The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 6

 The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 6

1 Flee for your lives, children of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem; and sound the trumpet in Tekoa, and lift up the torch upon Beth-haccherem; for out of the north lies evil and great destruction.

2 I will leave the beautiful and delicate daughter of Zion desolate.

3 Shepherds will come to her with their flocks; they will pitch tents against her all around, and each will pasture in his own place.

4 Prepare war against her, arise, and let us go up at midday; Woe to us! For the day is drawing to a close, the shadows of evening are drawing near.

5 Arise, and let us go up at night, and destroy her palaces.

6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Cut down trees, and raise siege works against Jerusalem; This is the city that must be visited; only oppression is in the midst of it.

7 As a spring brings forth its waters, so it brings forth its wickedness; violence and destruction are heard in it; sickness and wounds are continually before me.

8 Correct yourself, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you, lest I make you a desolation and an uninhabited land.

9 Thus says the Lord of hosts: They shall diligently glean the remnant of Israel like a vine; turn your hand, like the grape gatherer, to the baskets.

10 To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear; behold, the word of the Lord is to them a shameful thing; they have no delight in it.

11 Therefore I am filled with the wrath of the Lord; I am weary of holding it in; I will pour it out on the children in the streets, and on the gatherings of the young men together; for even husband and wife shall be taken captive, and the old man with him who is full of days.

12 Their houses shall pass to others, their lands and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of this land, says the Lord.

13 For from the least of them even to the greatest, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.

14 They have healed the wound of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.

15 Are they ashamed of committing abomination? No, they are not at all ashamed, nor do they know what shame is. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; in the time when I visit them they shall stumble, says the Lord.

16 Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”

17 “I also set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’”

18 “Therefore hear, you nations; and know, you congregation, what is being done among them!

19 “Hear, you earth! Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, the very fruit of their thoughts; because they have not heeded my words, and they have rejected my law.

20 “Why then will incense from Sheba come to me, and the finest aromatic cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings do not please me, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.”

21 Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will set stumbling blocks before this people, and fathers and sons together shall stumble over them; neighbor and companion shall perish.

22 Thus says the Lord: Behold, a people shall come from the land of the north, and a great nation shall arise from the sides of the land.

23 They shall bring bow and spear; they are cruel, and shall show no mercy; their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride on horses, arrayed like men of war against you, O daughter of Zion.

24 We have heard of their report, our hands have grown weak; anguish has seized us, and pains like those of a woman in labor.

25 Do not go out into the field, nor walk on the road; for the sword of the enemy and terror are all around.

26 O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; mourn as for an only son, a bitter lamentation; For the destroyer will come upon us quickly.

27 I have set you as a watchtower among my people, as a stronghold, so that you may know and examine their ways.

28 They are all the most rebellious, and they go about murmuring; they are as hard as bronze and iron; they all walk corruptly.

29 The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain the refiner melts so diligently, for the wicked are not uprooted.

30 They will be called rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them.