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6. Jerusalem Under Siege

¹ “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin!
   Flee from Jerusalem!
Sound the trumpet in Tekoa!
   Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem!
For disaster looms out of the north,
   even terrible destruction.
² I will destroy Daughter Zion,
   so beautiful and delicate.
³ Shepherds with their flocks will come against her;
   they will pitch their tents around her,
   each tending his own portion.”

    ⁴ “Prepare for battle against her!
   Arise, let us attack at noon!
But, alas, the daylight is fading,
   and the shadows of evening grow long.
⁵ So arise, let us attack at night
   and destroy her fortresses!”

⁶ This is what the LORD Almighty says:

   “Cut down the trees
   and build siege ramps against Jerusalem.
This city must be punished;
   it is filled with oppression.
⁷ As a well pours out its water,
   so she pours out her wickedness.
Violence and destruction resound in her;
   her sickness and wounds are ever before me.
⁸ Take warning, Jerusalem,
   or I will turn away from you
and make your land desolate
   so no one can live in it.”

⁹ This is what the LORD Almighty says:

   “Let them glean the remnant of Israel
   as thoroughly as a vine;
pass your hand over the branches again,
   like one gathering grapes.”

    ¹⁰ To whom can I speak and give warning?
   Who will listen to me?
Their ears are closed Hebrew uncircumcised
   so they cannot hear.
The word of the LORD is offensive to them;
   they find no pleasure in it.
¹¹ But I am full of the wrath of the LORD,
   and I cannot hold it in.

   “Pour it out on the children in the street
   and on the young men gathered together;
both husband and wife will be caught in it,
   and the old, those weighed down with years.
¹² Their houses will be turned over to others,
   together with their fields and their wives,
when I stretch out my hand
   against those who live in the land,” declares the LORD.
¹³ “From the least to the greatest,
   all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
   all practice deceit.
¹⁴ They dress the wound of my people
   as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
   when there is no peace.
¹⁵ Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
   No, they have no shame at all;
   they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
   they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD.

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says:

   “Stand at the crossroads and look;
   ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
   and you will find rest for your souls.
   But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
¹⁷ I appointed watchmen over you and said,
   ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
   But you said, ‘We will not listen.’
¹⁸ Therefore hear, you nations;
   you who are witnesses,
   observe what will happen to them.
¹⁹ Hear, you earth:
   I am bringing disaster on this people,
   the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not listened to my words
   and have rejected my law.
²⁰ What do I care about incense from Sheba
   or sweet calamus from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;
   your sacrifices do not please me.”

²¹ Therefore this is what the LORD says:

   “I will put obstacles before this people.
   Parents and children alike will stumble over them;
   neighbors and friends will perish.”

²² This is what the LORD says:

   “Look, an army is coming
   from the land of the north;
a great nation is being stirred up
   from the ends of the earth.
²³ They are armed with bow and spear;
   they are cruel and show no mercy.
They sound like the roaring sea
   as they ride on their horses;
they come like men in battle formation
   to attack you, Daughter Zion.”

    ²⁴ We have heard reports about them,
   and our hands hang limp.
Anguish has gripped us,
   pain like that of a woman in labor.
²⁵ Do not go out to the fields
   or walk on the roads,
for the enemy has a sword,
   and there is terror on every side.
²⁶ Put on sackcloth, my people,
   and roll in ashes;
mourn with bitter wailing
   as for an only son,
for suddenly the destroyer
   will come upon us.

    ²⁷ “I have made you a tester of metals
   and my people the ore,
that you may observe
   and test their ways.
²⁸ They are all hardened rebels,
   going about to slander.
They are bronze and iron;
   they all act corruptly.
²⁹ The bellows blow fiercely
   to burn away the lead with fire,
but the refining goes on in vain;
   the wicked are not purged out.
³⁰ They are called rejected silver,
   because the LORD has rejected them.”

He says, that the bellows was consumed by the fire and without any advantage. The whole sentence is metaphorical. Interpreters refer it simply to what was taught; and hence they consider the mouth of the Prophet to be the bellows, by which the fire was kindled. So the meaning would be, — that the Prophet was as it were burnt, through his incessant crying, like the bellows, which by being continually used is at length consumed, especially when the fire burns fiercely. They then suppose that the Prophet complains that his throat had dried up, like the bellows, which being burnt by the fire can no longer do its work. But what if we refer this to the punishments and judgments by which God had chastised his people, and yet without benefit? For so he complains in the first chapter of Isaiah, and in other places.

“In vain, “he says, “have I chastised thee:”

and Jeremiah has before said,

“In vain have I chastised my children; they have not received correction.” (Jeremiah 2:30)

So also it is said by Isaiah,

“Alas! vengeance must I take on my enemies,” (Isaiah 1:24)

but to what purpose? He afterwards adds, that it was without any benefit, because their wickedness was incurable.

The first meaning, however, is not to be rejected, for it was not unsuitable to say, that the tongue of the Prophet was worn out with constant crying, that his throat was nearly dried up. But I approve more of what I have just stated. Let each make his own choice. If we consider prophetic teaching to be here intended, we may also draw another meaning, — that the Prophet’s mouth was consumed by God’s terrors; for it was like burning, whenever God threatened the people with final destruction. The Prophet then does not without reason say, that his throat was burnt by fire, even the threatenings of God.

He afterwards adds, that the lead was entire This sentence rather favors the view, that Jeremiah is speaking of the judgments by which God sought to humble the people and to lead them to repentance; for it cannot be suitably applied to doctrine or teaching, that the lead was unmixt. By lead I understand dross. Some consider it to be silver, and say that lead was mixed with silver, in order that the silver might more easily be melted. As I am not skillful in that art, I cannot say whether this is done or not. But the Prophet says that the lead was unmixt; that is, that nothing was found but dross and filth.

He then adds, In vain has the melter melted, for evils have not been purged away; that is, the dross had not been removed so as to leave behind the pure metal. He means, in short, that there was nothing but dross and filth in the people, and not a particle of pure silver. It hence followed, that they had been as it were in vain melted. Now, this applies more fitly to punishment than to teaching, as all must see. I hence do not doubt but that the Prophet shews here, that the Jews were not only wicked and apostates and despisers of God, but were also so obstinate that God had often tried in vain to purify them. And it is a kind of speaking, we know, which occurs often in the prophets and throughout Scripture, that God is said to melt, to purge, to refine men, when he chastises them. But the Prophet says that there was only filth in that people, that lead was found, and that they were not melted. And hence we learn how great was their hardness: though they were tried by fire, they yet melted not, but continued in their perverseness. ¹⁸⁷¹⁸⁷     The true reading of the third word in this verse is מאש תם, according to the Keri, many MSS., the Septuagint and the Vulgate; and תםsometimes means “consumed.” Pliny says that they formerly used lead to separate the dross from the silver, as they use quicksilver now. Then the verse is to be thus rendered, —
   Burnt has been the bellows by the fire, Consumed has been the lead;
In vain has been the melting of the melted, For their evils have not been separated.
   They had been in the furnace, but the lead intended to separate the dross from the silver, was consumed, and the melting did not succeed, for their evils, or their vices, were not separated from them. Hence in the next verse they are called reprobate silver. — Ed. He afterwards adds —