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6. Jerusalem Under Siege

¹ “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin!
   Flee from Jerusalem!
Sound the trumpet in Tekoa!
   Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem!
For disaster looms out of the north,
   even terrible destruction.
² I will destroy Daughter Zion,
   so beautiful and delicate.
³ Shepherds with their flocks will come against her;
   they will pitch their tents around her,
   each tending his own portion.”

    ⁴ “Prepare for battle against her!
   Arise, let us attack at noon!
But, alas, the daylight is fading,
   and the shadows of evening grow long.
⁵ So arise, let us attack at night
   and destroy her fortresses!”

⁶ This is what the LORD Almighty says:

   “Cut down the trees
   and build siege ramps against Jerusalem.
This city must be punished;
   it is filled with oppression.
⁷ As a well pours out its water,
   so she pours out her wickedness.
Violence and destruction resound in her;
   her sickness and wounds are ever before me.
⁸ Take warning, Jerusalem,
   or I will turn away from you
and make your land desolate
   so no one can live in it.”

⁹ This is what the LORD Almighty says:

   “Let them glean the remnant of Israel
   as thoroughly as a vine;
pass your hand over the branches again,
   like one gathering grapes.”

    ¹⁰ To whom can I speak and give warning?
   Who will listen to me?
Their ears are closed Hebrew uncircumcised
   so they cannot hear.
The word of the LORD is offensive to them;
   they find no pleasure in it.
¹¹ But I am full of the wrath of the LORD,
   and I cannot hold it in.

   “Pour it out on the children in the street
   and on the young men gathered together;
both husband and wife will be caught in it,
   and the old, those weighed down with years.
¹² Their houses will be turned over to others,
   together with their fields and their wives,
when I stretch out my hand
   against those who live in the land,” declares the LORD.
¹³ “From the least to the greatest,
   all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
   all practice deceit.
¹⁴ They dress the wound of my people
   as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
   when there is no peace.
¹⁵ Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
   No, they have no shame at all;
   they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
   they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD.

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says:

   “Stand at the crossroads and look;
   ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
   and you will find rest for your souls.
   But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
¹⁷ I appointed watchmen over you and said,
   ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
   But you said, ‘We will not listen.’
¹⁸ Therefore hear, you nations;
   you who are witnesses,
   observe what will happen to them.
¹⁹ Hear, you earth:
   I am bringing disaster on this people,
   the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not listened to my words
   and have rejected my law.
²⁰ What do I care about incense from Sheba
   or sweet calamus from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;
   your sacrifices do not please me.”

²¹ Therefore this is what the LORD says:

   “I will put obstacles before this people.
   Parents and children alike will stumble over them;
   neighbors and friends will perish.”

²² This is what the LORD says:

   “Look, an army is coming
   from the land of the north;
a great nation is being stirred up
   from the ends of the earth.
²³ They are armed with bow and spear;
   they are cruel and show no mercy.
They sound like the roaring sea
   as they ride on their horses;
they come like men in battle formation
   to attack you, Daughter Zion.”

    ²⁴ We have heard reports about them,
   and our hands hang limp.
Anguish has gripped us,
   pain like that of a woman in labor.
²⁵ Do not go out to the fields
   or walk on the roads,
for the enemy has a sword,
   and there is terror on every side.
²⁶ Put on sackcloth, my people,
   and roll in ashes;
mourn with bitter wailing
   as for an only son,
for suddenly the destroyer
   will come upon us.

    ²⁷ “I have made you a tester of metals
   and my people the ore,
that you may observe
   and test their ways.
²⁸ They are all hardened rebels,
   going about to slander.
They are bronze and iron;
   they all act corruptly.
²⁹ The bellows blow fiercely
   to burn away the lead with fire,
but the refining goes on in vain;
   the wicked are not purged out.
³⁰ They are called rejected silver,
   because the LORD has rejected them.”

Jeremiah proceeds in the same strain; for he sets before the eyes of the Jews the judgment of God, and draws them, as it were against their will, into the middle of the scene. And this was done by the prophets, as it has been already said, because by plain words they could not move the hearts of the people on account of their contempt of God, and of the long obduracy in which they had settled. Hence he says, that heard had been the report of the enemy, and that immediately dissolved had their hands When the Prophet spoke, the Jews did not think that their enemies were so near. But the phrase is to be thus explained: “As soon as ye shall hear the report, your hands shall be relaxed, and lay hold on you shall distress.”

The similitude of a woman in travail is often found in Scripture; and what is to be understood in most places is sudden and unexpected pain: but in this place the Prophet refers rather to the violence of pain; though the other meaning, which I have just stated, is not to be excluded; for it is probable, that when he saw that the hardness and obstinacy of the people were so great, he adopted this similitude, in order to shew, that however heedlessly they despised the punishment due to them, it could not yet be avoided, as it would seize them suddenly like that of a woman in childbearing. He afterwards adds —