6:1 “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!
Get out of Jerusalem!
Sound the trumpet
Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!
For disaster lurks
it will bring great destruction.
6:2 I will destroy
who is as delicate and defenseless as a young maiden.
6:3 Kings will come against it with their armies.
They will encamp in siege all around it.
Each of them will devastate the portion assigned to him.
6:4 They will say,
Come on! Let’s attack it at noon!’
But later they will say,
The day is almost over
and the shadows of evening are getting long.
6:5 So come on, let’s go ahead and attack it by night
and destroy all its fortified buildings.’
6:6 All of this is because
‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem
and build up a siege ramp against its walls.
This is the city which is to be punished.
Nothing but oppression happens in it.
6:7 As a well continually pours out fresh water
so it continually pours out wicked deeds.
Sounds of violence and destruction echo throughout it.
All I see are sick and wounded people.’
6:8 So
or I will abandon you in disgust
and make you desolate,
a place where no one can live.”
6:9 This is what the Lord who rules over all
“Those who remain in Israel will be
like the grapes thoroughly gleaned
So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvester
passing your hand over the branches one last time.”
6:10 I answered,
“Who would listen
if I spoke to them and warned them?
Their ears are so closed
that they cannot hear!
Indeed,
They do not like it at all.
6:11 I am as full of anger as you are, Lord,
I am tired of trying to hold it in.”
The Lord answered,
“Vent it, then,
and on the young men who are gathered together.
Husbands and wives are to be included,
as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.
6:12 Their houses will be turned over to others
as will their fields and their wives.
For I will unleash my power
against those who live in this land,”
says the Lord.
6:13 “That is because, from the least important to the most important of them,
all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.
Prophets and priests alike,
all of them practice deceit.
6:14 They offer only superficial help
for the harm my people have suffered.
They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’
But everything is not all right!
6:15 Are they ashamed because they have done such shameful things?
No, they are not at all ashamed.
They do not even know how to blush!
So they will die, just like others have died.
They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,”
says the Lord.
6:16 The Lord said to his people:
“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path.
Ask where the old, reliable paths
Ask where the path is that leads to blessing
If you do, you will find rest for your souls.”
But they said, “We will not follow it!”
6:17 The Lord said,
“I appointed prophets as watchmen to warn you,
‘Pay attention to the warning sound of the trumpet!’”
But they said, “We will not pay attention!”
6:18 So the Lord said,
“Hear, you nations!
Be witnesses and take note of what will happen to these people.
6:19 Hear this, you peoples of the earth:
‘Take note!
It will come as punishment for their scheming.
For they have paid no attention to what I have said,
and they have rejected my law.
6:20 I take no delight
frankincense that comes from Sheba
or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land.
I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me.
I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.’
6:21 So, this is what the Lord says:
‘I will assuredly
Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction.
Friends and neighbors will die.’
6:22 “This is what the Lord says:
‘Beware! An army
A mighty nation is stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth.
6:23 Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
They sound like the roaring sea
as they ride forth on their horses.
Lined up in formation like men going into battle
to attack you, Daughter Zion.’”
6:24 The people cry out,
We have become helpless with fear!
Anguish grips us,
agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby!
6:25 Do not go out into the countryside.
Do not travel on the roads.
For the enemy is there with sword in hand.
They are spreading terror everywhere.”
6:26 So I said,
and roll in ashes.
Mourn with painful sobs
as though you had lost your only child.
For any moment now
will come against us.”
6:27 The Lord said to me,
“I have made you like a metal assayer
to test my people like ore.
You are to observe them
and evaluate how they behave.”
6:28 I reported,
“All of them are the most stubborn of rebels!
They are as hard as bronze or iron.
They go about telling lies.
They all deal corruptly.
6:29 The fiery bellows of judgment burn fiercely.
But there is too much dross to be removed.
The process of refining them has proved useless.
The wicked have not been purged.
6:30 They are regarded as ‘rejected silver’
because the Lord rejects them.”
7:1 The Lord said to Jeremiah:
7:8 “‘But just look at you!
7:16 Then the Lord said,
7:21 The Lord said to the people of Judah,
7:27 Then the Lord said to me,
7:30 The Lord says, “I have rejected them because
8:1 The Lord says, “When that time comes,
8:4 The Lord said to me,
“Tell them, ‘The Lord says,
Do people not get back up when they fall down?
Do they not turn around when they go the wrong way?
8:5 Why, then, do these people of Jerusalem
continually turn away from me in apostasy?
They hold fast to their deception.
They refuse to turn back to me.
8:6 I have listened to them very carefully,
but they do not speak honestly.
None of them regrets the evil he has done.
None of them says, “I have done wrong!”
All of them persist in their own wayward course
like a horse charging recklessly into battle.
8:7 Even the stork knows
when it is time to move on.
The turtledove, swallow, and crane
recognize
But my people pay no attention
to
8:8 How can you say, “We are wise!
We have the law of the Lord”?
The truth is,
to make it say what it does not really mean.
8:9 Your wise men will be put to shame.
They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment.
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what wisdom do they really have?
8:10
and their fields to new owners.
For from the least important to the most important of them,
all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.
Prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
8:11 They offer only superficial help
for the hurt my dear people
They say, “Everything will be all right!”
But everything is not all right!
8:12 Are they ashamed because they have done such disgusting things?
No, they are not at all ashamed!
They do not even know how to blush!
So they will die just like others have died.
They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,
says the Lord.
8:13 I will take away their harvests,
There will be no grapes on their vines.
There will be no figs on their fig trees.
Even the leaves on their trees will wither.
The crops that I gave them will be taken away.’”
8:14 The people say,
“Why are we just sitting here?
Let us gather together inside the fortified cities.
Let us at least die there fighting,
since the Lord our God has condemned us to die.
He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment
because we have sinned against him.
8:15 We hoped for good fortune, but nothing good has come of it.
We hoped for a time of relief, but instead we experience terror.
8:16 The snorting of the enemy’s horses
is already being heard in the city of Dan.
The sound of the neighing of their stallions
causes the whole land to tremble with fear.
They are coming to destroy the land and everything in it!
They are coming to destroy
8:17 The Lord says,
“Yes indeed,
that will be like poisonous snakes which cannot be charmed away.
And they will inflict fatal wounds on you.”
8:18 Then I said,
“There is no cure
I am sick at heart!
8:19 I hear my dear people
throughout the length and breadth of the land.
They are crying, ‘Is the Lord no longer in Zion?
Is her divine King
The Lord answers,
“Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?”
8:20 “They cry,
and still we have not been delivered.’
8:21 My heart is crushed because my dear people
I go about crying and grieving. I am overwhelmed with dismay.
8:22 There is still medicinal ointment
There is still a physician there!
Why then have my dear people
not been restored to health?