Jeremiah 6 - Prayer Tents

6FLEE FOR safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem! And blow the trumpet in Tekoa [a town far south in Judah], and raise a [fire] signal over Beth-haccherem [a town near Jerusalem]! For evil is looking forth with eagerness from the north, and great destruction.H1121H1144H5756H7130H3389H8628H7782H8620H5375H4864H1021H7451H8259H6828H1419H7667 2The comely and delicate one, [Jerusalem] the Daughter of Zion, I will destroy. [To a pasturage, yes, a luxurious pasturage, have I likened her.]H1820H1323H6726H5116H6026 3Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents round about her; they shall pasture, each one in his place [eating up all her luxurious herbage on every side].H7462H5739H935H8628H168H5439H7462H376H3027 4Prepare yourselves for war against her [they cry]; up, let us attack her at noon! But alas, the day declines, the evening shadows lengthen.H6942H4421H6965H5927H6672H188H3117H6437H6752H6153H5186 5Arise, let us go by night and destroy her palaces!H6965H5927H3915H7843H759 6For the Lord of hosts has said, Hew down her trees and cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city which must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her.H3068H6635H559H3772H6097H8210H5550H3389H5892H6485H6233H7130 7As a fountain wells up {and} casts forth its waters {and} keeps them fresh, so she is [continually] casting forth [fresh] wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are continually before Me.H953H6979H4325H6979H7451H2555H7701H8085H6440H8548H2483H4347 8Be corrected, reformed, instructed, {and} warned, O Jerusalem, lest I be alienated {and} parted from you, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.H3256H3389H5315H3363H7760H8077H776H3427 9Thus says the Lord of hosts: They shall thoroughly glean as a vine what is left of Israel; turn back your hand again {and} again [O minister of destruction] into the baskets, like a grape gatherer, {and} strip the tendrils [of the vine].H559H3068H6635H5953H5953H7611H3478H1612H7725H3027H1219H5552 10To whom shall I [Jeremiah] speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised [never brought into covenant with God or consecrated to His service], and they cannot hear {or} obey. Behold, the word of the Lord has become to them a reproach {and} the object of their scorn; they have no delight in it.H1696H5749H8085H241H6189H3201H7181H1697H3068H2781H2654 11Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord; I am weary of restraining it. I will pour it out on the children in the street and on the gathering of young men together; for even the husband with the wife will be taken, the aged with the very old.H4392H2534H3068H3811H3557H8210H5768H2351H5475H970H3162H376H802H3920H2205H4390H3117 12And their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord.H1004H5437H312H7704H802H3162H5186H3027H3427H776H5002H3068 13For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness (to greed for unjust gain); and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.H6996H1419H1214H1215H5030H3548H6213H8267 14They have healed also the wound of the daughter of My people lightly {and} neglectfully, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.H7495H7667H1323H5971H7043H559H7965H7965H7965 15Were they brought to shame because they had committed abominations (extremely disgusting and vile things)? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush [at their idolatry]. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them they shall be overthrown, says the Lord.H3001H6213H8441H1571H954H954H1571H3045H3637H5307H5307H6256H6485H3782H559H3068 16Thus says the Lord: Stand by the roads and look; and ask for the eternal paths, where the good, old way is; then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it!H559H3068H5975H1870H7200H7592H5769H5410H2896H1870H3212H4672H4771H5315H559H3212 17Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hear {and} obey the sound of the trumpet! But they said, We will not listen {or} obey.H6965H6822H7181H6963H7782H559H7181 18Therefore hear, O [Gentile] nations, and know, O congregation [of believing ones], what [great things I will do] to them.H8085H1471H3045H5712 19Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing evil upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts (their schemes and devices) because they have not listened {and} obeyed My words, and as for My law, they have rejected it.H8085H776H935H7451H5971H6529H4284H7181H1697H8451H3988 20To what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba [in southwestern Arabia] and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices sweet {or} pleasing to Me.H935H3828H7614H2896H7070H4801H776H5930H7522H2077H6149 21Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. And the fathers and the sons together will stumble against them; the neighbor and his friend will perish.H559H3068H5414H4383H5971H1H1121H3162H3782H7934H7453H6 22Thus says the Lord: Behold, a people is coming from the north country, and a great nation is arousing itself from the ends of the earth.H559H3068H5971H935H6828H776H1419H1471H5782H3411H776 23They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel (ruthless and inhuman) and have no mercy. Their voice sounds like the roaring sea; they ride on horses, every one set in array as a man for battle against you, O Daughter of Zion!H2388H7198H3591H394H7355H6963H1993H3220H7392H5483H6186H376H4421H1323H6726 24We have heard the report of it; our hands become feeble {and} helpless. Anguish has taken hold of us, pangs like that of a woman in childbirth.H8085H8089H3027H7503H6869H2388H2427H3205 25Go not out into the field nor walk on the road, for the enemy is armed with the sword; terror is on every side.H3318H7704H3212H1870H2719H341H4032H5439 26O daughter of my people [says Jeremiah], gird yourself with sackcloth and wallow in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, a most bitter lamentation, for the destroyer will suddenly come upon us [on prophet and people].H1323H5971H2296H8242H6428H665H6213H60H3173H8563H4553H7703H6597H935 27I [says the Lord] have set you [Jeremiah] as an assayer {and} a prover of ore among My people, that you may know and try their doings and be like a watchtower.H5414H969H4013H5971H3045H974H1870 28They are all the worst [kind] of rebels {and} utter and total revolters against God, going about publishing slander. They are [not gold and silver ore, but] bronze and iron; they are all corrupters.H5493H5637H1980H7400H5178H1270H7843 29The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain do they continue refining, for the wicked [the dross] are not removed.H4647H2787H5777H8552H800H784H6884H6884H7723H7451H5423 30Men will call them reprobate {and} rejected silver [only dross, without good metal], because the Lord has rejected them.H3988H3701H7121H3068H3988