Jeremiah 6 explained: Warnings of an Army from the North

Flee, the enemy is coming (vv. 1-5)

People of Benjamin, the tribe whose land bordered Jerusalem, are told to flee the city while trumpets and signal fires sound the alarm in nearby towns. Enemy commanders are pictured as shepherds whose flocks strip the land bare, and their soldiers are so eager they will attack in the noon heat and even at night.

A city full of oppression (vv. 6-8)

God orders trees cut down for siege ramps, the earth mounds attackers built to reach the top of a city's walls, because Jerusalem keeps pouring out violence and wrongdoing like water from a well. Even so, verse 8 is a plea to take warning before God turns away and the land is left empty.

No one listens (vv. 9-15)

Like a grape picker going over a vine again, the enemy will come back for whoever is left, and the poem pictures God's anger falling on everyone, children and the old included. Greed runs through the whole society, while prophets and priests treat a deep wound as a scratch, saying 'Peace, peace' when there is no peace.

Refusing the good road (vv. 16-21)

God pictures lost travelers at a crossroads asking for the old, good road, and prophets as watchmen sounding a trumpet, but the people refuse both. Costly imported incense and sacrifices mean nothing to God without honest lives, so the nations are called to witness the disaster these choices bring.

A cruel army arrives (vv. 22-26)

A merciless army is coming from the far north, generally understood as Babylon, and it roars like the sea. The people are told to wear sackcloth, rough cloth worn in grief, and roll in ashes, mourning as parents mourn an only child.

Silver that will not refine (vv. 27-30)

God makes Jeremiah a tester of metal, with the people as the ore. In ancient refining, lead was melted with the ore to carry off impurities, but here the fire burns for nothing, and the people are called rejected silver.

Key verse: Jeremiah 6:14

Something to think about

When one voice tells you everything is fine and another warns that something is badly wrong, how do you decide which one to trust?