Jeremiah 6

Tree of Life Version

² “The lovely, delicate Daughter of Zion
    I will cut off.”

³ Shepherds with their flocks are coming against her.
    All around her they pitch their tents,
    each pasturing in his own place.
⁴ “Prepare for war against her.
    Rise up! Let’s attack at noon.”
    “Oy for us! For day is fading—
    evening shadows are lengthening.”
⁵ “Rise up! Let’s attack at night
        and destroy her palaces.”

⁶ For thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
    “Chop down her trees!
    Raise a siege ramp at Jerusalem.
    This city must be punished—
    in her midst is only oppression.
⁷ As a well gushes out its waters,
    so she pours out her wickedness.
    Violence and havoc are heard in her,
    sickness and wounds ever before Me.
⁸ Be warned, O Jerusalem,
    lest I abandon you,
    lest I make you desolate—
        an uninhabited land.”

⁹ Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
    “Glean the remnant of Israel
        thoroughly as a vine.
    Pass your hand over the branches once more,
        like a grape-gatherer.”
¹⁰ “To whom can I speak and warn
        so they would hear?
    See, their ears are uncircumcised,
        unable to hear!
    The word of Adonai has become scorn to them.
        They have no delight in it.
¹¹ So I am full of the wrath of Adonai.
    I am weary of holding it in!
    Pour it out on a child in the street,
        on young men gathered together.
    For husband will be taken with wife,
        the aged with the very old.
¹² Their homes will be turned over to others
        —together with their fields and their wives.
    For I will stretch out My hand
        on the inhabitants of the land.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.

¹³ “For from the least to the greatest,
        all of them are greedy for gain,
    and from prophet even to kohen,
        everyone practices deceit.
¹⁴ They healed the wound of My people superficially,
    saying ‘Shalom, shalom!’
        when there is no shalom.”
¹⁵ “Were 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; at the time that
    I punish them, they shall be
        overthrown,” says Adonai.

¹⁶ Thus says Adonai:
    “Stand in the roads and look.
    Ask for the ancient paths—
    where the good way is—and walk in it.
    Then you will find rest for your souls.^[a]
    But they said, ‘We won’t walk in it.’
¹⁷ So I set watchmen over you, saying
    ‘Listen to the sound of the shofar!’
    But they said, ‘We won’t listen.’
¹⁸ Therefore hear, O nations
    and observe, O congregation,
        what is against them.
¹⁹ Hear, O earth!
    See, I will bring disaster on this people
    —fruit of their schemes—
    for they did not listen to My words
        and rejected My Torah.
²⁰ Of what use to Me is frankincense coming from Sheba
    or sweet cane from a distant country?
    Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
    nor are your sacrifices pleasing to Me.”
²¹ Therefore thus says Adonai:
    “Look, I am laying before this people stumbling blocks—
    and against them they will stumble—
    fathers and the sons together,
    a neighbor and his friend,
        and they will perish.”

²⁴ “We have heard of their fame.
    Our hands hang limp;
        anguish has gripped us,
        pain like a woman in labor.
²⁵ Don’t go out into the field
        or walk on the road.
    Since the enemy has a sword,
        there’s terror on every side!”

²⁶ “Daughter of My people,
    put on sackcloth and roll in ashes.
    Mourn as for an only son
        with bitter lamentation.”
    “For suddenly the destroyer
        will come on us!”

²⁷ “I have made you a metal-tester among My people—
    so you may observe and test their way.
²⁸ They are all stubborn rebels
        spreading slander.
    They are bronze and iron,
        all of them are corrupt.
²⁹ The bellows blow fiercely,
        blasting away the lead with fire.
    The refining is completely in vain,
        for the wicked are not drawn off.
³⁰ They are called ‘cast off silver’—
    for Adonai has cast them off.”