Day 229: Shepherds of Israel (2026)

**Fr. Mike Schmitz** (0:04)
Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to The Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using The Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 229 We're reading today from Jeremiah chapter 6 We're trucking along there in Jeremiah, the beginning chapters of his book. We're also reading Ezekiel chapter 34 and 35 about the shepherds, about the good shepherds, about prophecy against seer. So good, so good, my gosh. Praise the Lord for this. We're also reading Proverbs chapter 14 verses 25 through 28 As always, the Bible translation I am reading from is the revised standard version, second Catholic edition. I'm using The Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com/bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receive daily episodes and daily updates. And all those daily, daily things. As I said, it is Day 229, reading Jeremiah 6, Ezekiel 34, and 35, in Proverbs 14, verses 25 through 28
The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Chapter 6 A Warning to Judah.
Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem. Blow the trumpet into Koah, and raise a signal on Beth-Hakarim, for evil looms out of the north, and great destruction. The comely and delicately bred I will destroy, the daughter of Zion. Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her, they shall pitch their tents around her, they shall pasture each in his place. Prepare war against her. Up and let us attack at noon. Woe to us, for the day declines, for the shadows of evening lengthen. Up and let us attack by night and destroy her palaces. For thus says the Lord of hosts, Hew down her trees, cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city which must be punished. There is nothing but oppression within her, as a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard within her, sickness and wounds are ever before me. Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I be alienated from you, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land. Thus says the Lord of hosts, Lean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel, like a grape gatherer, pass your hand again over its branches. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed, they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn, they take no pleasure in it. Therefore, I am full of the wrath of the Lord, I am weary of holding it in. Pour it out upon the children in the street and upon the gatherings of young men also. Both husband and wife shall be taken, the old folk and the very aged. Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together. For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord. For from the least to the greatest of them, every one is greedy for unjust gain. And from prophet to priest, every one deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They did not know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall. At the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord.
Thus, says the Lord, Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they say, We will not walk in it.
I set watchmen over you, saying, Give heed to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not give heed.
Therefore, hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. Hear, O earth, behold, I am bringing evil upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not given heed to my words. And as for my law, they have rejected it.
To what purpose does frankincense come to me from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me. Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I will lay before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble, fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend shall perish.