The original text of this chapter, as with the rest of the Book of Jeremiah, was written in Hebrew language. Since the division of the Bible into chapters and verses in the late medieval period, this chapter is divided into 30 verses.
The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.[7] Jeremiah 6 is a part of the Third prophecy (Jeremiah 3:6-6:30) in the section of Prophecies of Destruction (Jeremiah 1-25). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.
Whereas the whole chapter 6 functions as a massive announcement of Judah's 'final outcome' for the reasons of destruction identified in chapter 5, this section and the last section of the chapter (6:22–30) are closely matched to form 'literary amalgamations' bracketing the single complex unit in the middle (6:16–21).[8]
Verse 1
O ye children of Benjamin,
gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem,
The first sentence in Hebrew can be rendered as "As a well makes cool/fresh its water, she makes cool/fresh her wickedness," with the word "well" written (kethib) in an unusual form (בּוֹר, bor, "cistern", a masculine noun), but the reading proposed by the Masoretes (qere) is בַּיִר, bayir, for בְּאֵר, beʾer, "well", a feminine noun, which agrees in gender with the pronoun ('it also forms a more appropriate comparison since cisterns do not hold fresh water').[13]
A marginal note in the Masoretic Text tradition indicates that the middle letter of the Tanakh (the whole Hebrew Bible) resides within this verse.[14]
Road closed ahead (6:16–21)
This section contains 'the message of the grounds and the announcement of disaster', reinforced by 'the initial quotation formulas in verses 16 and 21.[15] Some terms found in the first section (6:1–15) recur clustered in verses 18–19, such as 'a bad fate' (verse 1), terms of warning or listening, as well as the "message(s)" from YHWH (verse 10).[8]
Verse 20
To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba,
Despite 'rich liturgical offerings' that simply show their duplicity, the people 'bring the verdict upon themselves'.[17] Although the frankincense from the Sabeans in South Arabia is a prescribed ingredient for incense (Exodus 30:34–38) and the sweet cane ("aromatic grasses") an ingredient for the anointing oil (Exodus 30:23), it is later explained in Jeremiah 7:21–24 that the use of those for worship can only work when 'meshed with a more broadly based journey through life' (cf. 1 Samuel 15:22).[18]
Consequences of failing the test (6:22–31)
Following a pattern in first section (6:1–5) this section describes the eventual disaster because the people failed the test of purity, metaphorically described as the analytical testing of metallic purity.[19]
Here, the voice of YHWH warns about the approaching foe, a 'merciless military force crossing the earth', with a sound like 'the roaring sea' (v. 23b), and their target is 'you, O daughter Zion!' (verse 23c).[17]
Ofer, Yosef (1992). "The Aleppo Codex and the Bible of R. Shalom Shachna Yellin" in Rabbi Mordechai Breuer Festschrift: Collected Papers in Jewish Studies, ed. M. Bar-Asher, 1:295-353. Jerusalem (in Hebrew). Online text (PDF)