Jeremiah 4

¹ "If you return, Israel,"
declares the LORD,
"return to me.
If you remove your detestable idols from my presence
and do not waver,

² and if you swear, 'As surely as the LORD lives,'
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then the nations will bless themselves by him
and in him they will boast."

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

⁴ Circumcise yourselves to the LORD;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem—
lest my wrath break out like fire
and burn with no one to quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds."

⁵ Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem;
say it and blow the trumpet throughout the land.
Cry aloud and say:
"Assemble! Let us flee to the fortified cities!"

⁶ Raise the signal toward Zion!
Flee for safety without delay!
For I am bringing disaster from the north
and great destruction.

⁷ A lion has come up from its thicket;
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his place
to make your land a desolation.
Your cities will be ruins, without inhabitant.

⁸ Because of this, put on sackcloth;
lament and wail,
for the fierce anger of the LORD
has not turned away from us.

⁹ "On that day," declares the LORD,
"the king's courage will fail,
and the courage of the officials.
The priests will be horrified
and the prophets will be astounded."

¹⁰ Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You will have peace,' while the sword is at our throats!"

¹¹ At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: "A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people—not to winnow or to cleanse;

¹² a wind too strong for that comes at my command. Now I myself will pronounce judgments against them."

¹³ Look! He advances like the clouds;
his chariots come like a whirlwind.
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for we are ruined!

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

¹⁵ For a voice is declaring from Dan,
proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim:

¹⁶ "Report this to the nations;
proclaim it against Jerusalem:
Besiegers are coming from a distant land,
raising their war cry against the cities of Judah.

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

¹⁸ "Your own conduct and actions
have brought this upon you.
This is your punishment.
How bitter it is!
How it pierces to the heart!"

¹⁹ My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart pounds within me; I cannot keep silent.
For I have heard the trumpet blast;
I have heard the battle cry.

²⁰ Disaster upon disaster is proclaimed,
for the whole land is devastated.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
my curtains in an instant.

²¹ How long must I see the signal
and hear the trumpet blast?

²² "For my people are foolish;
they do not know me.
They are senseless children;
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil,
but they do not know how to do good."

²³ I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty;
at the heavens, and their light was gone.

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

²⁵ I looked, and there was no one;
every bird of the sky had fled.

²⁶ I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert;
all its cities lay in ruins
before the LORD, before his fierce anger.

²⁷ For this is what the LORD says:
"The whole land will be desolate,
though I will not make a complete end of it.

²⁸ Therefore the earth will mourn
and the heavens above grow dark,
because I have spoken and will not relent;
I have purposed and will not turn back."

²⁹ At the sound of horsemen and archers
every town flees.
They go into the thickets;
they climb among the rocks.
Every city is abandoned;
not a person remains in them.

³⁰ And you, devastated one, what are you doing?
Though you dress in scarlet,
though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry,
though you enlarge your eyes with paint—
you beautify yourself in vain.
Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.

³¹ For I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor,
anguish like that of one bearing her first child—
the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands:
"Woe to me! I am fainting
before the murderers!"