Jeremiah 4:10-31
Then I said, “You are my Lord and King. You have completely tricked the people of Judah and Jerusalem! You have told them, ‘You will have peace and rest.’ But swords are pointed at our throats!”
At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be warned. They will be told, “A hot and dry wind is coming, my people. It is blowing toward you from the bare hilltops in the desert. But it does not separate straw from grain. It is much too strong for that. The wind is coming from me. I am making my decision against you.”
Look! Our enemies are approaching like the clouds.
Their chariots are coming like a strong wind.
Their horses are faster than eagles.
How terrible it will be for us!
We’ll be destroyed!
People of Jerusalem, wash your sins from your hearts and be saved.
How long will you hold on to your evil thoughts?
A voice is speaking all the way from the city of Dan.
From the hills of Ephraim it announces
that trouble is coming.
“Tell the nations.
Make an announcement concerning Jerusalem.
Say, ‘An army will attack Judah.
It is coming from a land far away.
It will shout a war cry
against the cities of Judah.
It will surround them like people who guard a field.
Judah has refused to obey me,’ ”
announces the Lord.
“The army will attack you
because of your conduct and actions.
This is how you will be punished.
It will be so bitter!
It will cut deep down into your hearts!”
I’m suffering! I’m really suffering!
I’m hurting badly.
My heart is suffering so much!
It’s pounding inside me.
I can’t keep silent.
I’ve heard the sound of trumpets.
I’ve heard the battle cry.
One trouble follows another.
The whole land is destroyed.
In an instant my tents are gone.
My home disappears in a moment.
How long must I look at our enemy’s battle flag?
How long must I hear the sound of the trumpets?
The Lord says, “My people are foolish.
They do not know me.
They are children who do not have any sense.
They have no understanding at all.
They are skilled in doing what is evil.
They do not know how to do what is good.”
I looked at the earth.
It didn’t have any shape. And it was empty.
I looked at the sky.
Its light was gone.
I looked at the mountains.
They were shaking.
All the hills were swaying.
I looked. And there weren’t any people.
Every bird in the sky had flown away.
I looked. And the fruitful land had become a desert.
All its towns were destroyed.
The Lord had done all this because of his great anger.
The Lord says,
“The whole land will be destroyed.
But I will not destroy it completely.
So the earth will be filled with sadness.
The sky above will grow dark.
I have spoken, and I will not take pity on them.
I have made my decision, and I will not change my mind.”
People can hear the sound of horsemen.
Men armed with bows are coming.
The people in every town run away.
Some of them go into the bushes.
Others climb up among the rocks.
All the towns are deserted.
No one is living in them.
What are you doing, you who are destroyed?
Why do you dress yourself in bright red clothes?
Why do you put on jewels of gold?
Why do you put makeup on your eyes?
You make yourself beautiful for no reason at all.
Your lovers hate you.
They want to kill you.
I hear a cry like the cry of a woman having a baby.
I hear a groan like someone having her first child.
It’s the cry of the people of Zion struggling to breathe.
They reach out their hands and say,
“Help us! We’re fainting!
Murderers are about to kill us!”
Jeremiah 5:1-31
No One Is Honest
The Lord says, “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem.
Look around.
Think about what you see.
Search through the market.
See if you can find one honest person who tries to be truthful.
If you can, I will forgive this city.
They make their promises in my name.
They say, ‘You can be sure that the Lord is alive.’
But their promises can’t be trusted.”
Lord, don’t your eyes look for truth?
You struck down your people.
But they didn’t feel any pain.
You crushed them.
But they refused to be corrected.
They made their faces harder than stone.
They refused to turn away from their sins.
I thought, “The people of
Jerusalem are foolish.
They don’t know how the Lord wants them to live.
They don’t know what their God requires of them.
So I will go to the leaders.
I’ll speak to them.
They should know how the Lord wants them to live.
They must know what their God requires of them.”
But all of them had broken off the yoke the Lord had put on them.
They had torn off the ropes he had tied them up with.
So a lion from the forest will attack them.
A wolf from the desert will destroy them.
A leopard will hide and wait near their towns.
It will tear to pieces anyone who dares to go out.
Again and again they have refused to obey the Lord.
They have turned away from him many times.
The Lord says, “Jerusalem, why should I forgive you?
Your people have deserted me.
They have made their promises in the names of gods
that are not really gods at all.
I supplied everything they needed.
But they committed adultery.
Large crowds went to the houses of prostitutes.
Your people are like stallions that have plenty to eat.
Their sinful desires are out of control.
Each of them goes after another man’s wife.
Shouldn’t I punish them for this?”
announces the Lord.
“Shouldn’t I pay back the nation
that does these things?
“Armies of Babylon, go through their vineyards and destroy them.
But do not destroy them completely.
Strip off their branches.
These people do not belong to me.
The people of Israel and the people of Judah
have not been faithful to me at all,”
announces the Lord.
They have told lies about the Lord.
They said, “He won’t do anything!
No harm will come to us.
We will never see war or be hungry.
The prophets are nothing but wind.
Their message doesn’t come from the Lord.
So let what they say will happen be done to them.”
The Lord God rules over all. He says to me,
“The people have spoken these words.
So my words will be like fire in your mouth.
I will make the people like wood.
And the fire will burn them up.”
“People of Israel, listen to me,”
announces the Lord.
“I am bringing against you
a nation from far away.
It is an old nation. And it will last for a long time.
Its people speak a language you do not know.
You can’t understand what they are saying.
The bags they carry their arrows in are like an open grave.
All their soldiers are mighty.
They will eat up your crops and your food.
They will strike down your sons and daughters.
They will kill your sheep and cattle.
They will destroy your vines and fig trees.
You trust in your cities that have high walls around them.
But the people in them will be killed by swords.
“In spite of that, even in those days I will not destroy you completely,” announces the Lord. “ ‘Jeremiah,’ the people will ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ Then you will tell them, ‘You have deserted the Lord. You have served other gods in your own land. So now you will serve another nation in a land that is not your own.’
“Here is what I want you to announce
to the people of Jacob.
Tell it in Judah.
Tell them I say,
‘Listen to this, you foolish people,
who do not have any sense.
You have eyes, but you do not see.
You have ears, but you do not hear.
Shouldn’t you have respect for me?’
announces the Lord.
‘Shouldn’t you tremble with fear in front of me?
I made the sand to hold the ocean back.
It will do that forever.
The ocean can’t go past it.
The waves might roll, but they can’t sweep over it.
They might roar, but they can’t go across it.
But you people have stubborn hearts.
You refuse to obey me.
You have turned away from me.
You have gone astray.
You do not say to yourselves,
“Let us have respect for the Lord our God.
He sends rain in the fall and the spring.
He promises us that the harvest will come
at the same time each year.”
But the things you have done wrong
have robbed you of these gifts.
Your sins have kept these good things
far away from you.’
“Jeremiah, some of my people are evil.
They hide and wait just as people hide to catch birds.
They set traps for people.
A hunter uses tricks to fill his cage with birds.
And my people have filled their houses with a lot of goods.
They have become rich and powerful.
They have grown fat and heavy.
There is no limit to the evil things they do.
In court they do not seek justice.
They don’t protect the rights of children whose fathers have died.
They do not stand up for poor people.
Shouldn’t I punish them for this?”
announces the Lord.
“Shouldn’t I pay back the
nation that does these things?
“Something horrible and shocking
has happened in the land.
The prophets prophesy lies.
The priests rule by their own authority.
And my people love it this way.
But what will you do in the end?”
