Jeremiah 6:10-21

New International Reader's Version

¹⁰ Who can I speak to? Who can I warn?
    Who will even listen to me?
Their ears are closed
    so they can’t hear.
The Lord’s message displeases them.
    They don’t take any delight in it.
¹¹ But the Lord’s anger burns inside me.
    I can no longer hold it in.

The Lord says to me, “Pour out my anger on the children in the street.
    Pour it out on the young men who are gathered together.
Husband and wife alike will be caught in it.
    So will those who are very old.
¹² I will reach out my hand
    against those who live in the land,”
    announces the Lord.
“Then their houses will be turned over to others.
    So will their fields and their wives.
¹³ Everyone wants to get richer and richer,
    from the least important of them to the most important.
Prophets and priests alike
    try to fool everyone they can.
¹⁴ They bandage the wounds of my people
    as if they were not very deep.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say.
    But there isn’t any peace.
¹⁵ Are they ashamed of their hateful actions?
    No. They do not feel any shame at all.
    They do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall like others who have already fallen.
    They will be brought down when I punish them,”
    says the Lord.

“Stand where the roads cross, and look around.
    Ask where the old paths are.
Ask for the good path, and walk on it.
    Then your hearts will find rest in me.
    But you said, ‘We won’t walk on it.’
¹⁷ I appointed prophets to warn you. I said,
    ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpets!’
    But you said, ‘We won’t listen.’
¹⁸ So pay attention, you nations.
    You are witnesses for me.
    Watch what will happen to my people.
¹⁹ Earth, pay attention.
    I am going to bring trouble on them.
    I will punish them because of the evil things they have done.
They have not listened to my words.
    They have said no to my law.
²⁰ What do I care about incense from the land of Sheba?
    Why should I bother with sweet-smelling cane from a land far away?
I do not accept your burnt offerings.
    Your sacrifices do not please me.”

“I will bring an army against the people of Judah.
    Parents and children alike will trip and fall.
    Neighbors and friends will die.”