Jer 6-7 | ESV | STEP | Flee for safety , O people of Benjamin , from the midst of Jerusalem ! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa , and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem , for disaster looms out of the north , and great destruction .

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.
2 The 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 ⁱ“Prepare war against her;
arise, and let us attack ^jat noon!
Woe to us, for the day declines,
for the shadows of evening lengthen!
5 Arise, 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.
8 Be 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.
11 Therefore 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 ^ab“For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone ^acis greedy for unjust gain;
and from ^adprophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ^ae‘Peace, 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.’
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19 Hear, 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.
21 Therefore thus says the Lord:
^as‘Behold, 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:
^at“Behold, a people is coming ^aufrom the north country,
a great nation is stirring from ^avthe farthest parts of the earth.
23 They 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!”
24 We have heard the report of it;
^ayour hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
^azpain as of a woman in labor.
25 Go not out into the field,
nor walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
^baterror is on every side.
26 O 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.
29 The ^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 7

Evil in the Land

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 ^bm“Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^bnAmend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 ^boDo not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

5 “For if you truly ^bpamend your ways and your deeds, if you truly ^bqexecute justice one with another, 6 if you ^brdo not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, ^bsor shed innocent blood in this place, ^btand if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 ^buthen I will let you dwell in this place, ^bvin the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

8 “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 ^bwWill you steal, murder, commit adultery, ^bxswear falsely, ^bymake offerings to Baal, ^bzand go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, ^cawhich is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 ^cbHas this house, ^ccwhich is called by my name, ^cdbecome a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. 12 Go now to ^cemy place that was in Shiloh, ^cfwhere I made my name dwell at first, and ^cgsee what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and ^chwhen I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and ^ciwhen I called you, you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to ^cjthe house ^ckthat is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, ^clas I did to Shiloh. 15 ^cmAnd I will cast you out of my sight, ^cnas I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of ^coEphraim.

16 “As for you, ^cpdo not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, ^cqand the women knead dough, to ^crmake cakes for ^csthe queen of heaven. And ^ctthey pour out drink offerings to other gods, ^cuto provoke me to anger. 19 ^cvIs it I whom they provoke? declares the Lord. Is it not themselves, ^cwto their own shame? 20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^cxmy anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; ^cyit will burn and not be quenched.”

21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^cz“Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. 22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them ^daconcerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this command I gave them: ^db‘Obey my voice, and ^dcI will be your God, and you shall be my people. ^ddAnd walk in all the way that I command you, ^dethat it may be well with you.’ 24 ^dfBut they did not obey or incline their ear, ^dgbut walked in their own counsels and ^dhthe stubbornness of their evil hearts, and ^diwent backward and not forward. 25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, ^djI have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. 26 ^dkYet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, ^dlbut stiffened their neck. ^dmThey did worse than their fathers.

27 ^dn“So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. ^doYou shall call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; ^dptruth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.

29 ^dq“‘Cut off your hair and cast it away;
raise a lamentation on ^drthe bare heights,
for the Lord has rejected and forsaken
the generation of his wrath.’

The Valley of Slaughter

30 “For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have set ^dstheir detestable things in the house ^dtthat is called by my name, to ^dudefile it. 31 And they have built the high places of ^dvTopheth, which is in ^dwthe Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^dxto burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, ^dywhich I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. 32 ^dzTherefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no more be called ^eaTopheth, or ^ebthe Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; ^ecfor they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere. 33 ^edAnd the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, ^eeand none will frighten them away. 34 ^efAnd I will silence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, ^egfor the land shall become a waste.