherem!
For disaster is coming from the north,
great destruction. ²Daughter Zion is beautiful and delicate,
but I will destroy her. ³Shepherds with their flocks will come against her.
They will set up their tents all around her.
Each will graze his own part of the land. ⁴They say, 'Get ready to fight against her!
Get up! Let's attack at noon!
How terrible for us! The daylight is fading.
The evening shadows are getting long. ⁵So get up! Let's attack at night
and destroy her strong towers!'" ⁶For this is what the LORD of Hosts says:
"Cut down the trees.
Build a ramp of dirt against Jerusalem's walls to attack it.
This city must be punished.
There is nothing inside her but cruelty. ⁷As a well keeps its water flowing,
so she keeps her evil flowing.
Violence and destruction echo inside her.
I always see her sickness and wounds. ⁸Take this warning, Jerusalem,
or I will turn away from you.
I will make you a wasteland,
a land where no one lives." ⁹This is what the LORD of Hosts says:
"Pick the last of Israel clean,
the way you pick the last grapes off a vine.
Pass your hand over the branches once more,
like someone gathering grapes." ¹⁰Who can I speak to and warn?
Who will listen to me?
Look, their ears are closed,
so they cannot hear.
See, the word of the LORD offends them.
They take no pleasure in it. ¹¹But I am full of the LORD's anger.
I am tired of holding it in.
"Pour it out on the children in the street
and on the young men gathered together.
For both husband and wife will be captured,
the old and the very old too. ¹²Their houses will be given to others,
along with their fields and their wives.
For I will reach out my hand
against the people of the land," declares the LORD. ¹³"For from the least of them to the greatest,
all of them are greedy for money.
From prophet to priest,
all of them cheat and lie. ¹⁴They treat the wound of my people
as if it were not serious.
They say, 'Peace, peace,'
when there is no peace at all. ¹⁵Are they ashamed of the disgusting things they have done?
No, they are not ashamed at all.
They do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall with those who fall.
When I punish them, they will be brought down," says the LORD. ¹⁶This is what the LORD says:
"Stand where the roads cross, and look.
Ask about the old paths.
Ask, 'Where is the good way?'
Then walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it!' ¹⁷I put watchmen over you.
I said, 'Listen for the sound of the ram's horn.'
But they said, 'We will not listen!' ¹⁸So hear, you nations!
You crowds of people, learn
what will happen to them. ¹⁹Hear, earth!
I am bringing disaster on these people.
It is the fruit of their own plans.
For they have paid no attention to my word.
They have rejected my teaching. ²⁰What good to me is frankincense from Sheba
or sweet cane from a faraway land?
I do not accept your burnt offerings.
Your sacrifices do not please me." ²¹So this is what the LORD says:
"I will put things in front of these people to make them trip.
Fathers and sons alike will stumble over them.
Friends and neighbors will die." ²²This is what the LORD says:
"Look, an army is coming from the land of the north.
A great nation is being stirred up
from the far ends of the earth. ²³They hold bows and spears.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
They sound like the roaring sea.
They ride on horses.
They line up like soldiers ready for battle
to attack you, Daughter Zion." ²⁴We have heard the news about them.
Our hands hang weak.
Trouble has taken hold of us,
pain like a woman giving birth. ²⁵Do not go out into the fields.
Do not walk on the roads.
For the enemy has a sword.
There is terror all around. ²⁶My dear people, put on sackcloth
and roll in the ashes.
Mourn with bitter crying
as you would for an only son.
For suddenly the destroyer will come on us. ²⁷"I have made you a tester of my people,
as someone tests metal ore.
You will learn about their ways
and test them. ²⁸All of them are stubborn rebels.
They go around spreading lies about others.
They are as hard as bronze and iron.
All of them are rotten. ²⁹The bellows blow hard
to burn away the lead with fire.
But the work of making them pure is useless.
The wicked are not removed. ³⁰They are called rejected silver,
because the LORD has rejected them."