Jeremiah:6-8

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* Put yourselves under covert , ye children of Benjamin , away from the midst of Jerusalem , and blow the horn in Tekoa , and set up a signal on Beth-cherem ; for evil looketh forth from the north , and a great destruction . * The comely and delicate one , the daughter of Zion , will I cut off . * Shepherds with their flocks come unto her ; they pitch their tents against her round about ; they feed bare every one what is nigh at hand . * 'Prepare ye war against her ; arise , and let us go up at noon !' 'Woe unto us ! for the day declineth , for the shadows of the evening are stretched out !' * 'Arise , and let us go up by night , and let us destroy her palaces .' * For thus hath the LORD of hosts said : hew ye down her trees , and cast up a mound against Jerusalem ; this is the city to be punished ; everywhere there is oppression in the midst of her . * As a cistern welleth with her waters , so she welleth with her wickedness ; violence and spoil is heard in her ; before Me continually is sickness and wounds . * Be thou corrected , O Jerusalem , lest My soul be alienated from thee , lest I make thee desolate , a land not inhabited . * Thus saith the LORD of hosts : They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel ; turn again thy hand as a grape - gatherer upon the shoots . * To whom shall I speak and give warning , that they may hear ? Behold , their ear is dull , and they cannot attend ; behold , the word of the LORD is become unto them a reproach , they have no delight in it . * Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD , I am weary with holding in : pour it out upon the babes in the street , and upon the assembly of young men together ; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken , the aged with him that is full of days . * And their houses shall be turned unto others , their fields and their wives together ; for I will stretch out My hand upon the inhabitants of the land , saith the LORD . * For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is greedy for gain ; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely . * They have healed also the hurt of My people lightly , saying : 'Peace , peace ', when there is no peace . * They shall be put to shame because they have committed abomination ; yea , they are not at all ashamed , neither know they how to blush ; therefore they shall fall among them that fall , at the time that I punish them they shall stumble , saith the LORD . * Thus saith the LORD : Stand ye in the ways and see , and ask for the old paths , where is the good way , and walk therein , and ye shall find rest for your souls . But they said : 'We will not walk therein .' * And I set watchmen over you : 'Attend to the sound of the horn ', but they said : 'We will not attend .' * Therefore hear , ye nations , and know , O congregation , what is against them . * Hear , O earth : Behold , I will bring evil upon this people , even the fruit of their thoughts , because they have not attended unto My words , and as for My teaching , they have rejected it . * To what purpose is to Me the frankincense that cometh from Sheba , and the sweet cane , from a far country ? Your burnt - offerings are not acceptable , nor your sacrifices pleasing unto Me . * Therefore thus saith the LORD : Behold , I will lay stumblingblocks before this people , and the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them , the neighbour and his friend , and they shall perish . * Thus saith the LORD : Behold , a people cometh from the north country , and a great nation shall be roused from the uttermost parts of the earth . * They lay hold on bow and spear , they are cruel , and have no compassion ; their voice is like the roaring sea , and they ride upon horses ; set in array , as a man for war , against thee , O daughter of Zion . * 'We have heard the fame thereof , our hands wax feeble , anguish hath taken hold of us , and pain , as of a woman in travail .' * Go not forth into the field , nor walk by the way ; for there is the sword of the enemy , and terror on every side . * O daughter of my people , gird thee with sackcloth , and wallow thyself in ashes ; make thee mourning , as for an only son , most bitter lamentation ; for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us . * I have made thee a tower and a fortress among My people ; that thou mayest know and try their way . * They are all grievous revolters , going about with slanders ; they are brass and iron ; they all of them deal corruptly . * The bellows blow fiercely , the lead is consumed of the fire ; in vain doth the founder refine , for the wicked are not separated . * Refuse silver shall men call them , because the LORD hath rejected them . * The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD , saying : * Stand in the gate of the LORD 'S house , and proclaim there this word , and say : Hear the word of the LORD , all ye of Judah , that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD . * Thus saith the LORD of hosts , the God of Israel : Amend your ways and your doings , and I will cause you to dwell in this place . * Trust ye not in lying words , saying : 'The temple of the LORD , the temple of the LORD , the temple of the LORD , are these .' * Nay , but if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings ; if ye thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbour ; * if ye oppress not the stranger , the fatherless , and the widow , and shed not innocent blood in this place , neither walk after other gods to your hurt ; * then will I cause you to dwell in this place , in the land that I gave to your fathers , for ever and ever . * Behold , ye trust in lying words , that cannot profit . * Will ye steal , murder , and commit adultery , and swear falsely , and offer unto Baal , and walk after other gods whom ye have not known , * and come and stand before Me in this house , whereupon My name is called , and say : 'We are delivered ', that ye may do all these abominations ? * Is this house , whereupon My name is called , become a den of robbers in your eyes ? Behold , I , even I , have seen it , saith the LORD . * For go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh , where I caused My name to dwell at the first , and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel . * And now , because ye have done all these works , saith the LORD , and I spoke unto you , speaking betimes and often , but ye heard not , and I called you , but ye answered not ; * therefore will I do unto the house , whereupon My name is called , wherein ye trust , and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers , as I have done to Shiloh . * And I will cast you out of My sight , as I have cast out all your brethren , even the whole seed of Ephraim . * Therefore pray not thou for this people , neither lift up cry nor prayer for them , neither make intercession to Me ; for I will not hear thee . * Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem ? * The children gather