Jeremiah 6 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Impending Disaster for Jerusalem

Jer 6:1Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem,
for disaster looms out of the north,
and great destruction.

Jer 6:2

Jer 6:2The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,
the daughter of Zion.[fn]

Jer 6:3

Jer 6:3Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
they shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, each in his place.

Jer 6:4

Jer 6:4“Prepare war against her;
arise, and let us attack at noon!
Woe to us, for the day declines,
for the shadows of evening lengthen!

Jer 6:5

Jer 6:5Arise, and let us attack by night
and destroy her palaces!”

Jer 6:6

Jer 6:6For thus says the LORD of hosts:
“Cut down her trees;
cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be punished;
there is nothing but oppression within her.

Jer 6:7

Jer 6:7As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her evil;
violence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.

Jer 6:8

Jer 6:8Be warned, O Jerusalem,
lest I turn from you in disgust,
lest I make you a desolation,
an uninhabited land.”

Jer 6:9

Jer 6:9Thus says the LORD of hosts:
“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
over its branches.”

Jer 6:10

Jer 6:10To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
they cannot listen;
behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.

Jer 6:11

Jer 6:11Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD;
I am weary of holding it in.
“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
the elderly and the very aged.

Jer 6:12

Jer 6:12Their houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together,
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,”
declares the LORD.

Jer 6:13

Jer 6:13“For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.

Jer 6:14

Jer 6:14They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.

Jer 6:15

Jer 6:15Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the LORD.

Jer 6:16

Jer 6:16Thus says the LORD:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Jer 6:17

Jer 6:17I set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’

Jer 6:18

Jer 6:18Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.

Jer 6:19

Jer 6:19Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it.

Jer 6:20

Jer 6:20What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba,
or sweet cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.

Jer 6:21

Jer 6:21Therefore thus says the LORD:
‘Behold, I will lay before this people
stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
fathers and sons together,
neighbor and friend shall perish.’”

Jer 6:22

Jer 6:22Thus says the LORD:
“Behold, a people is coming from the north country,
a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.

Jer 6:23

Jer 6:23They lay hold on bow and javelin;
they are cruel and have no mercy;
the sound of them is like the roaring sea;
they ride on horses,
set in array as a man for battle,
against you, O daughter of Zion!”

Jer 6:24

Jer 6:24We have heard the report of it;
our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
pain as of a woman in labor.

Jer 6:25

Jer 6:25Go not out into the field,
nor walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
terror is on every side.

Jer 6:26

Jer 6:26O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth,
and roll in ashes;
make mourning as for an only son,
most bitter lamentation,
for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.

Jer 6:27

Jer 6:27“I have made you a tester of metals among my people,
that you may know and test their ways.

Jer 6:28

Jer 6:28They are all stubbornly rebellious,
going about with slanders;
they are bronze and iron;
all of them act corruptly.

Jer 6:29

Jer 6:29The bellows blow fiercely;
the lead is consumed by the fire;
in vain the refining goes on,
for the wicked are not removed.

Jer 6:30

Jer 6:30Rejected silver they are called,
for the LORD has rejected them.”

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(6:2)

Or I have likened the daughter of Zion to the loveliest pasture

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