Jerusalem Is Surrounded by Enemies

¹People of Benjamin, run for safety! Escape from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa and build a signal fire in Beth Haccherem. Disaster and destruction are about to come from the north.

²The city of Zion is beautiful, but it will be destroyed;

³kings will camp there with their armies. They will pitch their tents around the city, and each of them will camp wherever they want.

⁴They will say, “Prepare to attack Jerusalem! Get ready! We'll attack at noon!” But then they will say, “It's too late, the day is almost over, and the evening shadows are growing long.

⁵We'll attack by night; we'll destroy the city's fortresses.”

⁶The Lord Almighty has ordered these kings to cut down trees and build mounds in order to besiege Jerusalem. He has said, “I will punish this city because it is full of oppression.

⁷As a well keeps its water fresh, so Jerusalem keeps its evil fresh. I hear violence and destruction in the city; sickness and wounds are all I see.

⁸People of Jerusalem, let these troubles be a warning to you, or else I will abandon you; I will turn your city into a desert, a place where no one lives.”

Rebellious Israel

⁹The Lord Almighty said to me, “Israel will be stripped clean like a vineyard from which every grape has been picked. So you must rescue everyone you can while there is still time.”

¹⁰I answered, “Who would listen to me if I spoke to them and warned them? They are stubborn and refuse to listen to your message; they laugh at what you tell me to say.

¹¹Your anger against them burns in me too, Lord, and I can't hold it in any longer.” Then the Lord said to me, “Pour out my anger on the children in the streets and on the gatherings of the young people. Husbands and wives will be taken away, and even the very old will not be spared.

¹²Their houses will be given to others, and so will their fields and their wives. I am going to punish the people of this land.

¹³Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly; even prophets and priests cheat the people.

¹⁴They act as if my people's wounds were only scratches. ‘All is well,’ they say, when all is not well.

¹⁵Were they ashamed because they did these disgusting things? No, they were not at all ashamed; they don't even know how to blush. And so they will fall as others have fallen; when I punish them, that will be the end of them. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Israel Rejects God's Way

¹⁶The Lord said to his people, “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths and where the best road is. Walk in it, and you will live in peace.” But they said, “No, we will not!”

¹⁷Then the Lord appointed sentries to listen for the trumpet's warning. But they said, “We will not listen.”

¹⁸So the Lord said, “Listen, you nations, and learn what is going to happen to my people.

¹⁹Listen, earth! As punishment for all their schemes I am bringing ruin on these people, because they have rejected my teaching and have not obeyed my words.

²⁰What do I care about the incense they bring me from Sheba, or the spices from a distant land? I will not accept their offerings or be pleased with their sacrifices.

²¹And so I will make these people stumble and fall. Parents and children will die, and so will friends and neighbors.”

Invasion from the North

²²The Lord says, “People are coming from a country in the north; a mighty nation far away is preparing for war.

²³They have taken up their bows and swords; they are cruel and merciless. They sound like the roaring sea, as they ride their horses. They are ready for battle against Jerusalem.”

²⁴“We have heard the news,” say the people of Jerusalem, “and our hands hang limp; we are seized by anguish and pain like a woman in labor.

²⁵We don't dare go to the countryside or walk on the roads, because our enemies are armed and terror is all around us.”

²⁶The Lord says to his people, “Put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter tears as you would for an only child, because the one who comes to destroy you will suddenly attack.

²⁷Jeremiah, test my people, as you would test metal, and find out what they are like.

²⁸They are all stubborn rebels, hard as bronze and iron. They are all corrupt, going around and spreading gossip.

²⁹The furnace burns fiercely, but the waste metals do not melt and run off. It is useless to go on refining my people, because those who are evil are not taken away.

³⁰They will be called worthless dross, because I, the Lord, have rejected them.”

The Shepherds of Israel

¹The Lord spoke to me.

²“Mortal man,” he said, “denounce the rulers of Israel. Prophesy to them, and tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, say to them: You are doomed, you shepherds of Israel! You take care of yourselves, but never tend the sheep.

³You drink the milk, wear clothes made from the wool, and kill and eat the finest sheep. But you never tend the sheep.

⁴You have not taken care of the weak ones, healed the ones that are sick, bandaged the ones that are hurt, brought back the ones that wandered off, or looked for the ones that were lost. Instead, you treated them cruelly.

⁵Because the sheep had no shepherd, they were scattered, and wild animals killed and ate them.

⁶So my sheep wandered over the high hills and the mountains. They were scattered over the face of the earth, and no one looked for them or tried to find them.

