Jeremiah 6:1-15

New King James Version

Impending Destruction from the North

6 “O you children of Benjamin,
Gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
And set up a signal-fire in ^(A)Beth Haccerem;
^(B)For disaster appears out of the north,
And great destruction.
²I have likened the daughter of Zion
To a lovely and delicate woman.
³The ^(C)shepherds with their flocks shall come to her.
They shall pitch their tents against her all around.
Each one shall pasture in his own place.”

⁴“Prepare^(D) war against her;
Arise, and let us go up ^(E)at noon.
Woe to us, for the day goes away,
For the shadows of the evening are lengthening.
⁵Arise, and let us go by night,
And let us destroy her palaces.”

⁶For thus has the Lord of hosts said:

“Cut down trees,
And build a mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished.
She is full of oppression in her midst.
⁷^(F)As a fountain ^[a]wells up with water,
So she wells up with her wickedness.
^(G)Violence and plundering are heard in her.
Before Me continually are ^[b]grief and wounds.
⁸Be instructed, O Jerusalem,
Lest ^(H)My soul depart from you;
Lest I make you desolate,
A land not inhabited.”

⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel;
As a grape-gatherer, put your hand back into the branches.”

¹⁰To whom shall I speak and give warning,
That they may hear?
Indeed their ^(I)ear is uncircumcised,
And they cannot give heed.
Behold, ^(J)the word of the Lord is a reproach to them;
They have no delight in it.
¹¹Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord.
^(K)I am weary of holding it in.
“I will pour it out ^(L)on the children outside,
And on the assembly of young men together;
For even the husband shall be taken with the wife,
The aged with him who is full of days.
¹²And ^(M)their houses shall be turned over to others,
Fields and wives together;
For I will stretch out My hand
Against the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord.
¹³“Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
Everyone is given to ^(N)covetousness;
And from the prophet even to the ^(O)priest,
Everyone deals falsely.
¹⁴They have also ^(P)healed the ^[c]hurt of My people ^[d]slightly,
^(Q)Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’
When there is no peace.
¹⁵Were they ^(R)ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No! They were not at all ashamed;
Nor did they know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
At the time I punish them,
They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.