Jeremiah 5:26-6:14
English Standard Version
26 For wicked men are found among my people;
(A)they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.[a]
(B)They set a trap;
they catch men.
27 Like a cage full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
28 (C)they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
(D)they judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
29 (E)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord,
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?”
30 An appalling and (F)horrible thing
has happened in the land:
31 (G)the prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule at their direction;
(H)my people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?
Impending Disaster for Jerusalem
6 Flee for safety, (I)O people of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in (J)Tekoa,
and raise a signal on (K)Beth-haccherem,
for disaster looms (L)out of the north,
and great destruction.
2 The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,
(M)the daughter of Zion.[b]
3 (N)Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
(O)they shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, each in his place.
4 (P)“Prepare war against her;
arise, and let us attack (Q)at noon!
Woe to us, for the day declines,
for the shadows of evening lengthen!
5 Arise, and let us attack by night
and destroy her palaces!”
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts:
(R)“Cut down her trees;
(S)cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be (T)punished;
there is nothing but oppression within her.
7 (U)As a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her evil;
(V)violence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.
8 Be warned, O Jerusalem,
(W)lest I turn from you in disgust,
lest I make you (X)a desolation,
an uninhabited land.”
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
(Y)“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
over its branches.”
10 (Z)To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
(AA)Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
(AB)they cannot listen;
behold, (AC)the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
(AD)I am weary of holding it in.
(AE)“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
(AF)both husband and wife (AG)shall be taken,
the elderly and the very aged.
12 (AH)Their houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together,
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,”
declares the Lord.
13 (AI)“For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone (AJ)is greedy for unjust gain;
and from (AK)prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, (AL)‘Peace, peace,’
(AM)when there is no peace.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 5:26 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
- Jeremiah 6:2 Or I have likened the daughter of Zion to the loveliest pasture
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.