Jeremiah 4
1 “If you will return, O Israel, return to Me,” declares the LORD. “If you will remove your detestable idols from My sight and no longer waver,
If Israel will return to me, saith the Lord, he shall return: and if he will remove his abominations out of his mouth, and fear before me, and swear,
2 and if you can swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by Him, and in Him they will glory.”
The Lord lives, with truth, in judgment and righteousness, then shall nations bless by him, and by him they shall praise God in Jerusalem.
3 For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among the thorns.
For thus saith the Lord to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Break up fresh ground for yourselves, and sow not among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it, because of your evil deeds.”
Circumcise yourselves to your God, and circumcise your hardness of heart, ye men of Juda, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my wrath go forth as fire, and burn, and there be none to quench it, because of the evil of your devices.
5 Announce in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: “Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land. Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves and let us flee to the fortified cities.’
Declare ye in Juda, and let it be heard in Jerusalem: say ye, Sound the trumpet in the land; cry ye aloud: say ye, Gather yourselves together, and let us enter into the fortified cities.
6 Raise a signal flag toward Zion. Seek refuge! Do not delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, and terrible destruction.
Gather up [your wares] and flee to Sion: hasten, stay not: for I will bring evils from the north, and great destruction.
7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited.
The lion is gone up from his lair, he has roused [himself] to the destruction of the nations, and has gone forth out of his place, to make the land desolate; and the cities shall be destroyed, so as to be without inhabitant.
8 So put on sackcloth, mourn and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.”
For these things gird yourselves with sackclothes, and lament, and howl: for the anger of the Lord is not turned away from you.
9 “In that day,” declares the LORD, “the king and officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be astounded.”
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be amazed, and the prophets shall wonder.
10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, how completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”
And I said, O sovereign Lord, verily thou hast deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, There shall be peace; whereas behold, the sword has reached even to their soul.
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people, but not to winnow or to sift;
At that time they shall say to this people and to Jerusalem, [There is] a spirit of error in the wilderness: the way of the daughter of my people is not to purity, nor to holiness.
12 a wind too strong for that comes from Me. Now I also pronounce judgments against them.”
[But] a spirit of full vengeance shall come upon me; and now I declare my judgments against them.
13 Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!
Behold, he shall come up as a cloud, and his chariots as a tempest: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are in misery.
14 Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?
Cleanse thine heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved: how long will thy grievous thoughts be within thee?
15 For a voice resounds from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.
For a voice of one publishing from Dan shall come, and trouble out of mount Ephraim shall be heard of.
16 Warn the nations now! Proclaim to Jerusalem: “A besieging army comes from a distant land; they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.
Remind ye the nations; behold, they are come: proclaim [it] in Jerusalem, that bands are approaching from a land afar off, and have uttered their voice against the cities of Juda.
17 They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.
As keepers of a field, they have surrounded her; because thou, saith the Lord, has neglected me.
18 “Your ways and deeds have brought this upon you. This is your punishment; how bitter it is, because it pierces to the heart!”
Thy ways and thy devices have brought these things upon thee; this is thy wickedness, for [it is] bitter, for it has reached to thy heart.
19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.
I am pained in my bowels, my bowels, and the sensitive powers of my heart; my soul is in great commotion, my heart is torn: I will not be silent, for my soul has heard the sound of a trumpet, the cry of war, and of distress: it calls on destruction;
20 Disaster after disaster is proclaimed, for the whole land is laid waste. My tents are destroyed in an instant, my curtains in a moment.
for all the land is distressed: suddenly [my] tabernacle is distressed, my curtains have been rent asunder.
21 How long must I see the signal flag and hear the sound of the horn?
How long shall I see fugitives, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
For the princes of my people have not known me, they are foolish and unwise children: they are wise to do evil, but [how] to do good they have not known.
23 I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.
I looked upon the earth, and, behold, [it was] not; and to the sky, an there was no light in it.
24 I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.
I beheld the mountains, and they trembled, and [I saw] all the hills in commotion.
25 I looked, and no man was left; all the birds of the air had fled.
I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky were scared.
26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert. All its cities were torn down before the LORD, before His fierce anger.
I saw, and, behold, Carmel was desert, and all the cities were burnt with fire at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of his fierce anger they were utterly destroyed.
27 For this is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be desolate, but I will not finish its destruction.
Thus saith the Lord, The whole land shall be desolate; but I will not make a full end.
28 Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above will grow dark. I have spoken, I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back.”
For these things let the earth mourn, and let the sky be dark above: for I have spoken, and I will not repent; I have purposed, and I will not turn back from it.
29 Every city flees at the sound of the horseman and archer. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned; no inhabitant is left.
The whole land has recoiled from the noise of the horseman and the bent bow; they have gone into the caves, and have hidden themselves in the groves, and have gone up upon the rocks: every city was abandoned, no man dwelt in them.
30 And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.
And what wilt thou do? Though thou clothe thyself with scarlet, and adorn thyself with golden ornaments; though thou adorn thine eyes with stibium, thy beauty [will be] in vain: thy lovers have rejected thee, they seek thy life.
31 For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child— the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands to say, “Woe is me, for my soul faints before the murderers!”
For I have heard thy groaning as the voice of a woman in travail, as of her that brings forth her first child; the voice of the daughter of Zion shall fail through weakness, and she shall lose the strength of her hands, [saying], Woe is me! for my soul faints because of the slain.
