BOOK 24 OF 66 · MAJOR PROPHETS · KING JAMES BIBLE

Jeremiah 6

Jeremiah book home•Chapter 6 of 52•30 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

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Jeremiah 6 Overview

The siege warning intensifies as enemies prepare against Jerusalem; Jeremiah describes stubborn people who will not listen, exposes superficial healing that cries 'Peace, peace' when there is no peace, and portrays Judah as rejected silver after failed refining.

JeremiahBook

6Chapter

30Verses

Major ProphetsDivision

Before you read Jeremiah 6

Coming from

Jeremiah searches Jerusalem for a person committed to truth but finds corruption at every level; people deny coming judgment, prophets speak falsely, priests rule by their influence, and the nation prefers it that way.

In this chapter

Leads into

At the temple gate Jeremiah destroys the false confidence that possessing the LORD’s temple guarantees safety; he condemns injustice, idolatry, and child sacrifice, points to Shiloh, and announces that ritual cannot shield persistent rebellion.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The northern invasion is now pictured as an imminent siege. The chapter combines military alarm with an explanation of why repeated prophetic warnings have not produced change.

The interpretive center of Jeremiah 6 is the chapter’s own movement: refusing correction can harden into moral deafness. Read its poetry, signs, historical references, and later biblical connections from that center rather than treating isolated phrases as detached slogans.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Refusing correction can harden into moral deafness

The people’s ears are described as uncircumcised and unable to hearken.

False peace is a form of spiritual malpractice

Leaders lightly treat a mortal wound by announcing peace without addressing sin.

Repeated testing can reveal persistent impurity

The rejected-silver image shows that refining has not produced genuine change.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Ezekiel 13:10-16

Ezekiel similarly condemns false prophets who speak peace when there is no peace.

Jeremiah 8:11

The 'Peace, peace' indictment is repeated as Jeremiah continues confronting superficial healing.

1 Thessalonians 5:3

Paul warns of sudden destruction when people say 'Peace and safety,' echoing prophetic false-security themes.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not use 'ask for the old paths' as if every old human tradition is automatically right.

The context is returning to God’s good way, not nostalgia for anything ancient.

Do not treat lack of peace as proof someone is eternally unsaved.

The chapter concerns national covenant judgment and false public assurance.

Read Jeremiah 6 watching for…

siege preparations

uncircumcised ears

the call to old paths

'Peace, peace' without peace

rejected silver

Chapter outline3 sections

1-8Benjamin is warned to flee as destruction from the north approaches Jerusalem 9-17The people refuse warning, prophets cry peace falsely, and the ancient paths are rejected 18-30The LORD rejects empty offerings and tests the people like corrupted metal

O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.

The 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.

Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.

Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.

To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, 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, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.

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 hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

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 be cast down, saith the LORD.

Thus saith the LORD, 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.

Also 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, nor to my law, but rejected it.

To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.

Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.

Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.

They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.

We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is 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 spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.

They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.

The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.

Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.