Category: Jeremiah

[6:1] People of Benjamin, run for safety! Escape from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa and build a signal fire in Beth Haccherem. Disaster and destruction are about to come from the north.

[6:2] The city of Zion is beautiful, but it will be destroyed;

[6:3] kings will camp there with their armies. They will pitch their tents around the city, and each of them will camp wherever they want.

[6:4] They will say, “Prepare to attack Jerusalem! Get ready! We'll attack at noon!” But then they will say, “It's too late, the day is almost over, and the evening shadows are growing long.

[6:5] We'll attack by night; we'll destroy the city's fortresses.”

[6:6] The Lord Almighty has ordered these kings to cut down trees and build mounds in order to besiege Jerusalem. He has said, “I will punish this city because it is full of oppression.

[6:7] As a well keeps its water fresh, so Jerusalem keeps its evil fresh. I hear violence and destruction in the city; sickness and wounds are all I see.

[6:8] People of Jerusalem, let these troubles be a warning to you, or else I will abandon you; I will turn your city into a desert, a place where no one lives.”

[6:9] The Lord Almighty said to me, “Israel will be stripped clean like a vineyard from which every grape has been picked. So you must rescue everyone you can while there is still time.”

[6:10] I answered, “Who would listen to me if I spoke to them and warned them? They are stubborn and refuse to listen to your message; they laugh at what you tell me to say.

[6:11] Your anger against them burns in me too, Lord, and I can't hold it in any longer.” Then the Lord said to me, “Pour out my anger on the children in the streets and on the gatherings of the young people. Husbands and wives will be taken away, and even the very old will not be spared.

[6:12] Their houses will be given to others, and so will their fields and their wives. I am going to punish the people of this land.

[6:13] Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly; even prophets and priests cheat the people.

[6:14] They act as if my people's wounds were only scratches. ‘All is well,’ they say, when all is not well.

[6:15] Were they ashamed because they did these disgusting things? No, they were not at all ashamed; they don't even know how to blush. And so they will fall as others have fallen; when I punish them, that will be the end of them. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

[6:16] The Lord said to his people, “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths and where the best road is. Walk in it, and you will live in peace.” But they said, “No, we will not!”

[6:17] Then the Lord appointed sentries to listen for the trumpet's warning. But they said, “We will not listen.”

[6:18] So the Lord said, “Listen, you nations, and learn what is going to happen to my people.

[6:19] Listen, earth! As punishment for all their schemes I am bringing ruin on these people, because they have rejected my teaching and have not obeyed my words.

[6:20] What do I care about the incense they bring me from Sheba, or the spices from a distant land? I will not accept their offerings or be pleased with their sacrifices.

[6:21] And so I will make these people stumble and fall. Parents and children will die, and so will friends and neighbors.”

[6:22] The Lord says, “People are coming from a country in the north; a mighty nation far away is preparing for war.

[6:23] They have taken up their bows and swords; they are cruel and merciless. They sound like the roaring sea, as they ride their horses. They are ready for battle against Jerusalem.”

[6:24] “We have heard the news,” say the people of Jerusalem, “and our hands hang limp; we are seized by anguish and pain like a woman in labor.

[6:25] We don't dare go to the countryside or walk on the roads, because our enemies are armed and terror is all around us.”

[6:26] The Lord says to his people, “Put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter tears as you would for an only child, because the one who comes to destroy you will suddenly attack.

[6:27] Jeremiah, test my people, as you would test metal, and find out what they are like.

[6:28] They are all stubborn rebels, hard as bronze and iron. They are all corrupt, going around and spreading gossip.

[6:29] The furnace burns fiercely, but the waste metals do not melt and run off. It is useless to go on refining my people, because those who are evil are not taken away.

[6:30] They will be called worthless dross, because I, the Lord, have rejected them.”

[7:4] Stop believing those deceitful words, ‘We are safe! This is the Lord's Temple, this is the Lord's Temple, this is the Lord's Temple!’

[7:5] “Change the way you are living and stop doing the things you are doing. Be fair in your treatment of one another.

[7:6] Stop taking advantage of aliens, orphans, and widows. Stop killing innocent people in this land. Stop worshiping other gods, for that will destroy you.

[7:7] If you change, I will let you go on living here in the land which I gave your ancestors as a permanent possession.

[7:8] “Look, you put your trust in deceitful words.

[7:9] You steal, murder, commit adultery, tell lies under oath, offer sacrifices to Baal, and worship gods that you had not known before.

[7:10] You do these things I hate, and then you come and stand in my presence, in my own Temple, and say, ‘We are safe!’

[7:11] Do you think that my Temple is a hiding place for robbers? I have seen what you are doing.

[7:12] Go to Shiloh, the first place where I chose to be worshiped, and see what I did to it because of the sins of my people Israel.

[7:13] You have committed all these sins, and even though I spoke to you over and over again, you refused to listen. You would not answer when I called you.

