Jeremias 4

¹ If thou wilt return unto me, O Israel, said the LORD, thou shalt have rest; and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then thou shalt not go [into captivity].

² And thou shalt swear, The LORD lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the Gentiles shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.

³ For thus has the LORD said to every man of Judah and of Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.

⁴ Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye 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 ye in Judah and publish in Jerusalem and say, Blow ye the shofar in the land; cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.

⁶ Set up the banner in Zion: come together, do not delay: for I bring evil from the north [wind], and a great destruction.

⁷ The lion is come up from his den, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; [and] thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.

⁸ For this, gird yourselves with sackcloth; lament and howl; for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.

⁹ And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, [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 I said, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; when the sword reaches unto the soul).

¹¹ At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places of the wilderness came toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse.

¹² A wind much more violent than these shall come unto me; for now I will also speak judgments against them.

¹³ Behold, he shall come up as a cloud, and his chariots as a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us, for we are given over to be spoiled!

¹⁴ O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness that thou may be saved. How long shalt thou entertain the thoughts of thy iniquity within thee?

¹⁵ For the voice [is heard] from him who brings the news from Dan and from him who causes to hear the affliction from mount Ephraim.

¹⁶ Say ye of the Gentiles; behold, cause it to be heard upon Jerusalem, Watchmen come from a far country and shall give out their voice upon the cities of Judah.

¹⁷ As the watchmen of the heritages, they were upon her round about because she has been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.

¹⁸ Thy way and thy doings have procured these [things] unto thee; this [is] thy wickedness because it is bitter, because it reaches unto thine heart.

¹⁹ My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the shofar, the alarm of war.

²⁰ Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is destroyed; suddenly are my tents destroyed, [and] my curtains in a moment.

²¹ How long shall I see the banner [and] hear the voice of the shofar?

²² For my people [are] foolish; the ignorant sons with no understanding have not known me; they [are] wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

²³ I beheld the earth, and, behold, [it was] without order, and empty; and the heavens, and they [had] no light.

²⁴ I beheld the mountains, and, behold, they trembled, and all the hills were destroyed.

²⁵ I beheld, and, behold, [there was] no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled.

²⁶ I beheld, and, behold, Carmel was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD [and] by his fierce anger.

²⁷ For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet I will not make a full end.

²⁸ For this shall the earth be made desolate, and the heavens above be darkened because I spoke; I purposed and did not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

²⁹ The whole city fled from the thunder of the horsemen and bowmen; they went into the thickets of the forests and climbed up upon the rocks; every city was forsaken, and not a man dwells therein.

³⁰ And thou who art destroyed, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothe thyself with crimson, though thou deck thee with ornaments of gold, though thou paint thy eyes with antimony, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; [thy] lovers will despise thee; they will seek thy 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] bewails herself, [that] spreads her hands, [saying], Woe [is] me now! for my soul is faint because of the murderers.: