Episode 189: The Jeremiad continues

Jeremiah 5-8

Try to find a good person

5 ¹ God said to Jeremiah,

Run through the streets of Jerusalem and see if you can find a good man. If you can find one, I'll pardon the whole city.

³ Jeremiah said,

Oh God, you have tormented the people, but they are not contrite. Their faces are harder than a rock. ⁴ They are all foolish people who don't know the way of the Lord. ⁶ So a lion, wolf, or leopard will kill them. Whoever goes outside will be torn to pieces.

Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife

⁷ God said,

How can I forgive them for this? My children have committed adultery and gone to harlots' houses. ⁸ They were like fed horses in the morning, each one neighing after his neighbor's wife.

¹⁰ So go up on the city's walls and begin to kill them. But let a few survive.

¹³ The prophets are unreliable like wind. I'll kill them too.

¹⁴ I'll make the words in your mouth like fire and the people like wood, so your words will burn them to death.

¹⁵ I'll bring a faraway nation to attack you, Israel. ¹⁷ They will eat your sons and your daughters. ¹⁸ But I'll let a few of you survive. ²² So you don't fear me? Well, you will soon tremble at my presence.

Their ears are uncircumcised

6 ¹ Run for your lives from Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa! Because evil has come from the north. ¹⁰ Who will listen to my warning? They all have uncircumcised ears.

I will bring evil upon this people

¹¹ God said,

I am full of the fury of God. I am tired of holding it in. I will pour it out on children, young men, husbands, wives, and old people. ¹² I'll give their houses and fields to other people. I'll give them their wives, as well. ¹⁵ They weren't ashamed when they committed their abominations. They didn't even blush.

¹⁹ Listen earth! I will do evil things to these people because they won't listen to me. ²⁰ Your burnt offerings aren't acceptable to me anymore, and your sacrifices don't smell sweet.

²¹ I’ll lay stumbling blocks before them, causing the deaths of fathers and sons, friends and neighbors.

²² I'm sending a nation from the north to attack you. ²³ They are cruel and will have no mercy. Their voices roar like the sea, and they ride on horses. ²⁶ So gird yourselves in sackcloth and wallow in ashes.

You've got to change your evil ways

7 ¹ The word of God said to Jeremiah,

³ This is what God says,

Change your ways and you can live here.

⁴ But don't trust these words: "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord."

^6-7 If you don't oppress strangers, the fatherless, or widows or kill innocent people, you can live here forever.

Don't pray for these people

¹⁶ So don't pray for these people. I won't hear you.

¹⁷ Do you see what they're doing in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁸ The children gather wood, their fathers kindle fires, the women make cakes to the queen of heaven, and pour drink offerings to other gods.

²⁰ Therefore my fury will be poured out on man and beast, trees, and fruit. I'll burn it all; the fire will never go out.

I never asked for animal sacrifices

²¹ Eat your own burnt offerings and animal sacrifices.

²² I never asked your fathers to sacrifice animals.

The Valley of Slaughter

²⁹ Cut off your hair, Jerusalem, and throw it away. God has rejected and forsaken this generation.

³⁰ God said,

Because you have done evil in my sight and put abominations in my house. ³¹ And burned their children, as I told them not to do.

³² The day is coming when they’ll call this place the valley of slaughter.

³³ I'll feed dead bodies to the birds and beasts, and no one will chase them away.

Bring out your bones!

8 ¹ At that time they will bring out the bones from the graves of all of the dead people in Jerusalem, including kings, princes, priests, and prophets. ² And they'll spread them out in the sun. No one will gather or bury them. They'll be like dung on the face of the earth. ³ Those who are living will wish they were dead.

I'll give their wives to other men

⁹ The wise men are ashamed. They have rejected the word of God.

¹⁰ Therefore I'll give their wives to other men.

They didn't even blush

¹² Were they ashamed of their abominations? No, they weren't. They didn't even blush. So they'll be killed with all the others. ¹³ I'll kill them all, along with their grape vines and fig trees. ¹⁴ And give them poisoned water to drink.

I'll send cockatrices to bite you

¹⁷ I'll send serpents and cockatrices, who won't be charmed, to bite you.