Jeremiah 4
1 O Israel, if thou returne, returne vnto me, saith the Lord: and if thou put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remoue.
Yahweh says, “You Israeli [people], come back to me! If you get rid of those detestable idols and do not turn away from me [again],
2 And thou shalt sweare, The Lord liueth in trueth, in iudgement, and in righteousnesse, and the nations shall be blessed in him, and shall glorie in him.
and if you declare, ‘Just as surely as Yahweh lives, what he says is true,’ and if you [start to] always say what is true and act justly/fairly and righteously, then the [people in the other] nations [of the world] will request that I bless them [as I have blessed you], and they will [all come and] honor/praise me.”
3 For thus saith the Lord to the men of Iudah, and to Ierusalem,
This is what Yahweh says to the people of Jerusalem and [the other cities in] Judah: “[Prepare yourselves to receive my messages] like farmers plow up hard ground [in order that they can plant seed in it]. Just as farmers do not [waste good seed by] sowing seeds among thorny plants, [I do not want to waste my time telling you messages that you are not ready to receive].
4 Breake vp your fallowe ground, and sowe not among the thornes: be circumcised to the Lord, and take away the foreskinnes of your hearts, ye men of Iudah, and inhabitants of Ierusalem, lest my wrath come foorth like fire, and burne, that none can quenche it, because of the wickednesse of your inuentions.
Purify your inner beings and your minds for me. If you do not do that, my being angry with you [MTY] because of [all] the sins that you have committed will be like a fire that will be impossible to extinguish.”
5 Declare in Iudah, and shewe forth in Ierusalem, and say, Blowe the trumpet in the lande: cry, and gather together, and say, Assemble your selues, and let vs goe into strong cities.
“Declare this [DOU] to [all the people in] Jerusalem and [the rest of] Judea; blow the trumpets everywhere in the land [to warn the people]. Tell them that they should flee to the cities that have high walls around them.
6 Set vp the standart in Zion: prepare to flee, and stay not: for I will bring a plague from the North, and a great destruction.
Shout to the people of Jerusalem, ‘Run away [now]! Do not delay, because I am about to cause you to experience a terrible disaster [DOU] that will come from the north.
7 The lyon is come vp from his denne, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is departed, and gone forth of his place to lay thy land waste, and thy cities shalbe destroyed without an inhabitant.
[An army] that has destroyed [many] nations will attack you [like] [MET] a lion that comes out of its den [to attack other animals]. [The soldiers of that army] have taken down their tents and they are ready to march toward your land. They will destroy your cities and leave them without any people still living in them.’
8 Wherefore girde you with sackecloth: lament, and howle, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is not turned backe from vs.
So, put on sackcloth/rough clothes and weep and beat your chests [to show that you are very sorry for what you have done], because Yahweh is still very angry with us.
9 And in that day, saith the Lord, the heart of the King shall perish, and the heart of the princes and the Priestes shall be astonished, and the Prophets shall wonder.
Yahweh said that at the time [he punishes you], the King of Judah and [all his] officials will be very afraid. The priests and the prophets will be terrified.
10 Then saide I, Ah, Lord God, surely thou hast deceiued this people and Ierusalem, saying, Ye shall haue peace, and the sworde perceth vnto the heart.
Then I replied, “Yahweh [my] God, you completely deceived the people by telling them that there would be peace in Jerusalem, but now [our enemies] [PRS] are ready to slaughter us with their swords!”
11 At that time shall it bee saide to this people and to Ierusalem, A dry winde in the hie places of the wildernes commeth towarde ye daughter of my people, but neither to fanne nor to clense.
When that happens, [Yahweh] will say to the people of Jerusalem, [“A huge army will come to attack you]. They will not [be like a gentle breeze that] separates wheat from chaff. [They will be like] a very hot wind [that blows in] from the desert [MET].
12 A mightie winde shall come vnto me from those places, and nowe will I also giue sentence vpon them.
[They will be like] [MET] a strong blast that I will send. Now I am declaring that I will punish/destroy you.”
13 Beholde, he shall come vp as the cloudes, and his charets shalbe as a tempest: his horses are lighter then eagles. Woe vnto vs, for wee are destroyed.
[Our enemies] are about to rush down on us; their chariots are like [SIM] whirlwinds. Their horses are faster than eagles. It will be terrible for us!
14 O Ierusalem, wash thine heart from wickednes, that thou maiest be saued: how long shall thy wicked thoughtes remaine within thee?
[You people of] Jerusalem [APO], purify your hearts/inner beings, in order that Yahweh will rescue you. How long will you continue to think about [doing] evil things?
15 For a voyce declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.
From Dan [city in the far north] to the hills of Ephraim [a few miles/kilometers north of Jerusalem] messengers are proclaiming that disasters are coming.
