Jer 4
1
If you will return, O Israel, says YHWH, if you will return to me, and if you will
put away your abominations out of my sight; then shall you not be removed;
2
and you shall swear, As YHWH lives, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and
the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
3
For thus says YHWH to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground,
and sow not among thorns.
4
Circumcise yourselves to YHWH, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men
of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my anger go forth like fire, and burn
so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
5
Declare you in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow you the trumpet in the
land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.
6
Set up a standard toward Zion: flee for safety, stay not; for I will bring evil from
the north, and a great destruction.
7
A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way,
he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid
waste, without inhabitant.
8
For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of YHWH is
not turned back from us.
9
And it shall come to pass at that day, says YHWH, that the heart of the king shall
perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the
prophets shall wonder.
10
Then said I, Ah, Lord YHWH! surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem,
saying, You shall have peace; whereas the sword reaches to the life.
11
At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the
bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor
to cleanse;
12
a full wind from these shall come for me: now will I also utter judgments against
them.
13
Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots [shall be] as the whirlwind:
his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! for we are ruined.
14
O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall
your evil thoughts lodge within you?
15
For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim:
16
make you mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, [that] watchers
come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
17
As keepers of a field are they against her round about, because she has been rebellious
against me, says YHWH.
18
Your way and your doings have procured these things to you; this is your wickedness;
for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.
19
My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me;
I cannot hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.
20
Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly
are my tents destroyed, [and] my curtains in a moment.
21
How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22
For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are sottish children, and they have
no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
23
I beheld the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they
had no light.
24
I beheld the mountains, and, behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and
fro.
25
I beheld, and, behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
26
I beheld, and, behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities
were broken down at the presence of YHWH, [and] before his fierce anger.
27
For thus says YHWH, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full
end.
28
For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken
it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.
29
Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they go into the thickets,
and climb up upon the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein.
30
And you, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you cloth yourself with
scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes
with paint, in vain do you make yourself fair; [your] lovers despise you, they seek
your life.
31
For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that brings
forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gasps for breath, that
spreads her hands, [saying], Woe is me now! for my soul faints before the murderers.