A Warning for the People of Jerusalem
The Lord said:
1 Run for your lives,
people of Benjamin.
Get out of Jerusalem.
Sound a trumpet in Tekoa
and light a signal fire
in Beth-Haccherem.
Soon you will be struck
by disaster from the north.
2 Jerusalem is a lovely pasture,
3 but shepherds will surround it
and divided up,
then let their flocks
eat all the grass.
4 Kings will tell their troops,
“If we reach Jerusalem
in the morning,
we'll attack at noon.
But if we arrive later,
5 we'll attack after dark
and destroy its fortresses.”
6 I am the Lord All-Powerful,
and I will command these armies
to chop down trees
and build a ramp up to the walls
of Jerusalem.
People of Jerusalem,
I must punish you
for your injustice.
7 Evil pours from your city
like water from a spring.
Sounds of injustice and violence
echo within your walls;
victims are everywhere,
wounded and dying.
8 Listen to me,
you people of Jerusalem
and Judah.
I will abandon you,
and your land will become
an empty desert.
9 I will tell your enemies
to leave your nation bare
like a vine stripped of grapes.
I, the Lord All-Powerful,
have spoken.
Jeremiah's Anger
10 I have told the people
that you, Lord,
will punish them,
but they just laugh
and refuse to listen.
11 Your anger against Judah
flames up inside me,
and I can't hold it in
much longer.
The Lord's Anger Will Sweep Everyone Away
The Lord answered:
Don't hold back my anger!
Let it sweep away everyone—
the children at play
and all adults,
young and old alike.
12 I'll punish the people of Judah
and give to others
their houses and fields,
as well as their wives.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
13 Everyone is greedy and dishonest,
whether poor or rich.
Even the prophets and priests
cannot be trusted.
14 All they ever offer
to my deeply wounded people
are empty hopes for peace.
15 They should be ashamed
of their disgusting sins,
but they don't even blush.
And so, when I punish Judah,
they will end up on the ground,
dead like everyone else.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
The People of Judah Rejected God's Way of Life
16 The Lord said:
My people, when you stood
at the crossroads,
I told you, “Follow the road
your ancestors took,
and you will find peace.”
But you refused.
17 I also sent prophets
to warn you of danger,
but when they sounded the alarm,
you paid no attention.
18 So I tell all nations on earth,
“Watch what I will do!
19 My people ignored me
and rejected my laws.
They planned to do evil,
and now the evil they planned
will happen to them.”
20 People of Judah,
you bring me incense from Sheba
and spices from distant lands.
You offer sacrifices of all kinds.
But why bother?
I hate these gifts of yours!
21 So I will put stumbling blocks
in your path,
and everyone will die,
including parents and children,
neighbors and friends.
An Army from the North
22 The Lord said,
“Look toward the north,
where a powerful nation
has prepared for war.
23 Its well-armed troops are cruel
and never show mercy.
Their galloping horses sound
like ocean waves
pounding on the shore.
This army will attack you,
lovely Jerusalem.”
24 Then the people said,
“Just hearing about them
makes us tremble with fear,
and we twist and turn in pain
like a woman giving birth.”
25 The Lord said,
“Don't work in your fields
or walk along the roads.
It's too dangerous.
The enemy is well armed
26 and attacks without warning.
So mourn, my people, as though
your only child had died.
Wear clothes made of sackcloth
and roll in the ash pile.”
The Lord's People Must Be Tested
The Lord said:
27 Jeremiah, test my people
as though they were metal.
28 And you'll find they are hard
like bronze and iron.
They are stubborn rebels,
always spreading lies.
* 29-30 Silver can be purified
in a fiery furnace,
but my people are too wicked
to be made pure,
and so I have rejected them.
