Jeremiah 6 · The Lantern

Jerusalem’s Final Warning

Take refuge, sons of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! And in Tekoa blow the horn, and over Beth-haccerem raise a beacon, for evil looks down from the north, and a great breaking.

To the comely and the delicate I liken the daughter of Zion.

To her shepherds come with their flocks; they have pitched tents against her all around; they have shepherded each his own portion.

Sanctify war against her! Arise, and let us go up at noon! Woe to us, for the day has turned, for the shadows of evening stretch out.

Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her citadels.

For thus says the LORD of hosts: Cut down trees and pour out a siege ramp against Jerusalem. She is the city to be attended to; all of her is oppression within her.

As a cistern keeps its waters fresh, so she keeps her evil fresh. Violence and devastation are heard in her; before my face continually are sickness and wound.

Be disciplined, Jerusalem, lest my soul be torn from you, lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited.

See the mercy and the loving-kindness of the good God. When he wishes to have mercy, he says that he is indignant and angry, as through Jeremiah he says: "with grief and with scourge you shall be chastised, Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you".

(Verse 8) Iniquity and devastation will be heard in it before me always, weakness and affliction. Learn, Jerusalem, lest my soul may depart from you, lest I make you deserted, an uninhabitable land. LXX: Impiety and misery will be heard in it before its face.

It was that thou mayest learn that God silently and noiselessly observes the affairs of men, and watches the course of each one's life; and so it is written, "The paths of a man are before the eyes of God; and He looks at all his tracks." And as He is good, and willeth that all men should be saved, He often purifies those who are entangled in sins by inflicting sickness upon th…

Thus says the LORD of hosts: They will glean, glean like a vine the remnant of Israel. Turn back your hand like a grape-gatherer over the branches.

And another prophet, Jeremiah, says, "Turn to the Lord your God, as a grape gatherer to his basket, and you shall find mercy." The sayings in the Holy Scriptures regarding repentance are many, yes, countless. God always desires that the human race turn from all its sins.

God invites us to knowledge also, when he says by Jeremiah, "If you had walked in the way of God, you would have dwelled forever in peace." … God grants pardon to those who have erred. He says, "Turn, turn, as a grape gatherer returns to his basket." Do you see the goodness of justice in that it advises us to repent?

(Verse 9) Thus says the Lord of hosts, they will gather the remnants of Israel like grapes in a vineyard. Turn your hand like a grape harvester into the basket. LXX: For thus says the Lord of hosts: Gather, gather the remnants of Israel like grapes in a vineyard. Return like a grape harvester to your basket.

To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? See, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot listen. See, the word of the LORD has become a reproach to them; they do not delight in it.

And I am full of the wrath of the LORD; I am weary of holding it in. Pour it on the child in the street and on the circle of young men together; for even husband with wife will be caught, the elder with the one full of days.

And their houses will be turned over to others, fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land — the utterance of the LORD.

For from their least to their greatest, all of them are cutting unjust gain, and from prophet to priest, all of them are doing falsehood.

And they have healed the breaking of my people lightly, saying: Peace, peace — and there is no peace.

They were put to shame, for they did an abomination; yet ashamed they were not at all ashamed, and to be humiliated they did not know. Therefore they will fall among the fallen; at the time I attend to them they will stumble, says the LORD.

Thus says the LORD: Stand on the ways and see, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said: We will not walk.

Since the soul became too enfeebled for the apprehension of realities, we needed a divine teacher. The Savior is sent down—a teacher and leader in the acquisition of the good, as the secret and sacred token of the great Providence. "Where, then, is the scribe? Where is the searcher of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" it is said.

When you eat your meals, remember that you must immediately afterwards pray and read. Have a fixed number of lines of Holy Scripture, and render it as your task to your Lord. On no account resign yourself to sleep until you have filled the basket of your breast with a thread of this weaving.

The holy prophets might themselves be considered as "many ways"; our Lord, however, is the truly good way. In fact, listen to his words, "I am the way, the truth and the life." But each of the prophetic ways leads to this way, Moses the lawgiver hinting at this in his words, "The Lord our God will raise up for you from among your brothers a prophet like me." David, king and pro…

And I raised up over you watchmen: Listen to the sound of the horn! But they said: We will not listen.

Therefore hear, nations; and know, congregation, what is among them.

Hear, earth: see, I am bringing evil to this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because to my words they did not listen, and my instruction — they rejected it.

Why is this to me — frankincense that comes from Sheba, and the good cane from a far land? Your burnt offerings are not for favor, and your sacrifices are not sweet to me.

For it was not because He was angry, like a man, as many venture to say, that He rejected their sacrifices; but out of compassion to their blindness, and with the view of suggesting to them the true sacrifice, by offering which they shall appease God, that they may receive life from Him.

(Verse 20) Why do you bring me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not accepted, and your sacrifices do not please me. That frankincense from Sheba should come is beyond doubt, as Virgil also says: And a hundred altars glow with Sabean incense (Aeneid, Book I).

The legal manner of service is not what he requires. This is a thing in no respect difficult to see from the prophetic and apostolic writings. For by the word of Jeremiah he says, "Why do you bring me frankincense from Sheba and cinnamon from a far country?

Therefore thus says the LORD: See, I am giving to this people stumbling blocks, and they will stumble on them — fathers and sons together, neighbor and his friend — and they will perish.

An Invasion from the North

Thus says the LORD: See, a people is coming from a northern land, and a great nation is roused from the far parts of the earth.

Bow and javelin they grasp; cruel it is, and they have no compassion. Their voice roars like the sea, and on horses they ride, arrayed like a man for war against you, daughter of Zion.

We have heard the report of it; our hands have gone slack. Distress has seized us, writhing like a woman giving birth.

Do not go out to the field, and do not walk on the way, for the sword of the enemy — terror all around!

Daughter of my people, gird sackcloth and roll in ashes. Make for yourself mourning as for an only son, a lamentation of bitternesses, for suddenly the devastator will come upon us.

A tester I have made you among my people, a fortress; and you will know and test their way.

All of them are stubborn turners, walking in slander — bronze and iron. All of them are corrupters.

The bellows blow hot; from the fire the lead is finished. In vain the refiner refines — and the evil are not torn away.

Rejected silver they are called, for the LORD has rejected them.

Jeremiah6

Jerusalem’s Final Warning

An Invasion from the North