Jeremiah 4

¹If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, unto me shalt thou return: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not be removed; ²and thou shalt swear, As the LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. ³For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. ⁴Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury go forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. ⁵Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry aloud and say? Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fenced cities. ⁶Set up a standard toward Zion: flee for safety, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. ⁷A 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 thy land desolate, that thy cities be laid waste, without inhabitant. ⁸For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us. ⁹And 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. ¹⁰Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul. ¹¹At 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 fan, nor to cleanse; ¹²a full wind from these shall come for me: now will I also utter judgments against them. ¹³Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall beas the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled. ¹⁴O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thine evil thoughts lodge within thee? ¹⁵For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth evil from the hills of Ephraim: ¹⁶make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, thatwatchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. ¹⁷As keepers of a field are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD. ¹⁸Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reacheth unto thine heart. ¹⁹My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. ²⁰Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, andmy curtains in a moment. ²¹How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? ²²For my people is foolish, they know me not; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. ²³I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. ²⁴I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro. ²⁵I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. ²⁶I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, andbefore his fierce anger. ²⁷For thus saith the LORD, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end. ²⁸For 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. ²⁹The whole city fleeth 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 dwelleth therein. ³⁰And thou, when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou enlargest thine eyes with paint, in vain dost thou make thyself fair; thylovers despise thee, they seek thy life. ³¹For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers.