Jeremiah 4–6

1“If you will return, O Israel, return to Me,” declares the LORD. “If you will remove your detestable idols from My sight and no longer waver,

2and if you can swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by Him, and in Him they will glory.”

3For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among the thorns.

4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it, because of your evil deeds.”

5Announce in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: “Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land. Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves and let us flee to the fortified cities.’

6Raise a signal flag toward Zion. Seek refuge! Do not delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, and terrible destruction.

7A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited.

8So put on sackcloth, mourn and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.”

9“In that day,” declares the LORD, “the king and officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be astounded.”

10Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, how completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”

11At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people, but not to winnow or to sift;

12a wind too strong for that comes from Me. Now I also pronounce judgments against them.”

13Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!

14Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?

15For a voice resounds from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.

16Warn the nations now! Proclaim to Jerusalem: “A besieging army comes from a distant land; they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.

17They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.

18“Your ways and deeds have brought this upon you. This is your punishment; how bitter it is, because it pierces to the heart!”

19My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.

20Disaster after disaster is proclaimed, for the whole land is laid waste. My tents are destroyed in an instant, my curtains in a moment.

21How long must I see the signal flag and hear the sound of the horn?

22“For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”

23I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.

24I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.

25I looked, and no man was left; all the birds of the air had fled.

26I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert. All its cities were torn down before the LORD, before His fierce anger.

27For this is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be desolate, but I will not finish its destruction.

28Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above will grow dark. I have spoken, I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back.”

29Every city flees at the sound of the horseman and archer. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned; no inhabitant is left.

30And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.

31For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child— the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands to say, “Woe is me, for my soul faints before the murderers!”

1“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look now and take note; search her squares. If you can find a single person, anyone who acts justly, anyone who seeks the truth, then I will forgive the city.

2Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ they are swearing falsely.”

3O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.

4Then I said, “They are only the poor; they have played the fool, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.

5I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.” But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.

6Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf from the desert will ravage them. A leopard will lie in wait near their cities, and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces. For their rebellious acts are many, and their unfaithful deeds are numerous.

7“Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.

8They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

9Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

10Go up through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not finish them off. Strip off her branches, for they do not belong to the LORD.

11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to Me,” declares the LORD.

12They have lied about the LORD and said: “He will not do anything; harm will not come to us; we will not see sword or famine.

13The prophets are but wind, for the word is not in them. So let their own predictions befall them.”

14Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says: “Because you have spoken this word, I will make My words a fire in your mouth and this people the wood it consumes.

15Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.

16Their quivers are like open graves; they are all mighty men.

17They will devour your harvest and food; they will consume your sons and daughters; they will eat up your flocks and herds; they will feed on your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.”

18“Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you.

19And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’”

20Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:

21“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.

22Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.

23But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone away.

24They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’

25Your iniquities have diverted these from you; your sins have deprived you of My bounty.

26For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.

27Like cages full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become powerful and rich.

28They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy.

29Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

30A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land.

31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?

1“Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin; flee from Jerusalem! Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa; send up a signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms from the north, even great destruction.

2Though she is beautiful and delicate, I will destroy the Daughter of Zion.

3Shepherds and their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents all around her, each tending his own portion:

4‘Prepare for battle against her; rise up, let us attack at noon. Woe to us, for the daylight is fading; the evening shadows grow long.

5Rise up, let us attack by night and destroy her fortresses!’”

6For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Cut down the trees and raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; there is nothing but oppression in her midst.

7As a well gushes its water, so she pours out her evil. Violence and destruction resound in her; sickness and wounds are ever before Me.

8Be forewarned, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitant.”

9This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine. Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer over the branches.”

10To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.

11But I am full of the LORD’s wrath; I am tired of holding it back. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the young men gathered together. For both husband and wife will be captured, the old and the very old alike.

12Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives as well, for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the LORD.

13“For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.

14They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.

15Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse,” says the LORD.

16This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

17I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.’ But they answered, ‘We will not listen!’

18Therefore hear, O nations, and learn, O congregations, what will happen to them.

19Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their own schemes, because they have paid no attention to My word and have rejected My instruction.

20What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.”

21Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I will lay stumbling blocks before this people; fathers and sons alike will be staggered; friends and neighbors will perish.”

22This is what the LORD says: “Behold, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is stirred up from the ends of the earth.

23They grasp the bow and spear; they are cruel and merciless. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, lined up like men in formation against you, O Daughter of Zion.”

24We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.

25Do not go out to the fields; do not walk the road. For the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side.

26O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

27“I have appointed you to examine My people like ore, so you may know and try their ways.

28All are hardened rebels, walking around as slanderers. They are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt.

29The bellows blow fiercely, blasting away the lead with fire. The refining proceeds in vain, for the wicked are not purged.

30They are called rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”