Jeremiah 6:1-21·~1 min

Jerusalem’s Final Warning

The alarm is raised for Benjamin to flee from Jerusalem because ruin is being signaled from the north. Daughter Zion is pictured as beautiful yet exposed, while hostile shepherds prepare their camps and press the attack from day into night.

“¹Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin; ²Though she is beautiful and delicate, ³Shepherds and their flocks ⁴‘Prepare for battle against her; ⁵Rise up, let us attack by night

The LORD of Hosts authorizes the siege, because Jerusalem gushes violence the way a well pours water. She is warned to take correction before becoming an abandoned wasteland, but the city's sickness remains in plain sight.

⁶For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ⁷As a well gushes its water, ⁸Be forewarned, O Jerusalem,

The remnant is to be gleaned thoroughly, because from least to greatest the people are greedy and deceitful, including prophet and priest. Jeremiah speaks as one filled with the LORD's wrath, while leaders keep treating deep wounds lightly by saying peace when there is none and showing no shame over abomination.

⁹This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ¹⁰To whom can I give this warning? ¹¹But I am full of the LORD’s wrath; ¹²Their houses will be turned over to others, ¹³“For from the least of them to the greatest, ¹⁴They dress the wound of My people ¹⁵Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed?

The people are called to stand at the roads and ask for the ancient paths that lead to rest, but they refuse to walk in them or heed the watchmen's trumpet. Nations and earth are summoned to hear that disaster is coming because the people reject God's words, making even costly incense and offerings worthless before Him.

¹⁶This is what the LORD says: ¹⁷I appointed watchmen over you and said, ¹⁸Therefore hear, O nations, ¹⁹Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people, ²⁰What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba ²¹Therefore this is what the LORD says:

Section summaryThe chapter's opening section urges Jerusalem to flee before siege closes in, then describes the city as a place where violence pours out as naturally as water from a well. Though warning, wrath, and the old paths are all set before the people, they refuse to listen, leaving ritual offerings empty and disaster certain.

Role in the chapterThis section functions as the chapter's last extended moral summons before the invader arrives in full view. It gathers military threat and spiritual indictment together, showing that Jerusalem's fall comes through both external attack and long-settled refusal to hear.