[7:14] And so, what I did to Shiloh I will do to this Temple of mine, in which you trust. Here in this place that I gave to your ancestors and you, I will do the same thing that I did to Shiloh.

[7:15] I will drive you out of my sight as I drove out your relatives, the people of Israel. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

[7:16] The Lord said, “Jeremiah, do not pray for these people. Do not cry or pray on their behalf; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.

[7:17] Don't you see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

[7:18] The children gather firewood, the men build fires, and the women mix dough to bake cakes for the goddess they call the Queen of Heaven. They also pour out offerings of wine to other gods, in order to hurt me.

[7:19] But am I really the one they are hurting? No, they are hurting themselves and bringing shame on themselves.

[7:20] And so I, the Sovereign Lord, will pour out my fierce anger on this Temple. I will pour it out on people and animals alike, and even on the trees and the crops. My anger will be like a fire that no one can put out.

[7:21] “My people, some sacrifices you burn completely on the altar, and some you are permitted to eat. But what I, the Lord, say is that you might as well eat them all.

[7:22] I gave your ancestors no commands about burnt offerings or any other kinds of sacrifices when I brought them out of Egypt.

[7:23] But I did command them to obey me, so that I would be their God and they would be my people. And I told them to live the way I had commanded them, so that things would go well for them.

[7:24] But they did not obey or pay any attention. Instead, they did whatever their stubborn and evil hearts told them to do, and they became worse instead of better.

[7:25] From the day that your ancestors came out of Egypt until this very day I have kept on sending to you my servants, the prophets.

[7:26] Yet no one listened or paid any attention. Instead, you became more stubborn and rebellious than your ancestors.

[7:27] “So, Jeremiah, you will speak all these words to my people, but they will not listen to you; you will call them, but they will not answer.

[7:28] You will tell them that their nation does not obey me, the Lord their God, or learn from their punishment. Faithfulness is dead. No longer is it even talked about.

[8:4] The Lord told me to say to his people, “When someone falls down, doesn't he get back up? If someone misses the road, doesn't he turn back?

[8:5] Why then, my people, do you turn away from me without ever turning back? You cling to your idols and refuse to return to me.

[8:6] I listened carefully, but you did not speak the truth. Not one of you has been sorry for your wickedness; not one of you has asked, ‘What have I done wrong?’ Each of you keep on going your own way, like a horse rushing into battle.

[8:7] Even storks know when it is time to return; doves, swallows, and thrushes know when it is time to migrate. But, my people, you do not know the laws by which I rule you.

[8:8] How can you say that you are wise and that you know my laws? Look, the laws have been changed by dishonest scribes.

[8:9] Your wise men are put to shame; they are confused and trapped. They have rejected my words; what wisdom do they have now?

[8:10] So I will give their fields to new owners and their wives to other men. Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly. Even prophets and priests cheat the people.

[8:11] They act as if my people's wounds were only scratches. ‘All is well,’ they say, when all is not well.

[8:12] My people, were you ashamed because you did these disgusting things? No, you were not ashamed at all; you don't even know how to blush! And so you will fall as others have fallen; when I punish you, that will be the end of you. I, the Lord, have spoken.

[8:13] “I wanted to gather my people, as a farmer gathers a harvest; but they are like a vine with no grapes, like a fig tree with no figs; even the leaves have withered. Therefore, I have allowed outsiders to take over the land.”

[8:14] “Why are we sitting still?” God's people ask. “Come on, we will run to the fortified cities and die there. The Lord our God has condemned us to die; he has given us poison to drink, because we have sinned against him.

[8:15] We hoped for peace and a time of healing, but it was no use; terror came instead.

[8:16] Our enemies are already in the city of Dan; we hear the snorting of their horses. The whole land trembles when their horses neigh. Our enemies have come to destroy our land and everything in it, our city and all its people.”

[8:17] “Watch out!” the Lord says, “I am sending snakes among you, poisonous snakes that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you.”

[9:17] The Lord Almighty said, “Think about what is happening! Call for the mourners to come, for the women who sing funeral songs.”

[9:18] The people said, “Tell them to hurry and sing a funeral song for us, until our eyes fill with tears, and our eyelids are wet from crying.”

[9:19] Listen to the sound of crying in Zion: “We are ruined! We are completely disgraced! We must leave our land; our homes have been torn down.”

[9:20] I said, “Listen to the Lord, you women, and pay attention to his words. Teach your daughters how to mourn, and your friends how to sing a funeral song.

[9:21] Death has come in through our windows and entered our palaces; it has cut down the children in the streets and the young men in the marketplaces.

[9:22] Dead bodies are scattered everywhere, like piles of manure on the fields, like grain cut and left behind by the reapers, grain that no one gathers. This is what the Lord has told me to say.”

[9:23] The Lord says, “The wise should not boast of their wisdom, nor the strong of their strength, nor the rich of their wealth.

[9:24] If any want to boast, they should boast that they know and understand me, because my love is constant, and I do what is just and right. These are the things that please me. I, the Lord, have spoken.”