16 Make ye mention of the heathen, and publish in Ierusalem, Beholde, the skoutes come from a farre countrey, and crie out against the cities of Iudah.
Tell this to the [people in other] nations [but also] announce it in Jerusalem: [Yahweh says], “An army is coming to Jerusalem from far away; they will shout [a battle-cry] against the cities in Judah.
17 They haue compassed her about as the watchmen of the fielde, because it hath prouoked me to wrath, saith the Lord.
They will set up tents around Jerusalem like people set up temporary shelters [SIM] around a field [at harvest time]. That will happen because the people of Judah have rebelled against me.
18 Thy wayes and thine inuentions haue procured thee these things, such is thy wickednesse: therefore it shall be bitter, therefore it shall perce vnto thine heart.
You will be punished very severely; it will [be as though a sword] has stabbed your inner beings. But you are causing those things to happen to you because of the evil things that you have done.”
19 My bely, my bely, I am pained, euen at the very heart: mine heart is troubled within me: I cannot be still: for my soule hath heard the sounde of the trumpet, and the alarme of the battell.
I am extremely anguished/sad; the pain in my inner being is very severe. My heart beats wildly. But I cannot remain silent because I have heard [our enemies] blowing their trumpets to announce that the battle [against Judah will start immediately].
20 Destruction vpon destruction is cryed, for the whole lande is wasted: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtaines in a moment.
Disasters will occur one after another until the whole land is ruined. Suddenly [all] our tents will be destroyed; [even] the curtains [inside the tents] will be ripped apart.
21 Howe long shall I see the standert, and heare the sounde of the trumpet?
How long will this battle continue? How long will I continue to see the enemy battle flags and hear the sound of their trumpets being blown?
22 For my people is foolish, they haue not knowen me: they are foolish children, and haue none vnderstanding: they are wise to doe euill, but to doe well they haue no knowledge.
[Yahweh says], “My people are [very] foolish! They do not have a relationship with me. They are [like] [MET] stupid children who do not understand [anything]. They very cleverly do what is wrong, but they do not know how to do what is good.”
23 I haue looked vpon the earth, and loe, it was without forme and voide: and to the heauens, and they had no light.
[God gave me a vision in which] I saw that the earth was barren and without form. I looked at the sky, and there was no light there.
24 I behelde the mountaines: and loe, they trembled and all the hilles shooke.
I looked at the mountains and hills, and they shook and moved from side to side.
25 I behelde, and loe, there was no man, and all the birdes of the heauen were departed.
I looked and saw that there were no [more] people, and all the birds had flown away.
26 I behelde, and loe, the fruitfull place was a wildernesse, and all the cities thereof were broken downe at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce wrath.
I looked and saw that the fields that previously were fertile had become a desert. The cities were all ruined; they had all been destroyed by Yahweh because he was extremely angry.
27 For thus hath the Lord saide, The whole lande shall be desolate: yet will I not make a full ende.
This is what Yahweh is saying: “The entire land [of Judah] will be ruined, but I will not destroy it completely.
28 Therefore shall the earth mourne, and the heauens aboue shall be darkened, because I haue pronounced it: I haue thought it, and will not repent, neither will I turne backe from it.
I will do to my people what I said that I would do, and I will not change my mind. So [when that happens, it will be as though] the earth will mourn and the sky will become very dark.”
29 The whole citie shall flee, for the noyse of the horsemen and bowemen: they shall goe into thickets, and clime vp vpon the rockes: euery citie shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.
[When the people hear] the sound of the [enemy] army marching, [they will be terrified as] they flee from their cities. Some of them will find places to hide in the bushes, and others will run toward the mountains/hills [to escape being killed by their enemies]. All the cities [in Judah] will be abandoned; not one person will remain in them.
30 And when thou shalt be destroyed, what wilt thou doe? Though thou clothest thy selfe with skarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of golde, though thou paintest thy face with colours, yet shalt thou trimme thy selfe in vaine: for thy louers will abhorre thee and seeke thy life.
So you who will surely be destroyed, [why are you doing the things that you are doing now]? Why are you wearing beautiful clothes and jewelry? Why are you putting paint around your eyes? Doing those things will not help you, because the people [in other countries that you think] love you [actually] despise you, and they will try to kill you.
31 For I haue heard a noyse as of a woman trauailing, or as one labouring of her first child, euen the voyce of the daughter Zion that sigheth and stretcheth out her handes: woe is me nowe: for my soule fainteth because of the murtherers.
[It is as though] I already hear [the people in Jerusalem] crying very loudly, like [SIM] a woman cries when she is giving birth to her first child; she gasps for breath and pleads for someone to help her. [It is as though Jerusalem] is crying, “Something terrible is happening to me! They are about to murder me!”
