Jeremiah 6

1 Take your goods into safety, ye sons of Benjamin out of the midst of Jerusalem, And in Tekoa, blow ye a horn, And on Beth-haccherem, raise a fire-signal, —For calamity, hath looked out from the North, Even a great destruction.

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 To a comely and delicate woman, have I likened the daughter of Zion:

And [your] pride, O daughter of Sion, shall be taken away.

3 Against her, shall come shepherds with their flocks; They have pitched against her their tents, round about, They tend their flocks every one near at hand.

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 Hallow ye against her a war, Arise! and let us go up in broad noon. Woe to us, for the day, hath turned, for the shadows of evening, stretch along.

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 Arise! and let us go up in the night, And let us destroy her palaces.

Rise, and let us go up against her by night, and destroy her foundations.

6 For, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Cut ye down timber, And cast up, against Jerusalem a mound, —That, is the city to be punished! There is, nothing, but oppression in her midst;

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 the casting forth by a well of its waters, So, hath she cast forth her wickedness, —Violence and destruction, are heard in her, Before my face, continually, are suffering and smiting.

As a cistern cools water, so her wickedness cools her, ungodliness and misery shall be heard in her, [as] continually before her.

8 Receive thou correction O Jerusalem, Lest my soul be torn from thee, —Lest I make thee A desolation, A land not habitable.

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 Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel—Turn back thy hand, as a grape gatherer over the tendrils.

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 Unto whom, can I speak—and bear witness, that they may hear? Lo! uncircumcised, is their ear, that they cannot attend, —Lo! the word of Yahweh, hath become to them a reproach, they take no delight therein.

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 So then, with the indignation of Yahweh, am I full, I am too weary to hold it in, [I am constrained] to pour it out, upon the boy in the street, and upon the circle of young men, together, —For, even husband with wife, will be captured, The elder with him who is full of days;

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 And their houses shall be turned over to others, Fields and wives together, —For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, Declareth Yahweh.

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 For, from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, Every one, graspeth with greed, —And from the prophet even unto the priest, Every one, dealeth, falsely;

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 And so they have healed the grievous wound of my people, slightly, Saying, Peace, peace, when there was no peace,

And they healed the breach of my people [imperfectly], making light [of it], and saying, Peace, peace, and where is peace?

15 Were they led to turn pale because an abominable thing, they had done! Nay! they did not, at all turn pale, Nay! they did not so much as know how, to exhibit shame, Therefore, shall they fall among them who are falling, In the time when I punish them, shall they be overthrown, Saith Yahweh.

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 Thus saith Yahweh—Stand ye at the ways—and see, And ask for the paths of age-past times, Where is the good way? And walk therein, And ye shall find rest to your souls. But they said, We will not walk [therein]!

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 Therefore will I raise up over you, watchmen, Give ye heed to the sound of a horn, —But they said, We will not give heed!

I have set watchmen over you, [saying], Hear you the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hear [it].

18 Therefore, hear O ye nations, —And take knowledge O assembly, Of that which befalleth them:

Therefore have the nations heard, and they that feed their flocks.

19 Hear thou—O earth, Lo! I, am bringing in Calamity against this people the fruit of their own devices, —For unto my words, have they not given heed, And as for my law, they have rejected it.

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 then is it to me that—Frankincense from Shebah come in, or Sweet cane from a land afar off? Your own ascending-offerings, are not acceptable, Nor are, your sacrifices, pleasing to me.

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 Wherefore, Thus, saith Yahweh, Behold me! laying before this people, stumblingblocks, —And fathers and sons together, shall stumble against them, The neighbour and his friend, shall perish.

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 Thus, saith Yahweh, Lo! a people coming in from the land of the North, —Yea a great nation, shall be stirred up out of the remote parts 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 Bow and javelin, shall they grasp, Cruel, is he! So they will not have compassion, Their voice, like the sea, will roar, And on horses, will they ride, —Arrayed each one, like a man for battle, Against thee, O 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 We have heard the report thereof, Relaxed are our hands, —Anguish, hath taken hold on us, Pangs, as on her that is giving birth.

We have heard the report of them: our hands are weakened: anguish has seized us, the pangs as of a woman in travail.

25 Do not go out into the field, And in the road, do not walk, -Because a sword, hath the foe, —Terror round about!

Go not forth into the field, and walk not in the ways; for the sword of the enemy lingers round about.

26 O daughter of my people Gird thee with sackcloth and roll thyself in ashes, —The mourning for an only son, make thou for thyself, Most bitter lamentation! For suddenly, shall the destroyer come upon us.

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 An assayer, have I set thee amongst my people, of gold-ore, —That thou mayest note and try their way:

I have caused you to be tried amongst tried nations, and you shall know me when I have tried their way.

28 They all, are rebels of rebels, Slander-walkers [They are] bronze and iron! As for them all, corrupters, they are!

[They are] all disobedient, walking perversely: [they are] brass and iron; they are all corrupted.

29 Scorched are the bellows, By fire, is lead wont to be, consumed, —In vain, hath he gone on refining, For the wicked, have not been drawn out:

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 Rejected silver, are they called, For, Yahweh, hath rejected them.

Call you them reprobate silver, because the Lord has rejected them.