Flee for safety, ye children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth-haccherem; for evil looketh forth from the north, and a great destruction.
The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off.
Shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
{Hebrew: Sanctify.}Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day declineth, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.
Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.
For thus hath Jehovah of hosts said, Hew ye down {Or, as otherwise read, her trees}trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.
As a well {Or, keepeth fresh}casteth forth its waters, so she {Or, keepeth fresh}casteth forth her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds.
Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee; lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn again thy hand as a grape-gatherer {Or, upon the shoots}into the baskets.
To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of Jehovah is become unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
Therefore I am full of the wrath of Jehovah; I am weary with holding in: pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.
And their houses shall be turned unto others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah.
For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
They have healed also the {Or, breach}hurt of {Another reading is, the daughter of my people, as in chapter 8:11, 21}my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
{Or, They shall be put to shame because they have committed abomination; yea, they are not &c.}Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall; at the time that I visit them they shall {Or, stumble}be cast down, saith Jehovah.
Thus saith Jehovah, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls: but they said, We will not walk therein.
And I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet; but they said, We will not hearken.
Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.
Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.
To what purpose cometh there to me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet {Or, calamus}cane from a far country? your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing unto me.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people; and the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish.
Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, a people cometh from the north country; and a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea, and they ride upon horses, every one set in array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion.
We have heard the report thereof; our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pangs as of a woman in travail.
Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy, and terror, are on every side.
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
I have made thee a {Or, tower}trier and a fortress among my people; that thou mayest know and try their way.
They are all grievous revolters, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron: they all of them deal corruptly.
The bellows {Or, are burned}blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.
Refuse silver shall men call them, because Jehovah hath rejected them.
Querverweise zu Jeremia 6,16 Jer 6,16
For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false gods; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up;
but this thing I commanded them, saying, Hearken unto my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and walk ye in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.
to whom he said, This is the rest, give ye rest to him that is weary; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, It is in vain; no, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.
Remember the days of old,Consider the years of many generations:Ask thy father, and he will show thee;Thine elders, and they will tell thee.
O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart.
Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth,Where thou feedest thy flock,Where thou makest it to rest at noon:For why should I be as one that is veiledBeside the flocks of thy companions?
and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it; when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.
If thou know not, O thou fairest among women,Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock,And feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.
Jesus therefore said unto them, Yet a little while is the light {Or, in}among you. Walk while ye have the light, that darkness overtake you not: and he that walketh in the darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of Jehovah, we will not hearken unto thee.
To the {Or, teaching}law and to the testimony! {Or, surely according to this word shall they speak for whom there is no morning}if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.
If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them.
But what think ye? A man had two {Greek: children.}sons; and he came to the first, and said, {Greek: Child.}Son, go work to-day in the vineyard.
And he answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented himself, and went.
And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.
Which of the two did the will of his father? They say, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the {See marginal note on chapter 5:46.}publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the {See marginal note on chapter 5:46.}publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye saw it, did not even repent yourselves afterward, that ye might believe him.
Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances.
As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
But Abraham saith, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
{Or, Search the scriptures}Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me;
For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me.
But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.
What then shall we say {Some ancient authorities read of Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?}that Abraham, {Or, our forefather according to the flesh found?}our forefather, hath found according to the flesh?
For if Abraham was justified {Greek: out of Galatians 3:8.}by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not toward God.
For what saith the scripture? {Genesis 15:6.}And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.
Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man, unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works,
and the father of circumcision to them who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he had in uncircumcision.
that ye be not sluggish, but imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
For therein the elders had witness borne to them.
By faith we understand that the {Greek: ages. Compare 1 Timothy 1:17 margin}worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear.
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, {The Greek text in this clause is somewhat uncertain.}God bearing witness {Or, over his gifts}in respect of his gifts: and through it he being dead yet speaketh.
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him: {Or, for before his translation he hath had witness borne to him that he &c.} for he hath had witness borne to him that before his translation he had been well-pleasing unto God:
and without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.
By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, {Or, having taken up his abode in tents}dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
for he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose {Or, architect}builder and maker is God.
By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive seed when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised:
wherefore also there sprang of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the sand, which is by the sea-shore, innumerable.
These all died {Greek: according to.}in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
For they that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own.
And if indeed they had been mindful of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.
But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city.
By faith Abraham, being tried, {Greek: hath offered up.}offered up Isaac: yea, he that had gladly received the promises was offering up his only begotten son;
even he {Or, of}to whom it was said, {Genesis 21:12}In Isaac shall thy seed be called:
accounting that God is able to raise up, even from the dead; from whence he did also in a figure receive him back.
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come.
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
By faith Joseph, when his end was nigh, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
accounting the reproach of {Or, the Christ Compare 1 Corinthians 10:4.}Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
By faith he {Or, instituted Greek: hath made.}kept the passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.
By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were swallowed up.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been compassed about for seven days.
By faith Rahab the harlot perished not with them that were disobedient, having received the spies with peace.
And what shall I more say? for the time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of David and Samuel and the prophets:
who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, waxed mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens.
Women received their dead by a resurrection: and others were {Or, beaten to death}tortured, not accepting {Greek: the redemption.}their deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
and others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword: they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated
(of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves, and the holes of the earth.
And these all, having had witness borne to them through their faith, received not the promise,
God having {Or, forseen}provided some better thing concerning us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every {Or, encumbrance}weight, and the sin which {Or, doth closely cling to us Or, is admired of many}doth so easily beset us, and let us run with {Or, stedfastness}patience the race that is set before us,