Jeremiah 6

1Take cover, sons of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster is looking down from the north, and great destruction.

2I have likened daughter Zion to a lovely and delicate woman.

3To her shepherds will come with their flocks; they will pitch tents against her all around; each will pasture his own place.

4Consecrate war against her; rise up, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us, for the day is turning away, for the shadows of evening are stretching out.

5Rise up, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

6For thus says Yahweh of hosts: “Cut down trees, and heap up a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her.”

7As a well keeps its waters fresh, so she keeps her evil fresh. Violence and destruction are heard in her; before me continually are sickness and wounds.

8Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest my soul turn away from you, lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited.

9Thus says Yahweh of hosts: They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine; pass your hand over the branches again like a grape-gatherer.

10To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Look, their ear is uncircumcised, and they are not able to listen. Look, the word of Yahweh has become a reproach to them; they take no delight in it.

11But I am full of the wrath of Yahweh; I am weary of holding it in. Pour it out on the child in the street, and on the company of young men together; for both man and woman will be taken, the old man along with the very aged.

12Their houses will be turned over to others, together with their fields and wives; for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, declares Yahweh.

13For from their least to their greatest, every one of them is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, every one of them practices falsehood.

14They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

15Were they ashamed because they had done an abomination? No, they were not ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush. Therefore they will fall among the fallen; at the time I punish them, they will stumble, says Yahweh.

16Thus says Yahweh: “Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; then walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”

17I set watchmen over you: ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’

18Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.

19Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words, and they have rejected my law.

20Why is this to me: frankincense comes from Sheba, and sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices do not please me.

21Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am setting stumbling blocks before this people, and they will stumble over them—fathers and sons together; neighbor and his friend will perish.

22Thus says Yahweh: Behold, a people is coming from the land of the north, and a great nation is stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth.

23They seize bow and javelin; they are cruel and show no mercy. Their sound roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, arrayed like a man for battle against you, daughter Zion.

24We have heard the report of it; our hands hang limp. Distress has seized us, pain like a woman giving birth.

25Do not go out into the field, and do not walk on the road, for the sword of the enemy and terror are on every side.

26Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, a most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

27I have made you a tester among my people, a fortress, so that you may know and test their way.

28All of them are the most stubborn rebels, going about as slanderers; they are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupters.

29The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the fire. In vain the refiner keeps refining, but the wicked are not separated out.

30They call them rejected silver, because Yahweh has rejected them.