Jeremiah 6:14-20

The Message

^13-15“Everyone’s after the dishonest dollar,
    little people and big people alike.
Prophets and priests and everyone in between
    twist words and doctor truth.
My people are broken—shattered!—
    and they put on Band-Aids,
Saying, ‘It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.’
    But things are not ‘just fine’!
Do you suppose they are embarrassed
    over this outrage?
No, they have no shame.
    They don’t even know how to blush.
There’s no hope for them. They’ve hit bottom
    and there’s no getting up.
As far as I’m concerned,
    they’re finished.”
        God has spoken.

Death Is on the Prowl

^16-20God’s Message yet again:

“Go stand at the crossroads and look around.
    Ask for directions to the old road,
The tried-and-true road. Then take it.
    Discover the right route for your souls.
But they said, ‘Nothing doing.
    We aren’t going that way.’
I even provided watchmen for them
    to warn them, to set off the alarm.
But the people said, ‘It’s a false alarm.
    It doesn’t concern us.’
And so I’m calling in the nations as witnesses:
    ‘Watch, witnesses, what happens to them!’
And, ‘Pay attention, Earth!
    Don’t miss these bulletins.’
I’m visiting catastrophe on this people, the end result
    of the games they’ve been playing with me.
They’ve ignored everything I’ve said,
    had nothing but contempt for my teaching.
What would I want with incense brought in from Sheba,
    rare spices from exotic places?
Your burnt sacrifices in worship give me no pleasure.
    Your religious rituals mean nothing to me.”