Jeremiah

¹ “Flee for safety, O sons of Benjamin, From the midst of Jerusalem! Now blow a trumpet in Tekoa And raise a signal over Beth‑haccerem, For evil looks down from the north, As well as great destruction.

³ They will pitch their tents around her; They will pasture each in his place.

⁴ Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us, for the day declines, For the shadows of the evening stretch out!

⁵ And destroy her palaces!”

⁶ “Cut down her trees And cast up a siege against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished, In whose midst there is only oppression.

⁷ So she keeps fresh her evil. Violence and devastation are heard in her; Sickness and wounds are continually before Me.

⁸ Lest My soul become disgusted at you, Lest I make you a desolation, A land not inhabited.”

⁹ Pass your hand again like a grape gatherer Over the branches.”

¹⁰ That they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, And they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of Yahweh has become a reproach to them; They have no delight in it.

¹¹ I am weary of holding it in. “Pour it out on the infants in the street And on the gathering of choice men together; For both husband and wife shall be captured, The aged with the one full of days.

¹² Their fields and their wives together, For I will stretch out My hand Against the inhabitants of the land,” declares Yahweh.

¹³ Everyone is greedy for gain, And from the prophet even to the priest Everyone practices lying.

¹⁴ Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

¹⁵ They were not even ashamed at all; They did not even know how to feel dishonor. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time that I punish them, They shall be cast down,” says Yahweh.

¹⁶ Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

¹⁷ ‘Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not give heed.’

¹⁸ And know, O congregation, what is among them.

¹⁹ The fruit of their plans, Because they have not given heed to My words, And as for My law, they have rejected it also.

²⁰ And the sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”

²¹ “Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people. And they will stumble against them, Fathers and sons together; Neighbor and friend will perish.”

²² Thus says Yahweh,“Behold, a people is coming from the land of the north, And a great nation will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.

²³ They are cruel and have no compassion; Their voice roars like the sea, And they ride on horses, Arranged as a man for the battle Against you, O daughter of Zion!”

²⁴ Our hands are limp. Distress has taken hold of us, Pain as of a woman in childbirth.

²⁵ And do not walk on the road, For the enemy has a sword; Terror is on every side.

²⁶ And roll in ashes; Mourn as for an only son, A lamentation most bitter. For suddenly the destroyer Will come upon us.

²⁷ That you may know and test their way.”

²⁸ Going about as a slanderer. They are bronze and iron; They, all of them, are corrupt.

²⁹ The lead is consumed by the fire; In vain the refining goes on, But the evil ones are not separated.

³⁰ Because Yahweh has rejected them.