Jeremiah 6
Revised Geneva Translation
6 “O you children of Benjamin, prepare to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa! Set up a standard upon Beth-Haccerem! For a plague appears out of the North, and great destruction!
2 “I have compared the Daughter of Zion to a beautiful and delicate woman.
3 “The shepherds, with their flocks, shall come to her. They shall pitch tents all around her, and everyone shall feed in his place.”
4 “Prepare for war against her! Arise, and let us go up toward the South. Woe to us! For the day declines, and the shadows of the evening are stretched out.
5 “Arise, and let us go up by night and destroy her palaces!”
6 For thus has the LORD of Hosts said: “Cut down wood and lay down a mound against Jerusalem! This city must be visited! All oppression is in the midst of it!
7 “As the fountain throws forth her waters, so she throws forth her malice! Cruelty and spoil are continually heard in her before Me, with sorrow and strokes.
8 “Be instructed, O [h]Jerusalem, lest My Soul departs from you, lest I make you desolate, a land that no one inhabits!”
9 Thus says the LORD of Hosts: “They shall gather, the residue of Israel, as a vine. Return your hand into the baskets, as does the grape gatherer.”
10 To whom shall I speak, and admonish, so that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot listen. Behold, the Word of the LORD is as a reproach to them. They have no delight in it.
11 Therefore, I am full of the wrath of the LORD. I am weary with holding it. “I will pour it out upon the children in the street, and likewise upon the assembly of the young men. For the husband shall be taken with the wife, the aged with him who is full of days,
12 “and their houses with their lands. And wives, also, shall be turned to strangers. For I will stretch out My Hand upon the inhabitants of the land,” says the LORD.
13 “For from the least of them to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness, and from the Prophet to the Priest, they all deal falsely.
14 “They have also slightly healed the hurt of My people, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
15 “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not ashamed. Nor could they have any shame. Therefore, they shall fall among the slain when I shall visit them. They shall be cast down,” says the LORD.
16 Thus says the LORD: “Stand in the ways and behold. And ask for the old way, which is the good way. And walk in it. And you shall find rest for your souls.’ But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 “Also, I set watchmen over you, who said, ‘Listen for the sound of the trumpet.’ But they said, ‘We will not listen for it.’
18 “Hear, therefore, you Gentiles. And know, you Congregation, what is among them.
19 “Hear, O Earth! Behold, I will cause a plague to come upon this people, the fruit of their own imaginations. Because they have not listened to My Words, nor to My Law, but cast it off.
20 “For what purpose do you bring Me incense from Sheba, and sweet calamus from a far country? Your Burnt Offerings are not pleasant, nor your sacrifices sweet, to Me.”
21 Therefore, thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish.”
22 Thus says the LORD: “Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation shall arise from the sides of the Earth.
23 “They shall be weaponed with bow and shield. They are cruel and will have no compassion. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, well-appointed, like men of war against you, O daughter Zion.”
24 We have heard of their fame. Our hands grow feeble. Sorrow has come upon us, as the sorrow of a woman in labor.
25 Do not go forth into the field or walk by the way, for the sword of the enemy and fear are on every side.
26 O daughter of my people, gird yourselves with sackcloth and wallow in the ashes! Make lamentation, and bitter mourning, as for your only son. For the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
27 “I have set you as a defense and fortress among My people, so that you may know and try their ways.
28 “They are all rebellious traitors, walking craftily, bronze and iron. They all are destroyers.
29 “The bellows are burnt. The lead is consumed in the fire. The founder refines in vain. For the wicked are not taken away.
30 “They shall call them rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”
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