That have ears but can’t hear!
22Should you not revere Me
—says the LORD—
Should you not tremble before Me,
Who set the sand as a boundary to the sea,
As a limit for all time, not to be transgressed?
Though its waves toss, they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, they cannot pass it.
23Yet this people has a wayward and defiant heart;
They have turned aside and gone their way.
24They have not said to themselves,
“Let us revere the LORD our God,
Who gives the rain,
The early and late rain in season,
Who keeps for our benefit
The weeks appointed for harvest.”
25It is your iniquities that have diverted these things,
Your sins that have withheld the bounty from you.
26For among My people are found wicked men,
a-Who lurk, like fowlers lying in wait;-a
They set up a trap to catch men.
27As a cage is full of birds,
So their houses are full of guile;
That is why they have grown so wealthy.
28They have become fat and sleek;
They f-pass beyond the bounds of wickedness,-f
And they prosper.
They will not judge the case of the orphan,
Nor give a hearing to the plea of the needy.
29Shall I not punish such deeds
—says the LORD—
Shall I not bring retribution
On a nation such as this?
30An appalling, horrible thing
Has happened in the land:
31The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests a-rule accordingly;-a
And My people like it so.
But what will you do at the end of it?
6
Flee for refuge, O people of Benjamin,
Out of the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the horn in Tekoa,
Set up a signal at Beth-haccherem!
For evil is appearing from the north,
And great disaster.
2a-Fair Zion, the lovely and delicate,
I will destroy.-a
3Against her come shepherds with their flocks,
They pitch tents all around her;
Each grazes b-the sheep under his care.-b
4c-Prepare for-c battle against her:
“Up! we will attack at noon.”
“Alas for us! for day is declining,
The shadows of evening grow long.”
5“Up! let us attack by night,
And wreck her fortresses.”
6For thus said the LORD of Hosts:
Hew down her trees,
And raise a siegemound against Jerusalem.
d-She is the city destined for punishment;-d
Only fraud is found in her midst.
7As a well flows with water,
So she flows with wickedness.
Lawlessness and rapine are heard in her;
Before Me constantly are sickness and wounds.
8Accept rebuke, O Jerusalem,
Lest I come to loathe you,
Lest I make you a desolation,
An uninhabited land.
9Thus said the LORD of Hosts:
c-Let them glean-c over and over, as a vine,
The remnant of Israel.
Pass your hand again,
Like a vintager,
Over its branches.
10fTo whom shall I speak,
Give warning that they may hear?
Their ears are blocked
And they cannot listen.
See, the word of the LORD has become for them
An object of scorn; they will have none of it.
11But I am filled with the wrath of the LORD,
I cannot hold it in.
Pour it on the infant in the street,
And on the company of youths gathered together!
Yes, men and women alike shall be captured,
Elders and those of advanced years.
12Their houses shall pass to others,
Fields and wives as well,
For I will stretch out My arm
Against the inhabitants of the country
—declares the LORD.
13For from the smallest to the greatest,
They are all greedy for gain;
Priest and prophet alike,
They all act falsely.
14They offer healing offhand
For the wounds of My people,
Saying, “All is well, all is well,”
When nothing is well.
15They have acted shamefully;
They have done abhorrent things—
Yet they do not feel shame,
And they cannot be made to blush.
Assuredly, they shall fall among the falling,
They shall stumble at the time when I punish them
—said the LORD.
16Thus said the LORD:
Stand by the roads and consider,
Inquire about ancient paths:
Which is the road to happiness?
Travel it, and find tranquillity for yourselves.
But they said, “We will not.”
17And I raised up watchmeng for you:
“Hearken to the sound of the horn!”
But they said, “We will not.”
18Hear well, O nations,
And know, a-O community, what is in store for them.-a
19Hear, O earth!
I am going to bring disaster upon this people,
The outcome of their own schemes;
For they would not hearken to My words,
And they rejected My Instruction.
20What need have I of frankincense
That comes from Sheba,
Or fragrant cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable
And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.
