Jeremías 6

Flee from Jerusalem

¹Run for safety, people of Benjamin, out from the middle of Jerusalem! \q Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa, \q lift up a signal fire over Beth-haccherem! \q For disaster is looming out of the north, a great collapse. ²The lovely and pampered one, \q Daughter Zion, I will destroy.^{a 3}Shepherds will come against her with their flocks; \q they will set up tents on every side of her, \q and each will graze his own patch. ⁴“Make ready a holy war against her! \q Up, let us attack at noon!” \q “Woe to us! The day is fading, \q and the evening shadows are growing long! ⁵Up, let us attack by night \q and destroy her strongholds!”

⁶For the LORD of Armies says this: \q Cut down her trees \q and heap up a siege ramp against Jerusalem. \q This is the city marked for punishment; \q inside her is oppression and nothing else.^{b 7}As a well keeps its water fresh, \q so she keeps her wickedness flowing. \q Violence and ruin echo in her streets; sickness and wounds are always before me. ⁸Take correction, Jerusalem, \q or I will turn from you in disgust, \q and make you a wasteland, \q a land where no one lives.

⁹The LORD of Armies says this: \q They will glean the remnant of Israel as bare as a vine. \q Reach out your hand again like one picking grapes, \q over the branches. ¹⁰Who is there for me to speak to and warn, so that they will listen? \q Their ears are uncircumcised; \q they cannot pay attention. \q The word of the LORD has become something they mock; they take no pleasure in it.^{c 11}But I am filled with the fury of the LORD; I am worn out from holding it back. \q Pour it out on the little ones in the street \q and on the young men where they gather; \q for husband and wife alike will be captured, \q the elderly and those who have lived out their years. ¹²Their houses will pass to others, \q their fields and their wives too; \q for I will stretch out my hand against the people of the land, declares the LORD. ¹³For from the smallest of them to the greatest, \q all are out for dishonest gain; \q from prophet to priest, \q every one of them deals in lies. ¹⁴They have treated the fracture of my people as though it were slight, \q saying, “Peace, peace,” \q when there is no peace.^{d 15}Were they ashamed when they did such detestable things? \q Not in the least; they have forgotten how to blush. \q So they will fall with the fallen; \q when I call them to account they will be brought down, says the LORD.

The age-old paths

¹⁶The LORD says this: Stand where the roads meet and look around; ask about the age-old paths, which one is the good way, \q and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. \q But they answered, “We will not go that way.”^{e 17}I set watchmen over you: \q “Listen for the blast of the ram’s horn!” \q But they said, “We will not listen.” ¹⁸Therefore listen, you nations; \q know, you assembly, what will happen to them.^{f 19}Listen, earth! \q I am about to bring disaster on this people, the fruit of their own plotting, \q because they have paid no heed to my words, \q and my instruction they have tossed aside. ²⁰What do I care for incense brought from Sheba, \q or for fragrant cane from a faraway land? \q Your burnt offerings do not win my favor; \q your sacrifices give me no pleasure.

²¹So the LORD says this: \q I am about to set obstacles in front of this people, \q and they will trip over them, parents and children alike; neighbors and friends will die.

An army from the land of the north

²²The LORD says this: \q See, an army is coming from the land of the north; \q a mighty nation is being roused from the ends of the earth. ²³They take hold of bow and spear; \q they are cruel and show no mercy. \q The noise of them roars like the sea \q as they ride on horses, \q lined up like a warrior for battle against you, Daughter Zion. ²⁴We have heard the news of them, and our hands hang limp; \q distress has gripped us, \q pain like a woman in labor. ²⁵Do not go out into the countryside; \q do not travel on the roads; \q for the enemy’s sword is there, \q terror on every side.^{g 26}My dear people, put on sackcloth \q and roll in the ashes; \q mourn as for an only son, \q with the bitterest wailing; \q for suddenly the destroyer will fall on us. ²⁷I have made you a tester of metals among my people, strong as a fortress, \q so that you may learn and test their ways.^{h 28}They are all hardened rebels, \q going around spreading slander. They are bronze and iron; \q every one of them is corrupt. ²⁹The bellows blast away, \q the lead is burned up in the fire, \q but the refining goes on for nothing; \q the wicked are not drawn off.^{i 30}They are called worthless silver, \q because the LORD has thrown them away.