Jeremiah 6 — WEBC
6Verse 1“Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the middle of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem, for evil looks out from the north with a great destruction.Verse 2I will cut off the beautiful and delicate one, the daughter of Zion.Verse 3Shepherds with their flocks will come to her. They will pitch their tents against her all around. They will feed everyone in his place.”Verse 4“Prepare war against her! Arise! Let’s go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.Verse 5Arise! Let’s go up by night, and let’s destroy her palaces.”Verse 6For the LORD of Armies said, “Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She is filled with oppression within herself.Verse 7As a well produces its waters, so she produces her wickedness. Violence and destruction is heard in her. Sickness and wounds are continually before me.Verse 8Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from you, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.”Verse 9The LORD of Armies says, “They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.”Verse 10To whom should I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can’t listen. Behold, the LORD’s word has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it.Verse 11Therefore I am full of the LORD’s wrath. I am weary with holding it in.“Pour it out on the children in the street,and on the assembly of young men together;for even the husband with the wife will be taken,the aged with him who is full of days.Verse 12Their houses will be turned to others,their fields and their wives together;for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD.”
Verse 13“For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness.From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.Verse 14They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially,saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.Verse 15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush.Therefore they will fall among those who fall.When I visit them, they will be cast down,” says the LORD.Verse 16The LORD says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’Verse 17I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen!’Verse 18Therefore hear, you nations, and know, congregation, what is among them.Verse 19Hear, earth! Behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.Verse 20To what purpose does frankincense from Sheba come to me, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.”Verse 21Therefore the LORD says, “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together will stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend will perish.”Verse 22The LORD says, “Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.Verse 23They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.”Verse 24We have heard its report. Our hands become feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labor.Verse 25Don’t go out into the field or walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and terror are on every side.Verse 26Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the destroyer will suddenly come on us.Verse 27“I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress among my people, that you may know and try their way.Verse 28They are all grievous rebels, going around to slander. They are bronze and iron. All of them deal corruptly.Verse 29The bellows blow fiercely. The lead is consumed in the fire. In vain they go on refining, for the wicked are not plucked away.Verse 30Men will call them rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”
Verse 13“For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness.From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.Verse 14They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially,saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.Verse 15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush.Therefore they will fall among those who fall.When I visit them, they will be cast down,” says the LORD.Verse 16The LORD says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’Verse 17I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen!’Verse 18Therefore hear, you nations, and know, congregation, what is among them.Verse 19Hear, earth! Behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.Verse 20To what purpose does frankincense from Sheba come to me, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.”Verse 21Therefore the LORD says, “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together will stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend will perish.”Verse 22The LORD says, “Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.Verse 23They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.”Verse 24We have heard its report. Our hands become feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labor.Verse 25Don’t go out into the field or walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and terror are on every side.Verse 26Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the destroyer will suddenly come on us.Verse 27“I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress among my people, that you may know and try their way.Verse 28They are all grievous rebels, going around to slander. They are bronze and iron. All of them deal corruptly.Verse 29The bellows blow fiercely. The lead is consumed in the fire. In vain they go on refining, for the wicked are not plucked away.Verse 30Men will call them rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”