Jeremiah 4; Jeremiah 5; Jeremiah 6

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Jeremiah 4

1 The Lord says, "People of Israel, if you want to turn, then turn back to me. If you are faithful to me and remove the idols I hate,
2 it will be right for you to swear by my name. Then all the nations will ask me to bless them, and they will praise me."
3 The Lord says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, "Plow up your unplowed fields; do not plant your seeds among thorns.
4 Keep your covenant with me, your Lord, and dedicate yourselves to me, you people of Judah and Jerusalem. If you don't, my anger will burn like fire because of the evil things you have done. It will burn, and there will be no one to put it out."
5 Blow the trumpet throughout the land! Shout loud and clear! Tell the people of Judah and Jerusalem to run to the fortified cities.
6 Point the way to Zion! Run for safety! Don't delay! The Lord is bringing disaster and great destruction from the north.
7 Like a lion coming from its hiding place, a destroyer of nations has set out. He is coming to destroy Judah. The cities of Judah will be left in ruins, and no one will live in them.
8 So put on sackcloth, and weep and wail because the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from Judah.
9 The Lord said, "On that day kings and officials will lose their courage; priests will be shocked and prophets will be astonished."
10 Then I said, "Sovereign Lord, you have completely deceived the people of Jerusalem! You have said there would be peace, but a sword is at their throats."
11 The time is coming when the people of Jerusalem will be told that a scorching wind is blowing in from the desert toward them. It will not be a gentle wind that only blows away the chaff -
12 the wind that comes at the Lord's command will be much stronger than that! It is the Lord himself who is pronouncing judgment on his people.
13 Look, the enemy is coming like clouds. Their war chariots are like a whirlwind, and their horses are faster than eagles. We are lost! We are doomed!
14 Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart, so that you may be saved. How long will you go on thinking sinful thoughts?
15 Messengers from the city of Dan and from the hills of Ephraim announce the bad news.
16 They have come to warn the nations and to tell Jerusalem that enemies are coming from a country far away. These enemies will shout against the cities of Judah
17 and will surround Jerusalem like men guarding a field, because her people have rebelled against the Lord. The Lord has spoken.
18 Judah, you have brought this on yourself by the way you have lived and by the things you have done. Your sin has caused this suffering; it has stabbed you through the heart.
19 The pain! I can't bear the pain! My heart! My heart is beating wildly! I can't keep quiet; I hear the trumpets and the shouts of battle.
20 One disaster follows another; the whole country is left in ruins. Suddenly our tents are destroyed; their curtains are torn to pieces.
21 How long must I see the battle raging and hear the blasts of trumpets?
22 The Lord says, "My people are stupid; they don't know me. They are like foolish children; they have no understanding. They are experts at doing what is evil, but failures at doing what is good."
23 I looked at the earth - it was a barren waste; at the sky - there was no light.
24 I looked at the mountains - they were shaking, and the hills were rocking back and forth.
25 I saw that there were no people; even the birds had flown away.
26 The fertile land had become a desert; its cities were in ruins because of the Lord's fierce anger.
27 (The Lord has said that the whole earth will become a wasteland, but that he will not completely destroy it.)
28 The earth will mourn; the sky will grow dark. The Lord has spoken and will not change his mind. He has made his decision and will not turn back.
29 At the noise of the cavalry and archers everyone will run away. Some will run to the forest; others will climb up among the rocks. Every town will be left empty, and no one will live in them again.
30 Jerusalem, you are doomed! Why do you dress in scarlet? Why do you put on jewelry and paint your eyes? You are making yourself beautiful for nothing! Your lovers have rejected you and want to kill you.
31 I heard a cry, like a woman in labor, a scream like a woman bearing her first child. It was the cry of Jerusalem gasping for breath, stretching out her hand and saying, "I am doomed! They are coming to kill me!"
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Jeremiah 5

