Jeremiah 4
1 If thou dost turn back, O Israel, An affirmation of Jehovah, unto Me turn back, And if thou dost turn aside Thine abominations from My face, Then thou dost not bemoan.
If you will come back, O Israel, says the Lord, you will come back to me: and if you will put away your disgusting ways, you will not be sent away from before me.
2 And thou hast sworn — Jehovah liveth, In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness, And blessed themselves in Him have nations, And in Him they boast themselves.
And you will take your oath, By the living Lord, in good faith and wisdom and righteousness; and the nations will make use of you as a blessing, and in you will they take a pride.
3 For thus said Jehovah, To the man of Judah, and to Jerusalem: Till for yourselves tillage, And do not sow unto the thorns.
For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: Get your unworked land ploughed up, do not put in your seeds among thorns.
4 Be circumcised to Jehovah, And turn aside the foreskins of your heart, O man of Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury go out as fire, and hath burned, And there is none quenching, Because of the evil of your doings.
Undergo a circumcision of the heart, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem: or my wrath may come out like fire, burning so that no one is able to put it out, because of the evil of your doings.
5 Declare in Judah, and in Jerusalem sound, And say ye, 'Blow a trumpet in the land,' Call ye fully, and say ye: 'Be gathered, and we go in to the fenced city.'
Say openly in Judah, give it out in Jerusalem, and say, Let the horn be sounded in the land: crying out in a loud voice, Come together, and let us go into the walled towns.
6 Lift up an ensign Zionward, Strengthen yourselves, stand not still, For evil I am bringing in from the north, And a great destruction.
Put up a flag for a sign to Zion: go in flight so that you may be safe, waiting no longer: for I will send evil from the north, and a great destruction.
7 Gone up hath a lion from his thicket, And a destroyer of nations hath journeyed, He hath come forth from his place To make thy land become a desolation, Thy cities are laid waste, without inhabitant.
A lion has gone up from his secret place in the woods, and one who makes waste the nations is on his way; he has gone out from his place, to make your land unpeopled, so that your towns will be made waste, with no man living in them.
8 For this, gird on sackcloth, lament and howl, For the fierce anger of Jehovah hath not turned back from us.
For this put on haircloth, with weeping and loud crying: for the burning wrath of the Lord is not turned back from us.
9 And it hath come to pass, in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah: 'Perish doth the heart of the king, And the heart of the princes, And astonished have been the priests, And the prophets do wonder.'
And it will come about in that day, says the Lord, that the heart of the king will be dead in him, and the hearts of the rulers; and the priests will be overcome with fear, and the prophets with wonder.
10 And I say, 'Ah, Lord Jehovah, Surely thou hast entirely forgotten this people and Jerusalem, saying, Peace is for you, And struck hath a sword unto the soul!'
Then said I, Ah, Lord God! your words were not true when you said to this people and to Jerusalem, You will have peace; when the sword has come even to the soul.
11 At that time it is said of this people, And of Jerusalem: 'A dry wind of high places in the wilderness,' The way of the daughter of My people, (Not for winnowing, nor for cleansing, )
At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A burning wind from the open hilltops in the waste land is blowing on the daughter of my people, not for separating or cleaning the grain;
12 A full wind from these doth come for Me, Now, also, I speak judgments with them.
A full wind will come for me: and now I will give my decision against them.
13 Lo, as clouds he cometh up, And as a hurricane his chariots, Lighter than eagles have been his horses, Woe to us, for we have been spoiled.
See, he will come up like the clouds, and his war-carriages like the storm-wind: his horses are quicker than eagles. Sorrow is ours, for destruction has come on us.
14 Wash from evil thy heart, O Jerusalem, That thou mayest be saved, Till when dost thou lodge in thy heart Thoughts of thy strength?
O Jerusalem, make your heart clean from evil, so that you may have salvation. How long are evil purposes to have a resting-place in you?
15 For a voice is declaring from Dan, And sounding sorrow from mount Ephraim.
For a voice is sounding from Dan, giving out evil from the hills of Ephraim:
16 Make ye mention to the nations, Lo, sound ye to Jerusalem: 'Besiegers are coming from the land afar off, And they give forth against cities of Judah their voice.
