Jeremiah 6:4-8

The Message

6 ^1-5 “Run for your lives, children of Benjamin!
    Get out of Jerusalem, and now!
Give a blast on the ram’s horn in Blastville.
    Send up smoke signals from Smoketown.
Doom pours out of the north—
    massive terror!
I have likened my dear daughter Zion
    to a lovely meadow.
Well, now ‘shepherds’ from the north have discovered her
    and brought in their flocks of soldiers.
They’ve pitched camp all around her,
    and plan where they’ll ‘graze.’
And then, ‘Prepare to attack! The fight is on!
    To arms! We’ll strike at noon!
Oh, it’s too late? Day is dying?
    Evening shadows are upon us?
Well, up anyway! We’ll attack by night
    and tear apart her defenses stone by stone.’”

“Chop down her trees.
    Build a siege ramp against Jerusalem,
A city full of brutality,
    bursting with violence.
Just as a well holds a good supply of water,
    she supplies wickedness nonstop.
The streets echo the cries: ‘Violence! Rape!’
    Victims, bleeding and moaning, lie all over the place.
You’re in deep trouble, Jerusalem.
    You’ve pushed me to the limit.
You’re on the brink of being wiped out,
    being turned into a ghost town.”