bj[See ver. 28 above]
bs[See ver. 4 above]
ch[See ver. 14 above]

Jeremiah 6

Impending Disaster for Jerusalem

1 Flee for safety, aO people of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in bTekoa,
and raise a signal on cBeth-haccherem,
for disaster looms dout of the north,
and great destruction.
2The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,
ethe daughter of Zion.
Or I have likened the daughter of Zion to the loveliest pasture

3 gShepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
hthey shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, each in his place.
4 iPrepare war against her;
arise, and let us attack jat noon!
Woe to us, for the day declines,
for the shadows of evening lengthen!
5Arise, and let us attack by night
and destroy her palaces!”
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts:
k“Cut down her trees;
lcast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be mpunished;
there is nothing but oppression within her.
7 nAs a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her evil;
oviolence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.
8Be warned, O Jerusalem,
plest I turn from you in disgust,
lest I make you qa desolation,
an uninhabited land.”
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
r“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
over its branches.”
10 sTo whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
tBehold, their ears are uncircumcised,
uthey cannot listen;
behold, vthe word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
11Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
wI am weary of holding it in.
x“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
yboth husband and wife zshall be taken,
the elderly and the very aged.
12 aaTheir 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.
13 abFor from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone acis greedy for unjust gain;
and from adprophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, aePeace, peace,’
afwhen there is no peace.
15 agWere 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;
ahat the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”

says the Lord.
16 Thus says the Lord:
Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for aithe ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
ajand find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 akI set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Pay attention to althe sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, am‘We will not pay attention.’
18Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
anthe fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it.
20 aoWhat use to me is apfrankincense that comes from aqSheba,
or sweet cane from a distant land?
arYour burnt offerings are not acceptable,
nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
21Therefore thus says the Lord:
asBehold, I will lay before this people
stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
fathers and sons together,
neighbor and friend shall perish.’”
22 Thus says the Lord:
atBehold, a people is coming aufrom the north country,
a great nation is stirring from avthe farthest parts of the earth.
23They lay hold on bow and javelin;
they are awcruel and have no mercy;
axthe 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!”
24We have heard the report of it;
ayour hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
azpain as of a woman in labor.
25Go not out into the field,
nor walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
baterror is on every side.
26O daughter of my people, bbput on sackcloth,
and bcroll in ashes;
bdmake mourning as for an only son,
most bitter lamentation,
for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.
27 “I have made you bea tester of metals among my people,
that you may know and bftest their ways.
28 bgThey are all stubbornly rebellious,
bhgoing about with slanders;
they are bibronze and iron;
all of them act corruptly.
29The bjbellows blow fiercely;
the lead is consumed by the fire;
bkin vain the refining goes on,
for the wicked are not removed.
30 blRejected silver they are called,
for the Lord has rejected them.”

Jeremiah 16

Famine, Sword, and Death

1The word of the Lord came to me: 2“You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: 4 bmThey shall die of deadly diseases. bnThey shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. boThey shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. bpThey shall perish by the sword and by famine, bqand their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.

5“For thus says the Lord: brDo not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the Lord. 6Both great and small shall die in this land. bsThey shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or btcut himself buor make himself bald for them. 7No one shall bvbreak bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother. 8You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink. 9For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: bwBehold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

10“And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, bxWhy has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11then you shall say to them: byBecause your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord, and bzhave gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, 12and because cayou have done worse than your fathers, for behold, cbevery one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. 13Therefore ccI will hurl you out of this land into cda land that neither you nor your fathers have known, ceand there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

The Lord Will Restore Israel

14 cfTherefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, cg‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15but ch‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel ciout of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For cjI will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.

16Behold, ckI am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out clof the clefts of the rocks. 17For cmmy eyes are on all their ways. cnThey are not hidden from me, conor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. 18But first cpI will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and cqhave filled my inheritance with their abominations.”

19 crO Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
csmy refuge in the day of trouble,
ctto you shall the nations come
from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,
cuworthless things in which there is no profit.
20Can man make for himself cvgods?
Such are not gods!”
21Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that cwmy name is the Lord.”

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