1 O ye children of Beniamin, prepare to flee out of the middes of Ierusalem, and blowe the trumpet in Tekoa: set vp a standart vpon Beth-haccerem: for a plague appeareth out of the North and great destruction. 2 I haue compared the daughter of Zion to a beautifull and daintie woman. 3 The pastors with their flockes shall come vnto her: they shall pitche their tentes rounde about by her, and euery one shall feede in his place. 4 Prepare warre against her: arise, and let vs goe vp toward the South: wo vnto vs: for the day declineth, and the shadowes of the euening are stretched out. 5 Arise, and let vs goe vp by night, and destroy her palaces. 6 For thus hath the Lord of hostes said, Hewe downe wood, and cast a mounte against Ierusalem: this citie must be visited: all oppression is in the middes of it. 7 As the fountaine casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her malice: crueltie and spoyle is continually heard in her before me with sorowe and strokes. 8 Be thou instructed, O Ierusalem, lest my soule depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate as a land, that none inhabiteth. 9 Thus sayeth the Lord of hostes, They shall gather as a vine, the residue of Israel: turne backe thine hande as the grape gatherer into the baskets. 10 Vnto whome shall I speake, and admonish that they may heare? beholde, their eares are vncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: beholde, the worde of the Lord is vnto them as a reproche: they haue no delite in it. 11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord: I am weary with holding it: I will powre it out vpon the children in the streete, and likewise vpon the assembly of the yong men: for the husband shall euen be taken with the wife, and the aged with him that is full of daies. 12 And their houses with their landes, and wiues also shalbe turned vnto strangers: for I will stretch out mine hande vpon the inhabitants of the land, sayeth the Lord. 13 For from the least of them, euen vnto the greatest of them, euery one is giuen vnto couetousnesse, and from the Prophet euen vnto the Priest, they all deale falsely. 14 They haue healed also ye hurt of the daughter of my people with sweete woordes, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. 15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not ashamed, no neither coulde they haue any shame: therefore they shall fall among the slaine: when I shall visite them, they shall be cast downe, sayth the Lord. 16 Thus sayeth the Lord, Stande in the waies and beholde, and aske for the olde way, which is the good way and walke therein, and yee shall finde rest for your soules: but they saide, We will not walke therein. 17 Also I set watchmen ouer you, which said, Take heede to the sound of the trumpet: but they said, We will not take heede. 18 Heare therefore, yee Gentiles, and thou Congregation knowe, what is among them. 19 Heare, O earth, beholde, I will cause a plague to come vpon this people, euen the fruite of their owne imaginations: because they haue not taken heede vnto my woordes, nor to my Lawe, but cast it off. 20 To what purpose bringest thou mee incense from Sheba, and sweete calamus from a farre countrey? Your burnt offerings are not pleasant, nor your sacrifices sweete vnto me. 21 Therefore thus sayeth the Lord, Beholde, I will laie stumbling blockes before this people, and the fathers and the sonnes together shall fall vpon them: the neighbour and his friende shall perish. 22 Thus sayeth the Lord, Beholde, a people commeth from the North countrey, and a great nation shall arise from the sides of the earth. 23 With bowe and shield shall they be weaponed: they are cruell and will haue no compassion: their voyce roareth like the sea, and they ride vpon horses, well appointed, like men of warre against thee, O daughter Zion. 24 We haue heard their fame, and our handes waxe feeble sorrowe is come vpon vs, as the sorrowe of a woman in trauaile. 25 Goe not foorth into the fielde, nor walke by the way: for the sword of the enemie and feare is on euery side. 26 O daughter of my people, girde thee with sackecloth, and wallowe thy selfe in the ashes: make lamentation, and bitter mourning as for thine onely sonne: for the destroier shall suddenly come vpon vs. 27 I haue set thee for a defence and fortresse among my people, that thou maiest knowe and trie their waies. 28 They are all rebellious traitours, walking craftily: they are brasse, and yron, they all are destroyers. 29 The bellowes are burnt: the lead is consumed in the fire: the founder melteth in vaine: for the wicked are not taken away. 30 They shall call them reprobate siluer, because the Lord hath reiected them.