1 People of Jerusalem, run through your streets! Look around! See for yourselves! Search the marketplaces! Can you find one person who does what is right and tries to be faithful to God? If you can, the Lord will forgive Jerusalem.
2 Even though you claim to worship the Lord, you do not mean what you say.
3 Surely the Lord looks for faithfulness. He struck you, but you paid no attention; he crushed you, but you refused to learn. You were stubborn and would not turn from your sins.
4 Then I thought, "These are only the poor and ignorant. They behave foolishly; they don't know what their God requires, what the Lord wants them to do.
5 I will go to the people in power and talk with them. Surely they know what their God requires, what the Lord wants them to do." But all of them have rejected the Lord's authority and refuse to obey him.
6 That is why lions from the forest will kill them; wolves from the desert will tear them to pieces, and leopards will prowl through their towns. If those people go out, they will be torn apart because their sins are numerous and time after time they have turned from God.
7 The Lord asked, "Why should I forgive the sins of my people? They have abandoned me and have worshiped gods that are not real. I fed my people until they were full, but they committed adultery and spent their time with prostitutes.
8 They were like well-fed stallions wild with desire, each lusting for his neighbor's wife.
9 Shouldn't I punish them for these things and take revenge on a nation such as this?
10 I will send enemies to cut down my people's vineyards, but not to destroy them completely. I will tell them to strip away the branches, because those branches are not mine.
11 The people of Israel and Judah have betrayed me completely. I, the Lord, have spoken."
12 The Lord's people have denied him and have said, "He won't really do anything. We won't have hard times; we won't have war or famine."
13 They have said that the prophets are nothing but windbags and that they have no message from the Lord. The Lord God Almighty said to me, "Jeremiah, because these people have said such things, I will make my words like a fire in your mouth. The people will be like wood, and the fire will burn them up."
15 People of Israel, the Lord is bringing a nation from far away to attack you. It is a strong and ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know.
16 Their archers are mighty soldiers who kill without mercy.
17 They will devour your crops and your food; they will kill your sons and your daughters. They will slaughter your flocks and your herds and destroy your vines and fig trees. The fortified cities in which you trust will be destroyed by their army.
18 The Lord says, "Yet even in those days I will not completely destroy my people.
19 When they ask why I did all these things, tell them, Jeremiah, that just as they turned away from me and served foreign gods in their own land, so they will serve strangers in a land that is not theirs."
20 The Lord says, "Tell the descendants of Jacob, tell the people of Judah:
21 Pay attention, you foolish and stupid people, who have eyes, but cannot see, and have ears, but cannot hear.
22 I am the Lord; why don't you fear me? Why don't you tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary of the sea, a permanent boundary that it cannot cross. The sea may toss, but it cannot go beyond it; the waves may roar, but they cannot break through.
23 But you people! You are stubborn and rebellious; you have turned aside and left me.
24 You never thought to honor me, even though I send the autumn rains and the spring rains and give you the harvest season each year.
25 Instead, your sins have kept these good things from you.
26 "Evildoers live among my people; they lie in wait like those who lay nets to catch birds, but they have set their traps to catch people.
27 Just as a hunter fills a cage with birds, they have filled their houses with loot. That is why they are powerful and rich,
28 why they are fat and well fed. There is no limit to their evil deeds. They do not give orphans their rights or show justice to the oppressed.
29 "But I, the Lord, will punish them for these things; I will take revenge on this nation.
30 A terrible and shocking thing has happened in the land:
31 prophets speak nothing but lies; priests rule as the prophets command, and my people offer no objections. But what will they do when it all comes to an end?"
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Jeremiah 6

1 People of Benjamin, run for safety! Escape from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa and build a signal fire in Beth Haccherem. Disaster and destruction are about to come from the north.
2 The city of Zion is beautiful, but it will be destroyed;
3 kings will camp there with their armies. They will pitch their tents around the city, and each of them will camp wherever they want.
4 They will say, "Prepare to attack Jerusalem! Get ready! We'll attack at noon!" But then they will say, "It's too late, the day is almost over, and the evening shadows are growing long.
5 We'll attack by night; we'll destroy the city's fortresses."
6 The Lord Almighty has ordered these kings to cut down trees and build mounds in order to besiege Jerusalem. He has said, "I will punish this city because it is full of oppression.
7 As a well keeps its water fresh, so Jerusalem keeps its evil fresh. I hear violence and destruction in the city; sickness and wounds are all I see.
8 People of Jerusalem, let these troubles be a warning to you, or else I will abandon you; I will turn your city into a desert, a place where no one lives."
9 The Lord Almighty said to me, "Israel will be stripped clean like a vineyard from which every grape has been picked. So you must rescue everyone you can while there is still time."
10 I answered, "Who would listen to me if I spoke to them and warned them? They are stubborn and refuse to listen to your message; they laugh at what you tell me to say.
11 Your anger against them burns in me too, Lord, and I can't hold it in any longer." Then the Lord said to me, "Pour out my anger on the children in the streets and on the gatherings of the young people. Husbands and wives will be taken away, and even the very old will not be spared.
12 Their houses will be given to others, and so will their fields and their wives. I am going to punish the people of this land.
13 Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly; even prophets and priests cheat the people.
14 They act as if my people's wounds were only scratches. "All is well,' they say, when all is not well.
15 Were they ashamed because they did these disgusting things? No, they were not at all ashamed; they don't even know how to blush. And so they will fall as others have fallen; when I punish them, that will be the end of them. I, the Lord, have spoken."
16 The Lord said to his people, "Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths and where the best road is. Walk in it, and you will live in peace." But they said, "No, we will not!"
17 Then the Lord appointed sentries to listen for the trumpet's warning. But they said, "We will not listen."
18 So the Lord said, "Listen, you nations, and learn what is going to happen to my people.
19 Listen, earth! As punishment for all their schemes I am bringing ruin on these people, because they have rejected my teaching and have not obeyed my words.
20 What do I care about the incense they bring me from Sheba, or the spices from a distant land? I will not accept their offerings or be pleased with their sacrifices.
21 And so I will make these people stumble and fall. Parents and children will die, and so will friends and neighbors."
22 The Lord says, "People are coming from a country in the north; a mighty nation far away is preparing for war.
23 They have taken up their bows and swords; they are cruel and merciless. They sound like the roaring sea, as they ride their horses. They are ready for battle against Jerusalem."
24 "We have heard the news," say the people of Jerusalem, "and our hands hang limp; we are seized by anguish and pain like a woman in labor.
25 We don't dare go to the countryside or walk on the roads, because our enemies are armed and terror is all around us."
26 The Lord says to his people, "Put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter tears as you would for an only child, because the one who comes to destroy you will suddenly attack.
27 Jeremiah, test my people, as you would test metal, and find out what they are like.
28 They are all stubborn rebels, hard as bronze and iron. They are all corrupt, going around and spreading gossip.
29 The furnace burns fiercely, but the waste metals do not melt and run off. It is useless to go on refining my people, because those who are evil are not taken away.
30 They will be called worthless dross, because I, the Lord, have rejected them."
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.