[Back] - [Menu] - [Next]

Jeremiah 4

1 If you will return, O Israel, says Jehovah, return to Me. And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, then you shall not waver.
2 And you shall swear, Jehovah lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory.
3 For thus says Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
5 Declare in Judah, and let it be heard in Jerusalem; and say, Blow the shofar in the land; cry out, gather together, and say, Gather yourselves and let us go into the fortified cities.
6 Set up the standard toward Zion, take refuge, do not wait around; for I will bring evil from the north, and great destruction.
7 The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the nations has set out; he has gone forth from his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will fall into ruins without inhabitant.
8 Put on sackcloth for this, wail and howl; for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, says Jehovah, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the rulers; and the priests shall be appalled, and the prophets shall be stunned.
10 Then I said, Ah, Lord Jehovah! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; whereas the sword reaches to the soul.
11 At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind from the desolate heights in the wilderness blows toward the daughter of My people, not to sift nor to cleanse.
12 A full wind from these places shall come unto Me. Now also I will pronounce judgment against them.
13 Behold, he shall come up like clouds, and his chariots like a tempest. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are plundered!
14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil so that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you?
15 For a voice declares from Dan, and proclaims affliction from Mount Ephraim.
16 Tell it to the nations: Behold! proclaim against Jerusalem! Watchers are going to come from a distant land; and they will utter their voice against the cities of Judah.
17 Like keepers of a field, they are against her all around; because she has rebelled against Me, says Jehovah.
18 Your way and your doings have procured these things for you; this is your evil, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart.
19 My stomach, my stomach! I am convulsed to my heart! My heart groans within me; I cannot be silent because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the shofar, the alarm of war.
20 Destruction upon destruction is proclaimed; for the whole land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtains in a moment.
21 How long shall I see the standard and hear the sound of the shofar?
22 For My people are foolish; they have not known Me; they are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
23 I looked on the earth, and, lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I looked on the mountains, and, lo, they quaked; and all the hills moved to and fro.
25 I looked, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
26 I looked, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Jehovah, before His fierce anger.
27 For thus Jehovah has said, The whole land shall be desolate, yet I will not make a full end.
28 The earth shall mourn for this, and the heavens above shall be black, because I have spoken, I have purposed, and will not be moved to pity, nor will I turn back from it.
29 Every city shall flee at the sound of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up among the rocks. Every city is abandoned, and not a man shall live in them.
30 And you, what will you do when you are ruined? Though you dress with crimson, though you put on ornaments of gold, though you make your eyes large with paint, you shall make yourself beautiful in vain; your lovers will despise you; they will seek your life.
31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as of one bearing her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, gasping and spreading her hands, saying, Woe to me now! For my soul is weary because of murderers.
[Back] - [Menu] - [Next]