Jeremiah 6:1-30

“People of Benjamin, flee for your lives! Leave Jerusalem! Blow the shofar to warn the city of Tekoa! Send up a smoke signal at Beth Hakkerem! For disaster looms out of the north, a great destruction threatens you. Daughter Zion, you are so lovely and delicate, but I will destroy you. As shepherds pasture many flocks all around a city, so the camps of enemy soldiers encircle you, like many flocks of grazing sheep. In the morning, the soldiers will say, ‘Come on, prepare for war! We attack Jerusalem at noon!’ But later, as the sun grows hot, they will complain, ‘Woe to us, for the day is fading, and the shadows of evening grow long. Arise, let us go up and attack tonight, then we will easily destroy her strongholds.’ ” Here is what YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, says: “Cut down the trees and set up a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This is a city ripe for punishment because she is riddled with brutal oppression. As a spring pours out its fresh water, so she pours out her fresh evil. All I see are the sick and wounded; the violence and destruction within her cry out. Learn your lesson, Jerusalem, lest I turn my back on you in disgust and make the whole land desolate, a land where no one lives!” YAHWEH, the Commander of Angel Armies, says: “As one gleans the grapes that remain in a vineyard, those who remain of Israel will be gleaned. As the hand of the grape gatherer goes through the vines one last time, the Babylonians will glean what the Assyrians leave behind.” If I speak to warn the remnant of Israel, no one will listen. Their ears are blocked, and they are incapable of hearing. The word of YAHWEH has become an object of scorn; it’s no longer a pleasure for them. The fury of YAHWEH has filled me, and I am weary of trying to hold it in. “Pour it out on every child playing in the street, on the young men gathered there. Women and men alike will be taken captive, both the middle aged and those advanced in years. Strangers will seize their homes, their fields, and their wives. For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land. I, YAHWEH, have spoken.” “From the smallest to the greatest, they are greedy for corrupt profits; prophet and priest alike, they all practice deceit. They treat the wounds of my people as though they were scratches. They say, ‘Peace, everything is well,’ when there is no peace, and nothing is well. Although they have acted shamefully and committed abhorrent acts, they feel no shame; they don’t even know how to blush. They will fall among the fallen and stumble in their time of reckoning, I, YAHWEH, have spoken.” YAHWEH said to his people: “Stand at the crossroads. Now, consider your ways and ask for the ancient paths. Which is God’s way? Walk on his path, and you’ll enjoy a resting place for yourselves. But they said, ‘We will not. That’s not the path we want.’ ” YAHWEH said, “I raised up prophetic watchmen to warn you: ‘Pay attention to the sound of the shofar!’ Still, they replied, ‘We will not.’ Hear well then, O nations, and observe as witnesses what’s in store for them. Hear, O earth! I am bringing a catastrophe to these people, the fruit of their own evil schemes. For they refused to listen to my words, and threw all my instructions and warnings to the wind.” “What use to me is all this frankincense that you’ve imported from Sheba and all these exotic spices from distant lands? I will not accept your burnt offerings; the aroma of your sacrifices is no longer sweet to me.” So this is what YAHWEH has said: “I will put obstacles before these people, and they will stumble and fall over them. Fathers and children, neighbors and friends, all will die.” This is what YAHWEH has said: “Look! They’re coming! Warriors approach from the north. From the remote parts of the earth, a great nation is preparing for war. Armed with bows and spears, they are merciless and cruel. The sound of their armies riding their horses is like the roaring sea. The cavalry is formed for battle and ready to attack you, O Fair Zion!” The people say: “We have heard the news, and our strength fails. Like a woman in childbirth, we are in agony, seized with pain. Don’t go out into the field; stay off the streets! For our enemies are armed, and there is terror on every side.” My dear people, it’s time to mourn. Put on sackcloth and sprinkle ashes on yourselves. Mourn as you would for an only child. Wail bitterly, for suddenly the destroyer will be upon us. YAHWEH said to me: “I have made you as one who tests metals among my people. In the same way a person tests metal, you will perceive and test their ways. They are the most stubborn of rebels. Each one spreads slander and practices dishonesty. They are as hard as bronze and iron. Though the bellows blow fiercely, yet the smelter smelts to no avail. Fire melts and burns away the lead, but my refining fire fails to separate the dross of their wickedness. They are called ‘rejected silver,’ for YAHWEH has rejected them.”