Jeremiah 6:1-15
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Imminence and Horror of the Invasion
6 Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem,
for evil looms out of the north
and great destruction.(A)
2 I have likened daughter Zion
to the loveliest pasture.[a](B)
3 Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her.
They shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, all in their places.(C)
4 “Prepare war against her;
up, and let us attack at noon!”
“Woe to us, for the day declines;
the shadows of evening lengthen!”(D)
5 “Up, and let us attack by night,
and destroy her palaces!”(E)
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts:
Cut down her trees;
cast up a siege ramp against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be punished;[b]
there is nothing but oppression within her.(F)
7 As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her wickedness;
violence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.(G)
8 Take warning, O Jerusalem,
or I shall turn from you in disgust
and make you a desolation,
an uninhabited land.(H)
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Glean[c] thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer, pass your hand again
over its branches.(I)
10 To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
See, their ears are closed;[d]
they cannot listen.
The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.(J)
11 But I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
I am weary of holding it in.
Pour it out on the children in the street
and on the gatherings of young men as well;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
the elderly and those full of days.(K)
12 Their houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together;
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,
says the Lord.(L)
13 For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.(M)
14 They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.(N)
15 They acted shamefully; they committed abomination,
yet they were not ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.