⁷“Now, you shepherds, listen to what I, the Lord, am telling you.

⁸As surely as I am the living God, you had better listen to me. My sheep have been attacked by wild animals that killed and ate them because there was no shepherd. My shepherds did not try to find the sheep. They were taking care of themselves and not the sheep.

⁹So listen to me, you shepherds.

¹⁰I, the Sovereign Lord, declare that I am your enemy. I will take my sheep away from you and never again let you be their shepherds; never again will I let you take care only of yourselves. I will rescue my sheep from you and not let you eat them.

The Good Shepherd

¹¹“I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I myself will look for my sheep and take care of them

¹²in the same way as shepherds take care of their sheep that were scattered and are brought together again. I will bring them back from all the places where they were scattered on that dark, disastrous day.

¹³I will take them out of foreign countries, gather them together, and bring them back to their own land. I will lead them back to the mountains and the streams of Israel and will feed them in pleasant pastures.

¹⁴I will let them graze in safety in the mountain meadows and the valleys and in all the green pastures of the land of Israel.

¹⁵I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will find them a place to rest. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

¹⁶“I will look for those that are lost, bring back those that wander off, bandage those that are hurt, and heal those that are sick; but those that are fat and strong I will destroy, because I am a shepherd who does what is right.

¹⁷“Now then, my flock, I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I will judge each of you and separate the good from the bad, the sheep from the goats.

¹⁸Some of you are not satisfied with eating the best grass; you even trample down what you don't eat! You drink the clear water and muddy what you don't drink!

¹⁹My other sheep have to eat the grass you trample down and drink the water you muddy.

²⁰“So now, I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I will judge between you strong sheep and the weak sheep.

²¹You pushed the sick ones aside and butted them away from the flock.

²²But I will rescue my sheep and not let them be mistreated any more. I will judge each of my sheep and separate the good from the bad.

²³I will give them a king like my servant David to be their one shepherd, and he will take care of them.

²⁴I, the Lord, will be their God, and a king like my servant David will be their ruler. I have spoken.

²⁵I will make a covenant with them that guarantees their security. I will get rid of all the dangerous animals in the land, so that my sheep can live safely in the fields and sleep in the forests.

²⁶“I will bless them and let them live around my sacred hill. There I will bless them with showers of rain when they need it.

²⁷The trees will bear fruit, the fields will produce crops, and everyone will live in safety on his own land. When I break my people's chains and set them free from those who made them slaves, then they will know that I am the Lord.

²⁸The heathen nations will not plunder them any more, and the wild animals will not kill and eat them. They will live in safety, and no one will terrify them.

²⁹I will give them fertile fields and put an end to hunger in the land. The other nations will not sneer at them any more.

³⁰Everyone will know that I protect Israel and that they are my people. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

³¹“You, my sheep, the flock that I feed, are my people, and I am your God,” says the Sovereign Lord.

God's Punishment of Edom

¹The Lord spoke to me.

²“Mortal man,” he said, “denounce the country of Edom.

³Tell the people what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: “I am your enemy, mountains of Edom! I will make you a desolate wasteland.

⁴I will leave your cities in ruins And your land desolate; Then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁵“You were Israel's constant enemy and let her people be slaughtered in the time of her disaster, the time of final punishment for her sins.

⁶So then—as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God—death is your fate, and you cannot escape it. You are guilty of murder, and murder will follow you.

⁷I will make the hill country of Edom a wasteland and kill everyone who travels through it.

⁸I will cover the mountains with corpses, and the bodies of those who are killed in battle will cover the hills and valleys.

⁹I will make you desolate forever, and no one will live in your cities again. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰“You said that the two nations, Judah and Israel, together with their lands, belonged to you and that you would possess them, even though I, the Lord, was their God.

¹¹So then, as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God, I will pay you back for your anger, your jealousy, and your hate toward my people. They will know that I am punishing you for what you did to them.

¹²Then you will know that I, the Lord, heard you say with contempt that the mountains of Israel were desolate and that they were yours to devour.

¹³I have heard the wild, boastful way you have talked against me.”

¹⁴The Sovereign Lord says, “I will make you so desolate that the whole world will rejoice at your downfall,

¹⁵just as you rejoiced at the devastation of Israel, my own possession. The mountains of Seir, yes, all the land of Edom, will be desolate. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord.”

²⁵A witness saves lives when he tells the truth; when he tells lies, he betrays people.

²⁶Reverence for the Lord gives confidence and security to a man and his family.

²⁷Do you want to avoid death? Reverence for the Lord is a fountain of life.

²⁸A king's greatness depends on how many people he rules; without them he is nothing.