Make this come to the minds of the nations, make a statement openly against Jerusalem, that attackers are coming from a far country and their voices will be loud against the towns of Judah.
17 As the keepers of a field They have been against her round about, For with Me she hath been rebellious, An affirmation of Jehovah.'
Like keepers of a field they are against her on every side; because she has been fighting against me, says the Lord.
18 Thy way and thy doings have done these to thee, This [is] thy vexation, for [it is] bitter, For it hath struck unto thy heart.
Your ways and your doings have made these things come on you; this is your sin; truly it is bitter, going deep into your heart.
19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained [at] the walls of my heart, Make a noise for me doth My heart, I am not silent, For the voice of a trumpet I have heard, O my soul — a shout of battle!
My soul, my soul! I am pained to my inmost heart; my heart is troubled in me; I am not able to be quiet, because the sound of the horn, the note of war, has come to my ears.
20 Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, For spoiled hath been all the land, Suddenly spoiled have been my tents, In a moment — my curtains.
News is given of destruction on destruction; all the land is made waste: suddenly my tents, straight away my curtains, are made waste.
21 Till when do I see an ensign? Do I hear the voice of a trumpet?
How long will I go on seeing the flag and hearing the sound of the war-horn?
22 For my people [are] foolish, me they have not known, Foolish sons [are] they, yea, they [are] not intelligent, Wise [are] they to do evil, And to do good they have not known.
For my people are foolish, they have no knowledge of me; they are evil-minded children, without sense, all of them: they are wise in evil-doing, but have no knowledge of doing good.
23 I looked [to] the land, and lo, waste and void, And unto the heavens, and their light is not.
Looking at the earth, I saw that it was waste and without form; and to the heavens, that they had no light.
24 I have looked [to] the mountains, And lo, they are trembling. And all the hills moved themselves lightly.
Looking at the mountains, I saw them shaking, and all the hills were moved about.
25 I have looked, and lo, man is not, And all fowls of the heavens have fled.
Looking, I saw that there was no man, and all the birds of heaven had gone in flight.
26 I have looked, and lo, The fruitful place [is] a wilderness, And all its cities have been broken down, Because of Jehovah, Because of the fierceness of His anger.
Looking, I saw that the fertile field was a waste, and all its towns were broken down before the Lord and before his burning wrath.
27 For thus said Jehovah: All the land is a desolation, but a completion I make not.
For this is what the Lord has said: All the land will become a waste; I will make destruction complete.
28 For this doth the land mourn, And black have been the heavens above, because I have spoken — I have purposed, And I have not repented, Nor do I turn back from it.
The earth will be weeping for this, and the heavens on high will be black: because I have said it, and I will not go back from it; it is my purpose, and it will not be changed.
29 From the voice of the horseman, And of him shooting with the bow, all the city is fleeing, They have come into thickets, And on cliffs they have gone up, All the city is forsaken, And there is no one dwelling in them.
All the land is in flight because of the noise of the horsemen and the bowmen; they have taken cover in the woodland and up on the rocks: every town has been given up, not a man is living in them.
30 And thou, O spoiled one, what dost thou? For thou puttest on scarlet, For thou adornest thyself [with] ornaments of gold. For thou rendest with pain thine eyes, In vain thou dost make thyself fair, Kicked against thee have doting ones, Thy life they do seek.
And you, when you are made waste, what will you do? Though you are clothed in red, though you make yourself beautiful with ornaments of gold, though you make your eyes wide with paint, it is for nothing that you make yourself fair; your lovers have no more desire for you, they have designs on your life.
31 For a voice as of a sick woman I have heard, Distress, as of one bringing forth a first-born, The voice of the daughter of Zion, She bewaileth herself, she spreadeth out her hands, 'Woe to me now, for weary is my soul of slayers!'
A voice has come to my ears like the voice of a woman in birth-pains, the pain of one giving birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, fighting for breath, stretching out her hands, saying, Now sorrow is mine! for my strength is gone from me before the takers of life.
