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picked clean

Jeremiah 6:1-9 (JDV)

Jeremiah 6:1 “Run for safety out of the belly of Jerusalem, sons of Benjamin. Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa; raise a smoke signal over Beth-haccherem, because disaster looks down from the north, even a severe fracture.

Jeremiah 6:2 Though she is beautiful and delicate, I have cut off Daughter Zion.

Jeremiah 6:3 Shepherds and their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents all around her. Each will pasture his own portion.

Jeremiah 6:4 Commit them for war against her; rise up, let’s attack at noon. Tragedy for us, because the day is passing; the evening shadows grow long.

Jeremiah 6:5 Rise up, let’s attack by night. Let us destroy her fortresses.”

Jeremiah 6:6 You see, this is what Yahveh of Armies says: Cut down the trees; raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This city must be punished. There is nothing but oppression within her.

Jeremiah 6:7 As a well gushes out its water, so she pours out her evil. Violence and destruction resound in her. Sickness and wounds keep coming to my attention.

Jeremiah 6:8 Be corrected, Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitants.

Jeremiah 6:9 This is what Yahveh of Armies says: Glean the remainder of Israel as thoroughly as a vine. Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer over the branches.

picked clean

It takes a lot of grapes to make wine, so the pickers will go over the vine more than once, to make sure that all the fruit is harvested. Go out and look at a vineyard after harvest, and you will not find anything left. It will be picked clean.

The Lord spoke through Jeremiah to the nations which would harvest his people. He told them to glean the remainder of Israel as thoroughly as a vine, passing their hand once more as a grape gatherer over the branches.

When judgment from God comes, he will miss nothing. He will pick clean every living thing, and leave an empty vine.

Jesus talks about his final judgment as a great harvest, in which the good fruit is retrieved, and all the rest is destroyed. The final punishment of hell will leave nothing behind to punish. Instead, Jesus warns us to fear him who is able to destroy soul and body in hell.

Lord, make us a people fruitful for your kingdom, because only your fruit will remain forever.