AB - Jeremiah - 6

6:1  Strengthen yourselves, you children of Benjamin, to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and sound an alarm with the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a signal over Beth Haccerem; for evil threatens from the north, and a great destruction is coming.

6:2  And your pride shall be taken away, O daughter of Zion.

6:3  The shepherds and their flocks shall come to her; and they shall pitch their tents against her round about, and shall feed their flocks, each with his hand.

6:4  Prepare yourselves for war against her; rise up, and let us go up against her at noon. Woe to us, for the day has gone down, and the shadows of the day fail.

6:5  Rise, and let us go up against her by night, and destroy her foundations.

6:6  For thus says the Lord, Cut down her trees, array a numerous force against Jerusalem. O false city, she is full of oppression.

6:7  As a cistern cools water, so her wickedness cools her, ungodliness and misery shall be heard in her, as continually before her.

6:8  You shall be chastened, O Jerusalem, with pain and the scourge, lest My soul depart from you; lest I make you a desert land, which shall not be inhabited.

6:9  For thus says the Lord, Glean, glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel: turn back your hands as a grape-gatherer to his basket.

6:10  To whom shall I speak and testify, that he may hear? Behold, your ears are uncircumcised, and they shall not be able to hear. Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them, they will not at all desire it.

6:11  And I allowed My wrath to come to full, yet I kept it in, and did not utterly destroy them. I will pour it out on the children outside, and on the assembly of young men together; for man and woman shall be taken together, the old man with him that is full of days.

6:12  And their houses shall be turned to others, with their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out My hand upon the inhabitants of this land, says the Lord.

6:13  For from the least of them even to the greatest they have all committed iniquity; from the priest even to the false prophet they have all dealt falsely.

6:14  And they healed the breach of My people imperfectly, making light of it, and saying, Peace, peace, and where is peace?

6:15  They were ashamed because they failed; yet they were not ashamed as those who were truly ashamed, and they knew not their own disgrace; therefore shall they utterly fall when they do fall, and in the time of visitation shall they perish, says the Lord.

6:16  Thus says the Lord, Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths of the Lord; and see what is the good way and walk in it, and you shall find purification for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in them.

6:17  I have set watchmen over you, saying, Hear the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hear.

6:18  Therefore have the nations heard, and they that feed their flocks.

6:19  Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evils upon this people, even the fruit of their rebellions; for they have not heeded My words, and they have rejected My law.

6:20  Why do you bring Me frankincense from Sheba, and cinnamon from a land afar off? Your whole burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices have not been pleasing to Me.

6:21  Therefore thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring weakness upon this people, and the fathers and sons shall be weak together; the neighbor and his friend shall perish.

6:22  Thus says the Lord, Behold, a people come from the north, and nations shall be stirred up from the end of the earth.

6:23  They shall lay hold of bow and spear; the people are fierce, and will have no mercy; their voice is as the roaring sea; they shall array themselves for war against you as fire on horses and chariots, O daughter of Zion.

6:24  We have heard the report of them; our hands are weakened. Anguish has seized us, the pangs as of a woman in travail.

6:25  Go not forth into the field, and walk not in the ways, for the sword of the enemy lingers round about.

6:26  O daughter of My people, gird yourself with sackcloth; sprinkle yourself with ashes; make for yourself pitiable lamentation, as the mourning for a beloved son; for misery will come suddenly upon you.

6:27  I have caused you to be tried among tried nations, and you shall know Me when I have tested their way.

6:28  They are all disobedient, walking perversely. They are brass and iron; they are all corrupted.

6:29  The bellows have failed from the fire, the lead has failed. The silversmith works at his trade in vain; their wickedness is not consumed.

6:30  Call them reprobate silver, because the Lord has rejected them.