Jeremiah 5-6

Jeremiah 5

¹“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look now and take note; search her squares. If you can find a single person, anyone who acts justly, anyone who seeks the truth, then I will forgive the city.

²Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ they are swearing falsely.”

³O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.

⁴Then I said, “They are only the poor; they have played the fool, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.

⁵I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.” But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.

⁶Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf from the desert will ravage them. A leopard will lie in wait near their cities, and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces. For their rebellious acts are many, and their unfaithful deeds are numerous.

⁷“Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.

⁸They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

⁹Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

¹⁰Go up through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not finish them off. Strip off her branches, for they do not belong to the LORD.

¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to Me,” declares the LORD.

¹²They have lied about the LORD and said: “He will not do anything; harm will not come to us; we will not see sword or famine.

¹³The prophets are but wind, for the word is not in them. So let their own predictions befall them.”

¹⁴Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says: “Because you have spoken this word, I will make My words a fire in your mouth and this people the wood it consumes.

¹⁵Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.

¹⁶Their quivers are like open graves; they are all mighty men.

¹⁷They will devour your harvest and food; they will consume your sons and daughters; they will eat up your flocks and herds; they will feed on your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.”

¹⁸“Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you.

¹⁹And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”

²⁰Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:

²¹“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.

²²Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.

²³But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone away.

²⁴They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’

²⁵Your iniquities have diverted these from you; your sins have deprived you of My bounty.

²⁶For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.

²⁷Like cages full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become powerful and rich.

²⁸They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy.

²⁹Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

³⁰A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land.

³¹The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?

Jeremiah 6

¹“Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin; flee from Jerusalem! Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa; send up a signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms from the north, even great destruction.

²Though she is beautiful and delicate, I will destroy the Daughter of Zion.

³Shepherds and their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents all around her, each tending his own portion:

⁴‘Prepare for battle against her; rise up, let us attack at noon. Woe to us, for the daylight is fading; the evening shadows grow long.

⁵Rise up, let us attack by night and destroy her fortresses!’”

⁶For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Cut down the trees and raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; there is nothing but oppression in her midst.

⁷As a well gushes its water, so she pours out her evil. Violence and destruction resound in her; sickness and wounds are ever before Me.

⁸Be forewarned, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitant.”

⁹This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine. Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer over the branches.”

¹⁰To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.

¹¹But I am full of the LORD’s wrath; I am tired of holding it back. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the young men gathered together. For both husband and wife will be captured, the old and the very old alike.

¹²Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives as well, for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the LORD.

¹³“For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.

¹⁴They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.

¹⁵Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse,” says the LORD.

¹⁶This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

¹⁷I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.’ But they answered, ‘We will not listen!’

¹⁸Therefore hear, O nations, and learn, O congregations, what will happen to them.

¹⁹Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their own schemes, because they have paid no attention to My word and have rejected My instruction.

²⁰What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.”

²¹Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I will lay stumbling blocks before this people; fathers and sons alike will be staggered; friends and neighbors will perish.”

²²This is what the LORD says: “Behold, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is stirred up from the ends of the earth.

²³They grasp the bow and spear; they are cruel and merciless. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, lined up like men in formation against you, O Daughter of Zion.”

²⁴We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.

²⁵Do not go out to the fields; do not walk the road. For the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side.

²⁶O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

²⁷“I have appointed you to examine My people like ore, so you may know and try their ways.

²⁸All are hardened rebels, walking around as slanderers. They are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt.

²⁹The bellows blow fiercely, blasting away the lead with fire. The refining proceeds in vain, for the wicked are not purged.

³⁰They are called rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”