The Destruction of Jerusalem Depicted
6:1 “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!
Get out of Jerusalem!1
Sound the trumpet2
in Tekoa!
Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!
For disaster lurks out of the north.
It will bring great destruction.3
6:2 I will destroy4
fair Zion,5
which is as beautiful and delicate as a young woman.6
6:3 Kings will come against it with their armies.
They will pitch their tents all around it.
Each of them will devastate the portion assigned to him.7
6:4 They will say,8
‘Prepare to do battle9
against it.
Come on! Let’s attack it at noon!’
But then they will say,10
‘Oh, oh! Too bad!11
The day is almost over
and the shadows of evening are getting long.
6:5 So come on and let’s go ahead and attack it by night
and destroy all its fortified buildings.’
6:6 All of this is because12
the LORD who rules over all13
has said:
‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem
and build up a siege ramp against its walls.14
This is the city which is to be punished.15
Nothing but oppression goes on in it.16
6:7 As a well produces fresh water
so it is ever doing wicked deeds.17
Sounds of violence and destruction echo throughout it.18
All I see are sick and wounded people.’”19
6:8 “So,20
Take warning, Jerusalem,
or I will turn away from you21
and make you desolate,
a place where no one can live.”
6:9 This is what the LORD who rules over22
all said to me:23
“Those who are left in Israel will be
like the grapes thoroughly gleaned24
from a vine.
So make another pass at them as though you were a grape harvester
passing your hand over the branches one last time.”25
6:10 I answered,26
“Who would listen
if I spoke to them and warned them?27
Their ears are so closed28
that they can not hear!
Indeed,29
what the LORD says is offensive to them.
They do not like it at all.30
6:11 I am as full of anger as you are, LORD,31
I am tired of trying to hold it in.”
The LORD answered,32
“Vent it, then,33
on the children who play in the street
and on the young men who are gathered together.
Husbands and wives are to be included,34
as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.
6:12 Their houses will be given to others
as will their fields and their wives.
For I will unleash my power35
against those who live in this land,”
says the LORD.
6:13 “That is because, from the least important to the most important
of them,
all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.
Prophets and priests alike
all of them practice deceit.
6:14 They offer only superficial help
for the hurt my people have suffered.36
They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’
But everything is not all right!37
6:15 Are they ashamed because they have done such disgusting things?
No, they are not at all ashamed.
They do not even know how to blush!
So they will die just like others have died.38
They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,”
says the LORD.
6:16 The LORD said to his people:39
“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path.40
Ask where the old, reliable paths41
are.
Ask where the path is that leads to blessing42
and follow it.
If you do, you will find rest for your souls.”
But they said, “We will not follow it.”
6:17 The LORD said,43
“I appointed prophets as watchmen to warn you,44
saying:
‘Pay attention to the warning I trumpet.’”45
But they said, “We will not pay attention.”
6:18 So the LORD said,46
“Hear, you nations.
Be witnesses and take note of what will happen to these people.47
6:19 Hear this, you peoples of the earth:48
‘Take note!49
I am about to bring disaster on these people.
It will come as a payment for their scheming.50
For they have not paid any heed to what I have said51
and have rejected my law.
6:20 It does me no good52
for them to bring me53
the frankincense that comes from Sheba
or the sweet smelling cane that comes from a far-away land.
I cannot accept the burnt offerings that they bring me.
I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.54
6:21 So, this is what the LORD says:
“I will assuredly55
bring an army against56
these people.
Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction.57
Friends and neighbors will die.’”
6:22 “This is what the LORD says:
‘Beware! An army is coming from a land in the north.
A mighty nation is stirring into action in far-away parts of the earth.
6:23 Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears.
They are cruel and show no mercy.
They sound like the roaring sea
as they ride forth on their horses.
Lined up in formation like men going into battle,
they are coming against you, fair Zion.’”58
6:24 And I cry out,59
“We have heard reports about them.
We have become helpless with fear.60
Anguish grips us,
agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby.”
6:25 “Oh, my people,61do
not go out into the countryside.
Do not travel on the roads.
For the enemy is there with sword in hand.62
They are spreading terror everywhere.63
6:26 Oh, my dear people,64
put on sackcloth
and roll in ashes.
Mourn with painful sobs
as though you had lost your only child.
For any moment now65
that destructive army66
will come against us.”
6:27 The LORD said to me,67
“I appoint you to be like a tester of metal.
And my people are like the ore to be tested.68
You are to observe them
and evaluate how they behave.”69
6:28 And I reported,70
“All of them are the most stubborn of rebels.71
They are as hard as bronze or iron.
They go about telling lies.
They all deal corruptly.
6:29 The fires of judgment have burned fiercely.
But there is too much dross to be removed.72
The process of refining them has proved useless.73
The wicked have not been removed.
6:30 They are to be evaluated like ‘reject
silver.’74
That is because the LORD rejects them.”