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6:1  Run for your lives, people of Benjamin. Get out of Jerusalem. Sound a trumpet in Tekoa and light a signal fire in Beth-Haccherem. Soon you will be struck by disaster from the north.
6:2  Jerusalem is a lovely pasture,
6:3  but shepherds will surround it and divided up, then let their flocks eat all the grass.
6:4  Kings will tell their troops, “If we reach Jerusalem in the morning, we'll attack at noon. But if we arrive later,
6:5  we'll attack after dark and destroy its fortresses.”
6:6  I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I will command these armies to chop down trees and build a ramp up to the walls of Jerusalem. People of Jerusalem, I must punish you for your injustice.
6:7  Evil pours from your city like water from a spring. Sounds of injustice and violence echo within your walls; victims are everywhere, wounded and dying.
6:8  Listen to me, you people of Jerusalem and Judah. I will abandon you, and your land will become an empty desert.
6:9  I will tell your enemies to leave your nation bare like a vine stripped of grapes. I, the Lord All-Powerful, have spoken.
6:10  I have told the people that you, Lord, will punish them, but they just laugh and refuse to listen.
6:11  Your anger against Judah flames up inside me, and I can't hold it in much longer. Don't hold back my anger! Let it sweep away everyone— the children at play and all adults, young and old alike.
6:12  I'll punish the people of Judah and give to others their houses and fields, as well as their wives. I, the Lord, have spoken.
6:13  Everyone is greedy and dishonest, whether poor or rich. Even the prophets and priests cannot be trusted.
6:14  All they ever offer to my deeply wounded people are empty hopes for peace.
6:15  They should be ashamed of their disgusting sins, but they don't even blush. And so, when I punish Judah, they will end up on the ground, dead like everyone else. I, the Lord, have spoken.
6:16  The Lord said: My people, when you stood at the crossroads, I told you, “Follow the road your ancestors took, and you will find peace.” But you refused.
6:17  I also sent prophets to warn you of danger, but when they sounded the alarm, you paid no attention.
6:18  So I tell all nations on earth, “Watch what I will do!
6:19  My people ignored me and rejected my laws. They planned to do evil, and now the evil they planned will happen to them.”
6:20  People of Judah, you bring me incense from Sheba and spices from distant lands. You offer sacrifices of all kinds. But why bother? I hate these gifts of yours!
6:21  So I will put stumbling blocks in your path, and everyone will die, including parents and children, neighbors and friends.
6:22  The Lord said, “Look toward the north, where a powerful nation has prepared for war.
6:23  Its well-armed troops are cruel and never show mercy. Their galloping horses sound like ocean waves pounding on the shore. This army will attack you, lovely Jerusalem.”
6:24  Then the people said, “Just hearing about them makes us tremble with fear, and we twist and turn in pain like a woman giving birth.”
6:25  The Lord said, “Don't work in your fields or walk along the roads. It's too dangerous. The enemy is well armed
6:26  and attacks without warning. So mourn, my people, as though your only child had died. Wear clothes made of sackcloth and roll in the ash pile.”
6:27  Jeremiah, test my people as though they were metal.
6:28  And you'll find they are hard like bronze and iron. They are stubborn rebels, always spreading lies. *
6:29  Silver can be purified in a fiery furnace, but my people are too wicked to be made pure, and so I have rejected them.
6:30  Silver can be purified in a fiery furnace, but my people are too wicked to be made pure, and so I have rejected them.