Jeremiah, starting at chapter 4
{4:1} "If you will return, Israel," says Yahweh, "if you will return
to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight;
then you shall not be removed; {4:2} and you shall swear, 'As Yahweh
lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations shall
bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory."
{4:3} For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem,
"Break up your fallow ground, and don't sow among thorns. {4:4}
Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your
heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go
forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the
evil of your doings. {4:5} Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem;
and say, 'Blow the trumpet in the land!' Cry aloud and say, 'Assemble
yourselves! Let us go into the fortified cities!' {4:6} Set up a
standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Don't wait; for I will bring
evil from the north, and a great destruction."
{4:7} A 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
your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without
inhabitant. {4:8} For this gird yourself with sackcloth, lament and
wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn't turned back from us. {4:9}
"It shall happen at that day," says Yahweh, "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."
{4:10} Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have greatly
deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You shall have peace;'
whereas the sword reaches to the heart."
{4:11} At 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 winnow, nor to cleanse; {4:12} a
full wind from these shall come for me. Now I will also utter
judgments against them."
{4:13} Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots [shall
be] as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us!
For we are ruined. {4:14} Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness,
that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within
you? {4:15} For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the
hills of Ephraim: {4:16} "Tell the nations; behold, publish against
Jerusalem, 'Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice
against the cities of Judah. {4:17} As keepers of a field, they are
against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,'"
says Yahweh. {4:18} "Your way and your doings have brought these
things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it
reaches to your heart."
{4:19} My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my
heart is disquieted in me; I can't hold my peace; because you have
heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. {4:20}
Destruction on destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste:
suddenly are my tents destroyed, [and] my curtains in a moment. {4:21}
How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
{4:22} "For my people are foolish, they don't know me. They are
foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in
doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge." {4:23} I saw the
earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they
had no light. {4:24} I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled,
and all the hills moved back and forth. {4:25} I saw, and behold,
there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled. {4:26} I saw,
and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities
were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, [and] before his fierce
anger. {4:27} For thus says Yahweh, "The whole land shall be a
desolation; yet will I not make a full end. {4:28} For this the earth
will 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."
{4:29} Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers;
they go into the thickets, and climb up on the rocks: every city is
forsaken, and not a man dwells therein. {4:30} You, when you are made
desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet,
though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your
eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; [your] lovers
despise you, they seek your life. {4:31} For I have heard a voice as
of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her
first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath,
who spreads her hands, [saying], "Woe is me now! For my soul faints
before the murderers."
{5:1} "Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see
now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a
man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will
pardon her. {5:2} Though they say, 'As Yahweh lives;' surely they
swear falsely."
{5:3} O Yahweh, don't your eyes look on truth? You have stricken
them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have
refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than
a rock. They have refused to return.
{5:4} Then I said, "Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for
they don't know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God. {5:5} I
will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the
way of Yahweh, and the law of their God." But these with one accord
have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. {5:6} Therefore a lion out
of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy
them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes
out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are
many, [and] their backsliding is increased.
{5:7} "How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and
sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they
committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the
prostitutes' houses. {5:8} They were as fed horses roaming at large:
everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife. {5:9} Shouldn't I punish
them for these things?" says Yahweh; "and shouldn't my soul be avenged
on such a nation as this?
{5:10} "Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don't make a full end.
Take away her branches; for they are not Yahweh's. {5:11} For the
house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously
against me," says Yahweh.
{5:12} They have denied Yahweh, and said, "It is not he; neither
shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor famine. {5:13}
The prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus
shall it be done to them."
{5:14} Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, "Because you
speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and
this people wood, and it shall devour them. {5:15} Behold, I will
bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel," says Yahweh. "It is
a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you
don't know, neither understand what they say. {5:16} Their quiver is
an open tomb, they are all mighty men. {5:17} They shall eat up your
harvest, and your bread, [which] your sons and your daughters should
eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds. They shall eat up
your vines and your fig trees. They shall beat down your fortified
cities, in which you trust, with the sword.
{5:18} "But even in those days," says Yahweh, "I will not make a
full end with you. {5:19} It will happen, when you say, 'Why has
Yahweh our God done all these things to us?' Then you shall say to
them, 'Just like you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your
land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'
{5:20} "Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah,
saying, {5:21} 'Hear now this, foolish people, and without
understanding; who have eyes, and don't see; who have ears, and don't
hear: {5:22} Don't you fear me?' says Yahweh 'Won't you tremble at my
presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a
perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? and though its waves toss
themselves, yet they can't prevail; though they roar, yet they can't
pass over it.'
{5:23} "But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they
have revolted and gone. {5:24} Neither do they say in their heart,
'Let us now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and
the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of
the harvest.'
{5:25} "Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins
have withheld good from you. {5:26} For among my people are found
wicked men. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They
catch men. {5:27} As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full
of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich. {5:28}
They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excell in deeds of
wickedness. They don't plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless,
that they may prosper; and they don't judge the right of the needy.
{5:29} "Shall I not punish for these things?" says Yahweh. "Shall
not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
{5:30} "An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land.
{5:31} The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their
own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in
the end of it?
{6:1} "Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the midst
of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on
Beth Haccherem; for evil looks forth from the north, and a great
destruction. {6:2} The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion,
will I cut off. {6:3} Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her;
they shall pitch their tents against her all around; they shall feed
everyone in his place."
{6:4} "Prepare war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe
to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are
stretched out. {6:5} Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us
destroy her palaces." {6:6} For Yahweh of Armies said, "Cut down
trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be
visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her. {6:7} As a well
casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness: violence
and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and
wounds. {6:8} Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from
you; lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited."
{6:9} Thus says Yahweh of Armies, "They shall thoroughly glean the
remnant of Israel like a vine. Turn again your hand as a grape
gatherer into the baskets."
{6:10} To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear?
Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can't listen. Behold, the
word of Yahweh has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in
it. {6:11} Therefore I am full of the wrath of Yahweh. I am weary with
holding in.
"Pour it out on the children in the street,
and on the assembly of young men together;
for even the husband with the wife shall be taken,
the aged with him who is full of days.
{6:12} Their houses shall be turned to others,
their fields and their wives together;
for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, says
Yahweh."
{6:13} "For from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
everyone is given to covetousness;
and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.
{6:14} They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially,
saying, 'Peace, peace!' when there is no peace.
{6:15} Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down," says Yahweh.
{6:16} Thus says Yahweh, "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the
old paths, 'Where is the good way?' and walk in it, and you will find
rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' {6:17} I
set watchmen over you, saying, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!'
But they said, 'We will not listen!' {6:18} Therefore hear, you
nations, and know, congregation, what is among them. {6:19} Hear,
earth! Behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of
their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for
my law, they have rejected it. {6:20} To what purpose comes there to
me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country?
your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing
to me."
{6:21} Therefore thus says Yahweh, "Behold, I will lay stumbling
blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together shall
stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish."
{6:22} Thus says Yahweh, "Behold, a people comes from the north
country. A great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts
of the earth. {6:23} They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel,
and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on
horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you,
daughter of Zion."
{6:24} We have heard its report; our hands wax feeble: anguish has
taken hold of us, [and] pangs as of a woman in travail. {6:25} Don't
go forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the
enemy, [and] terror, are on every side. {6:26} Daughter of my people,
gird yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an
only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly
come on us.
{6:27} "I have made you a tester of metals [and] a fortress among my
people; that you may know and try their way. {6:28} They are all
grievous rebels, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron:
they all of them deal corruptly. {6:29} The bellows blow fiercely; the
lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the
wicked are not plucked away. {6:30} Men will call them rejected
silver, because Yahweh has rejected them."
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