﻿Jeremiah.
Chapter 6.
Flee for safety, people of Benjamin, out of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms from the north, and great destruction. 
“I will destroy the lovely and delicate daughter of Zion. 
Shepherds with their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents all around her, each grazing his own portion.” 
“Consecrate war against her! Rise up; let us attack at noon! Woe to us, for the day is declining and the evening shadows are growing long! 
Rise up; let us attack by night and destroy her palaces!” 
For this is what the LORD of hosts says: “Cut down trees and build a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished; oppression fills her. 
As a well brings forth its water, so she brings forth her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard in her; sickness and wounds are continually before me. 
Accept discipline, Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; or I will make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.” 
This is what the LORD of hosts says: “They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Pass your hand over the branches again, like a grape gatherer.” 
To whom can I speak and give warning, so that they will listen? Look, their ears are uncircumcised; they cannot pay attention. Look, the word of the LORD is an offense to them; they take no pleasure in it. 
I am full of the wrath of the LORD; I am weary of holding it in. “Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together, for husband and wife alike will be taken, the aged and the very old. 
Their houses will pass to others, their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the LORD. 
“For from the least to the greatest, all are greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit. 
They have treated the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. 
Were they ashamed when they committed an abomination? No, they were not ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush. Therefore they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will stumble,” says the LORD. 
This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the roads and look; ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ 
I appointed watchmen over you: ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ 
Therefore hear, nations; know, assembly, what is happening among them. 
Hear, earth! Look, I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law. 
What use to me is frankincense brought from Sheba, or fragrant cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices do not please me.” 
Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Look, I am putting stumbling blocks before this people. Fathers and sons together will stumble over them; neighbor and friend will perish.” 
This is what the LORD says: “Look, a people is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth. 
They grasp bow and javelin; they are cruel and show no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, arrayed like warriors for battle against you, daughter of Zion.” 
We have heard the report of them, and our hands fall limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like a woman in labor. 
Do not go out into the field or walk along the road, for the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side. 
Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn as for an only son, with bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us. 
“I have made you a tester among my people, a fortress, so that you may know and test their ways. 
They are all stubborn rebels, going about as slanderers; they are bronze and iron, all of them spreading corruption. 
The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the fire. In vain the refiner keeps refining; the wicked are not separated out. 
They are called rejected silver, for the LORD has rejected them.” 
