Dawn at a crossroads in the Judean hills: an old road of worn stones meets a newer track, a weathered waymark stone at the fork, mist in the valleys.

Return to Me

Jeremiah 6

When you stand at a fork in the road, how do you choose the way?

30 verses≈ 6 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1The callJosiah’s thirteenth year (about 627 BC): a prophet to the nations
2–6Return to MeBroken cisterns, faithless Judah, disaster from the northChapter 6
7–10The temple gateThe temple sermon, a weeping prophet, the living God
11–20Covenant and complaintThe broken covenant, the potter, Jeremiah’s confessions
21–29Shepherds and prophetsKings judged, the Branch, seventy years, the yoke, the letter
30–33The Book of ComfortRestoration, the new covenant, a field bought in a siege
34–39The last days of JudahThe scroll burned, the cistern, Jerusalem falls (586 BC)
40–45After the fallGedaliah at Mizpah, the flight to Egypt, a word for Baruch
46–51The nationsEgypt to Babylon: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
52Jerusalem fallsThe record of 586 BC, and a king released

Jerusalem’s Final Warning

God

Dusk on a high bare hilltop south of Jerusalem: a signal fire blazes on a heap of brush, smoke streaming, and far off on the next hill a second fire answers.

“Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin;

flee from Jerusalem!

Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa;

send up a signal over Beth-haccherem,

for disaster looms from the north,

even great destruction.

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God

Though she is beautiful and delicate,

I will destroy the Daughter of Zion.

Shepherds and their flocks

will come against her;

they will pitch their tents all around her,

each tending his own portion:

God

‘Prepare for battle against her;

rise up, let us attack at noon.

Woe to us, for the daylight is fading;

the evening shadows grow long.

Rise up, let us attack by night

and destroy her fortresses!’”

God

Below Jerusalem's stone wall, a slope of fresh stumps where trees have been cut, and a siege ramp of earth, stones and timber begun against the wall, with no one at it.

For this is what the LORD of Hosts says:

“Cut down the trees

and raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem.

This city must be punished;

there is nothing but oppression in her midst.

As a well gushes its water,

so she pours out her evil.

Violence and destruction resound in her;

sickness and wounds are ever before Me.

Be forewarned, O Jerusalem,

or I will turn away from you;

I will make you a desolation,

a land without inhabitant.”

God

God

This is what the LORD of Hosts says:

“Glean the remnant of Israel

as thoroughly as a vine.

Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer

over the branches.”

Jeremiah

To whom can I give this warning?

Who will listen to me?

Look, their ears are closed,

so they cannot hear.

See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them;

they find no pleasure in it.

But I am full of the LORD’s wrath;

I am tired of holding it back.

God

“Pour it out on the children in the street,

and on the young men gathered together.

For both husband and wife will be captured,

the old and the very old alike.

Their houses will be turned over to others,

their fields and wives as well,

for I will stretch out My hand

against the inhabitants of the land,”

declares the LORD.

God

“For from the least of them to the greatest,

all are greedy for gain;

from prophet to priest,

all practice deceit.

God

Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed?

No, they have no shame at all;

they do not even know how to blush.

So they will fall among the fallen;

when I punish them, they will collapse,”

says the LORD.

Question

Quick question

A wound can be covered or it can be healed. Read 6:14 again before you answer.

What did the false prophets keep saying (6:14)?

God

This is what the LORD says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look.

Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’

Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.

Jeremiah 6:16

God

But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

I appointed watchmen over you and said,

‘Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.’

But they answered, ‘We will not listen!’

God

Therefore hear, O nations,

and learn, O congregations,

what will happen to them.

Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people,

the fruit of their own schemes,

because they have paid no attention to My word

and have rejected My instruction.

God

God

What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba

or sweet cane from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;

your sacrifices do not please Me.”

God

Therefore this is what the LORD says:

“I will lay stumbling blocks before this people;

fathers and sons alike will be staggered;

friends and neighbors will perish.”

An Invasion from the North

God

Under a darkening sky, far off on a northern road through the hills, ranks of horsemen and spearmen move in formation, dust rising like a cloud, a chariot at their head.

This is what the LORD says:

“Behold, an army is coming

from the land of the north;

a great nation is stirred up

from the ends of the earth.

They grasp the bow and spear;

they are cruel and merciless.

Their voice roars like the sea,

and they ride upon horses,

lined up like men in formation

against you, O Daughter of Zion.”

Jeremiah

At dusk in the doorway of a stone house, a mother in coarse dark sackcloth sits on the threshold with ash on her head, an empty child's stool beside her.

We have heard the report;

our hands hang limp.

Anguish has gripped us,

pain like that of a woman in labor.

Do not go out to the fields;

do not walk the road.

For the enemy has a sword;

terror is on every side.

O daughter of my people,

dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes.

Mourn with bitter wailing,

as you would for an only son,

for suddenly the destroyer

will come upon us.

0:26

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

God

God

“I have appointed you to examine My people like ore,

so you may know and try their ways.

All are hardened rebels,

walking around as slanderers.

They are bronze and iron;

all of them are corrupt.

The bellows blow fiercely,

blasting away the lead with fire.

The refining proceeds in vain,

for the wicked are not purged.

They are called rejected silver,

because the LORD has rejected them.”

Pray

LORD, I stand at the crossroads. Show me the ancient paths and the good way, and give me grace to walk in it and find rest for my soul. Keep me from a peace that is no peace. Amen.

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Jeremiah 6

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A verse to carry with you

Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.

Jeremiah 6:16

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