Jeremiah 4
1 if to return: return Israel utterance LORD to(wards) me to return: return and if to turn aside: remove abomination your from face my and not to wander
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 to swear alive LORD in/on/with truth: true in/on/with justice and in/on/with righteousness and to bless in/on/with him nation and in/on/with him to boast: boast
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 to say LORD to/for man Judah and to/for Jerusalem to break to/for you fallow ground and not to sow to(wards) thorn
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 to circumcise to/for LORD and to turn aside: remove foreskin heart your man Judah and to dwell Jerusalem lest to come out: issue like/as fire rage my and to burn: burn and nothing to quench from face: because evil deed your
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 to tell in/on/with Judah and in/on/with Jerusalem to hear: proclaim and to say (to blow *Q(K)*) trumpet in/on/with land: country/planet to call: call out to fill and to say to gather and to come (in): come to(wards) city [the] fortification
“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 to lift: raise ensign Zion [to] to seek refuge not to stand: stand for distress: harm I to come (in): bring from north and breaking great: large
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 to ascend: rise lion from thicket his and to ruin nation to set out to come out: come from place his to/for to set: make land: country/planet your to/for horror: destroyed city your to desolate from nothing to dwell
[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 upon this to gird sackcloth to mourn and to wail for not to return: turn back burning anger face: anger LORD from us
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 to be in/on/with day [the] he/she/it utterance LORD to perish heart [the] king and heart [the] ruler and be desolate: appalled [the] priest and [the] prophet to astounded
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 and to say alas! Lord YHWH/God surely to deceive to deceive to/for people [the] this and to/for Jerusalem to/for to say peace: well-being to be to/for you and to touch sword till [the] soul: life
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 in/on/with time [the] he/she/it to say to/for people [the] this and to/for Jerusalem spirit: breath dazzling bareness in/on/with wilderness way: direction daughter people my not to/for to scatter and not to/for to purify
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 spirit: breath full from these to come (in): come to/for me now also I to speak: speak justice: judgement with them
[They will be like] [MET] a strong blast that I will send. Now I am declaring that I will punish/destroy you.”
13 behold like/as cloud to ascend: rise and like/as whirlwind chariot his to lighten from eagle horse his woe! to/for us for to ruin
[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 to wash from distress: evil heart your Jerusalem because to save till how to lodge in/on/with entrails: among your plot evil: wickedness your
[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 voice to tell from Dan and to hear: proclaim evil: trouble from mountain: mount (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 to remember to/for nation behold to hear: proclaim upon Jerusalem to watch to come (in): come from land: country/planet [the] distance and to give: cry out upon city Judah voice their
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 like/as to keep: guard field to be upon her from around for [obj] me to rebel utterance 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 way: conduct your and deed your to make: do these to/for you this distress: harm your for to provoke for to touch till heart your
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 belly my belly my (to wait: wait *Q(K)*) wall heart my to roar to/for me heart my not be quiet for voice: sound trumpet (to hear: hear *Q(K)*) soul: myself my shout battle
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 breaking upon breaking to call: call out for to ruin all [the] land: country/planet suddenly to ruin tent my moment curtain my
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 till how to see: see ensign to hear: hear voice: sound 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 fool(ish) people my [obj] me not to know son: child fool they(masc.) and not to understand they(masc.) wise they(masc.) to/for be evil and to/for be good not to know
[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 to see: see [obj] [the] land: country/planet and behold formlessness and void and to(wards) [the] heaven and nothing light their
[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 to see: see [the] mountain: mount and behold to shake and all [the] hill to lighten
I looked at the mountains and hills, and they shook and moved from side to side.
25 to see: see and behold nothing [the] man and all bird [the] heaven to wander
I looked and saw that there were no [more] people, and all the birds had flown away.
26 to see: see and behold [the] plantation [the] wilderness and all city his to tear from face: before LORD from face: before burning anger face: anger his
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 to say LORD devastation to be all [the] land: country/planet and consumption not to make
This is what Yahweh is saying: “The entire land [of Judah] will be ruined, but I will not destroy it completely.
28 upon this to mourn [the] land: country/planet and be dark [the] heaven from above upon for to speak: speak to plan and not to be sorry: relent and not to return: repent from her
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 from voice: sound horseman and to shoot bow to flee all [the] city to come (in): come in/on/with cloud and in/on/with rock to ascend: rise all [the] city to leave: forsake and nothing to dwell in/on/with them man: anyone
[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 you(f. s.) *Q(K)*) to ruin what? to make: do for to clothe scarlet for to adorn ornament gold for to tear in/on/with color eye your to/for vanity: vain be beautiful to reject in/on/with you to lust soul: life your to seek
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 voice like/as be weak: grieved to hear: hear distress like/as to be/bear firstborn voice daughter Zion to breathe to spread palm her woe! please to/for me for be faint soul: myself my to/for to kill
[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!”