21Assuredly, thus said the LORD:
I shall put before this people stumbling blocks
Over which they shall stumble—
Fathers and children alike,
Neighbor and friend shall perish.
22Thus said the LORD:
See, a people comes from the northland,
A great nation is roused
From the remotest parts of the earth.
23They grasp the bow and javelin;
They are cruel, they show no mercy;
The sound of them is like the roaring sea.
They ride upon horses,
Accoutered like a man for battle,
Against you, O Fair Zion!
24“We have heard the report of them,
Our hands fail;
Pain seizes us,
Agony like a woman in childbirth.
25Do not go out into the country,
Do not walk the roads!
For the sword of the enemy is there,
Terror on every side.”
26h-My poor people,-h
Put on sackcloth
And strew dust on yourselves!
Mourn, as for an only child;
Wail bitterly,
For suddenly the destroyer
Is coming upon us.
27I have made you an assayer of My people
—A refinera—
You are to note and assay their ways.
28They are copper and iron:
They are all stubbornly defiant;
They i-deal basely-i
All of them act corruptly.
29a-The bellows puff;
The lead is consumed by fire.-a
Yet the smelter smelts to no purpose—
The drossa is not separated out.
30They are called “rejected silver,”
For the LORD has rejected them.
7 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2Stand at the gate of the House of the LORD, and there proclaim this word: Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD!
3Thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Mend your ways and your actions, and I will a-let you dwell-a in this place. 4Don’t put your trust in illusions and say, “The Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD are these [buildings].” 5No, if you really mend your ways and your actions; if you execute justice between one man and another; 6if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed the blood of the innocent in this place; if you do not follow other gods, to your own hurt—7then only will I a-let you dwell-a in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers for all time. 8See, you are relying on illusions that are of no avail.9Will you steal and murder and commit adultery and swear falsely, and sacrifice to Baal, and follow other gods whom you have not experienced,b 10and then come and stand before Me in this House which bears My name and say, “We are safe”?—[Safe] to do all these abhorrent things! 11Do you consider this House, which bears My name, to be a den of thieves? As for Me, I have been watching—declares the LORD.
12Just go to My place at Shiloh, where I had established My name formerly, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. 13And now, because you do all these things—declares the LORD— and though I spoke to you persistently, you would not listen; and though I called to you, you would not respond—14therefore I will do to the House which bears My name, on which you rely, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, just what I did to Shiloh. 15And I will cast you out of My presence as I cast out your brothers, the whole brood of Ephraim.
16As for you, do not pray for this people, do not raise a cry of prayer on their behalf, do not plead with Me; for I will not listen to you. 17Don’t you see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The children gather sticks, the fathers build the fire, and the mothers knead dough, to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven,c and they pour libations to other gods, to vex Me. 19Is it Me they are vexing?—says the LORD. It is rather themselves, to their own disgrace. 20Assuredly, thus said the Lord GOD: My wrath and My fury will be poured out upon this place, on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the soil. It shall burn, with none to quench it.
21Thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat! 22For when I freed your fathers from the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifice. 23But this is what I commanded them: Do My bidding, that I may be your God and you may be My people; walk only in the way that I enjoin upon you, that it may go well with you. 24Yet they did not listen or give ear; they followed their own counsels, the willfulness of their evil hearts. They have gone backward, not forward, 25from the day your fathers left the land of Egypt until today. And though I kept sending all My servants, the prophets, to themd daily and persistently, 26they would not listen to Me or give ear. They stiffened their necks, they acted worse than their fathers.
27You shall say all these things to them, but they will not listen to you; you shall call to them, but they will not respond to you. 28Then say to them: This is the nation that would not obey the LORD their God, that would not accept rebuke. Faithfulness has perished, vanished from their mouths.
29Shear your locks and cast them away,
Take up a lament on the heights,
For the LORD has spurned and cast off
The brood that provoked His wrath.
30For the people of Judah have done what displeases Me—declares the LORD. They have set up their abominations in the House which is called by My name,