wood , and the fathers kindle the fire , and the women knead the dough , to make cakes to the queen of heaven , and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods , that they may provoke Me . * Do they provoke Me ? saith the LORD ; do they not provoke themselves , to the confusion of their own faces ? * Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD : Behold , Mine anger and My fury shall be poured out upon this place , upon man , and upon beast , and upon the trees of the field , and upon the fruit of the land ; and it shall burn , and shall not be quenched . * Thus saith the LORD of hosts , the God of Israel : Add your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices , and eat ye flesh . * For I spoke not unto your fathers , nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt , concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices ; * but this thing I commanded them , saying : 'Hearken unto My voice , and I will be your God , and ye shall be My people ; and walk ye in all the way that I command you , that it may be well with you .' * But they hearkened not , nor inclined their ear , but walked in their own counsels , even in the stubbornness of their evil heart , and went backward and not forward , * even since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day ; and though I have sent unto you all My servants the prophets , sending them daily betimes and often , * yet they hearkened not unto Me , nor inclined their ear , but made their neck stiff ; they did worse than their fathers . * And thou shalt speak all these words unto them , but they will not hearken to thee ; thou shalt also call unto them , but they will not answer thee . * Therefore thou shalt say unto them : This is the nation that hath not hearkened to the voice of the LORD their God , nor received correction ; faithfulness is perished , and is cut off from their mouth . * Cut off thy hair , and cast it away , and take up a lamentation on the high hills ; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath . * For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight , saith the LORD ; they have set their detestable things in the house whereon My name is called , to defile it . * And they have built the high places of Topheth , which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom , to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire ; which I commanded not , neither came it into My mind . * Therefore , behold , the days come , saith the LORD , that it shall no more be called Topheth , nor The valley of the son of Hinnom , but The valley of slaughter ; for they shall bury in Topheth , for lack of room . * And the carcasses of this people shall be food for the fowls of the heaven , and for the beasts of the earth ; and none shall frighten them away . * Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah , and from the streets of Jerusalem , the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness , the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride ; for the land shall be desolate . * At that time , saith the LORD , they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah , and the bones of his princes , and the bones of the priests , and the bones of the prophets , and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem , out of their graves ; * and they shall spread them before the sun , and the moon , and all the host of heaven , whom they have loved , and whom they have served , and after whom they have walked , and whom they have sought , and whom they have worshipped ; they shall not be gathered , nor be buried , they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth . * And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family , that remain in all the places whither I have driven them , saith the LORD of hosts . * Moreover thou shalt say unto them : Thus saith the LORD : Do men fall , and not rise up again ? Doth one turn away , and not return ? * Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding ? They hold fast deceit , they refuse to return . * I attended and listened , but they spoke not aright ; no man repenteth him of his wickedness , saying : 'What have I done ?' Every one turneth away in his course , as a horse that rusheth headlong in the battle . * Yea , the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times ; and the turtle and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming ; but My people know not the ordinance of the LORD . * How do ye say : 'We are wise , and the Law of the LORD is with us '? Lo , certainly in vain hath wrought the vain pen of the scribes . * The wise men are ashamed , they are dismayed and taken ; Lo , they have rejected the word of the LORD ; and what wisdom is in them ? * Therefore will I give their wives unto others , and their fields to them that shall possess them ; for from the least even unto the greatest every one is greedy for gain , from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely . * And they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people lightly , saying : 'Peace , peace ', when there is no peace . * They shall be put to shame because they have committed abomination ; yea , they are not at all ashamed , neither know they how to blush ; therefore shall they fall among them that fall , in the time of their visitation they shall stumble , saith the LORD . * I will utterly consume them , saith the LORD ; there are no grapes on the vine , nor figs on the fig-tree , and the leaf is faded ; and I gave them that which they transgress . * 'Why do we sit still ? Assemble yourselves , and let us enter into the fortified cities , and let us be cut off there ; for the LORD our God hath cut us off , and given us water of gall to drink , because we have sinned against the LORD . * We looked for peace , but no good came ; and for a time of healing , and behold terror !' * The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan ; at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembleth ; for they are come , and have devoured the land and all that is in it , the city and those that dwell therein . * For , behold , I will send serpents , basilisks , among you , which will not be charmed ; and they shall bite you , saith the LORD . * Though I would take comfort against sorrow , my heart is faint within me . * Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land far off : 'Is not the LORD in Zion ? Is not her King in her ?'-- 'Why have they provoked Me with their graven images , and with strange vanities ?'-- * 'The harvest is past , the summer is ended , and we are not saved .' * For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I seized with anguish ; I am black , appalment hath taken hold on me . * Is there no balm in Gilead ? Is there no physician there ? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered ? * Oh that my head were waters , and mine eyes a fountain of tears , that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people !

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