Jer 6 | AB | STEP | 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.

Jeremiah 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. 2 And your pride shall be taken away, O daughter of Zion. 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. 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. 5 Rise, and let us go up against her by night, and destroy her foundations. 6 For thus says the Lord, Cut down her trees, array a numerous force against Jerusalem. O false city, she is full of oppression. 7 As a cistern cools water, so her wickedness cools her, ungodliness and misery shall be heard in her, as continually before her. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 14 And they healed the breach of My people imperfectly, making light of it, and saying, Peace, peace, and where is peace? 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. 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. 17 I have set watchmen over you, saying, Hear the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hear. 18 Therefore have the nations heard, and they that feed their flocks. 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. 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. 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. 22 Thus says the Lord, Behold, a people come from the north, and nations shall be stirred up from the end of the earth. 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. 24 We have heard the report of them; our hands are weakened. Anguish has seized us, the pangs as of a woman in travail. 25 Go not forth into the field, and walk not in the ways, for the sword of the enemy lingers round about. 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. 27 I have caused you to be tried among tried nations, and you shall know Me when I have tested their way. 28 They are all disobedient, walking perversely. They are brass and iron; they are all corrupted. 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. 30 Call them reprobate silver, because the Lord has rejected them.