Jeremiah 6
1 Run and hide, descendants of Benjamin, get out of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa; light a signal fire in Beth-haccherem, for disaster and terrible destruction is arriving from the north.
Strengthen yourselves, you children of Benjamin, [to flee] out of the midst of Jerusalem, and sound an alarm with the trumpet in Thecue, and set up a signal over Baethacharma: for evil threatens from the north, and a great destruction is coming.
2 Even though she is pretty and delightful, I will destroy the Daughter of Zion.
And [your] pride, O daughter of Sion, shall be taken away.
3 “Shepherds” and their “flocks” will come to attack her; they will set up their tents all around her, each one looking after his own.
The shepherds and their flocks shall come to her; and they shall pitch [their] tents against her round about, and shall feed [their flocks] each with his hand.
4 They get ready for battle against her, saying, “Come on, we'll attack at noon! Oh no, the day is almost over, the evening shadows are growing long.
Prepare yourselves for war against her; rise up, and let us go up against her at noon. Woe to us! for the day has gone down, for the shadows of the day fail.
5 Come on, we'll attack at night instead and destroy her fortresses!”
Rise, and let us go up against her by night, and destroy her foundations.
6 This is what the Lord Almighty says: Cut down the trees and make a siege ramp to use against Jerusalem. This city needs to be punished because it's full of people mistreating one another.
For thus says the Lord, Hew down her trees, array a numerous force against Jerusalem. O false city; [there is] all oppression in her.
7 Like a spring gushing out water, so she pours out her evil. The sounds of violence and abuse echo inside her. I see people sick and wounded everywhere.
As a cistern cools water, so her wickedness cools her, ungodliness and misery shall be heard in her, [as] continually before her.
8 I'm warning you, people of Jerusalem, I'm going to give up on you in disgust. I will destroy you and leave your country uninhabited.
You shall be chastened, O Jerusalem, with pain and the scourge, lest my soul depart from you; lest I make you a desert land, which shall not be inhabited.
9 This is what the Lord Almighty says: Even those left in Israel will be taken, just as grapes left on a vine are taken by the one harvesting the grapes who checks the branches again.
For thus says the Lord, Glean, glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel: turn back [your hands] as a grape-gatherer to his basket.
10 Who can I give this warning to? Who's going to listen to me? Can't you see that they refuse to listen? They can't hear what I'm saying. See how offensive the Lord's message is to them. They don't like it at all.
To whom shall I speak, and testify, that he may listen? behold, your ears are uncircumcised, and they shall not be able to hear: behold, the word of the Lord is become to them a reproach, they will not at all desire it.
11 But as for me, I'm full of the Lord's anger; I have a hard time keeping it in. The Lord replies, Pour it out on children in the street, and on groups of young people, because both husband and wife are going to be captured—it's everyone, and it doesn't matter how old they are.
And I allowed my wrath to come to full, yet I kept [it] in, and did not utterly destroy them: I will pour it out on the children without, and on the assembly of young men together: for man and woman shall be taken together, the old man with him that is full of days.
12 Their houses will be given to others, their fields and wives too, because I'm going to punish everyone living in this country, declares the Lord.
And their houses shall be turned to others, [with] their fields and their wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of this land, says the Lord.
13 Everyone cheats because they're greedy, poor and rich alike. Even prophets and priests—they are all dishonest liars!
For from the least of them even to the greatest they have all committed iniquity; from the priest even to the false prophet they have all wrought falsely.
14 They give my wounded people first aid, but they don't really care about them. They tell them, “Don't worry! We have peace!” even as war approaches.
And they healed the breach of my people [imperfectly], making light [of it], and saying, Peace, peace, and where is peace?
15 Were they ashamed of the disgusting things they did? No, they weren't ashamed at all, they couldn't even blush. So they will fall just like the others, when I punish them; they will drop down dead, says the Lord.
They were ashamed because they failed; yet they were not ashamed as those who are [truly] ashamed, and they knew not their own disgrace: therefore shall they [utterly] fall when they do fall, and in the time of visitation shall they perish, said the Lord.
16 This is what the Lord says: Go and stand where the roads divide, and look. Find out which are the old paths. Ask, “What's the right way?” Then follow it and you'll be content. But you refused, saying, “We won't go that way!”
Thus says the Lord, Stand you in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths of the Lord; and see what is the good way, and walk in it, and you shall find purification for your souls. But they said, We will not walk [in them].
17 I put watchmen in charge of you and told you, make sure you listen for the trumpet call warning you of danger. But you answered, “We won't listen!”
I have set watchmen over you, [saying], Hear you the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hear [it].
18 So now you other nations can listen and find out what's going to happen to them.
Therefore have the nations heard, and they that feed their flocks.
19 Earth, you listen too! I am bringing disaster down on this people, the end result of what they themselves planned. It's because they paid no attention to what I said, and rejected my instructions.
Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evils upon this people, [even] the fruit of their rebellions; for they have not heeded my words, and they have rejected my law.
20 What's the point of offering me frankincense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a far-away land? I don't accept your burnt offerings; I'm not pleased with your sacrifices.
Therefore do you bring me frankincense from Saba, and cinnamon from a land afar off? your whole burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices have not been pleasant to me.
21 So this is what the Lord says: I'm going to put blocks in front of these people to trip them up. Fathers and sons will fall down dead, friends and neighbors too.
Therefore thus says the Lord, Behold, I [will] bring weakness upon this people, and the fathers and sons shall be weak together; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.
22 This is what the Lord says: Look! An army is invading from the north; a powerful nation is getting ready to attack all the way from the ends of the earth.
Thus says the Lord, Behold, a people comes from the north, and nations shall be stirred up from the end of the earth.
23 They pick up their bows and spears. They are cruel and show no mercy. Their war-cries are like the sea roaring, and they ride horses lined up ready to attack you, Daughter of Zion.
They shall lay hold on bow and spear; [the people] is fierce, and will have no mercy; their voice is as the roaring sea; they shall array themselves for war against you as fire on horses and chariots, O daughter of Sion.
24 The people reply, “We've heard the news, and our hands are limp with shock! We're overcome with agony, suffering pain like a woman in labor.
We have heard the report of them: our hands are weakened: anguish has seized us, the pangs as of a woman in travail.
25 Don't go to the field! Don't walk down the road! The enemy is armed with swords! Terror is everywhere!”
Go not forth into the field, and walk not in the ways; for the sword of the enemy lingers round about.
26 Oh my people, put on sackcloth and roll around in ashes. Mourn and cry bitterly like you would for an only son, because the destroyer will come down on you suddenly.
O daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth: sprinkle [yourself] with ashes; make for yourself pitiable lamentation, [as] the mourning for a beloved [son]: for misery will come suddenly upon you.
27 Jeremiah, I have made you a tester of metals so you can test my people as if they were metal, so you can know what they're made of and how they act.
I have caused you to be tried amongst tried nations, and you shall know me when I have tried their way.
28 They're all stubborn rebels going around talking slander. They are hard as bronze and iron; they are all corrupt.
[They are] all disobedient, walking perversely: [they are] brass and iron; they are all corrupted.
29 The bellows in the refiner's furnace blow powerfully, burning away the lead. But this refining is pointless, because the wicked are not purified.
The bellows have failed from the fire, the lead has failed: the silversmith works at his trade in vain; their wickedness is not consumed.
30 They are identified as impure silver to be rejected, because the Lord has rejected them.
Call you them reprobate silver, because the Lord has rejected them.
