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Jeremiah, starting at chapter 4
{4:1} "If you will return, Israel," says the LORD, "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
the LORD 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 the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem,
"Break up your fallow ground, and don't sow among thorns. {4:4}
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, 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 [1>]shofar[<1] 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 clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and
wail; for the fierce anger of the LORD hasn't turned back from us.
{4:9} "It shall happen at that day," says 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."
{4:10} Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! 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 the LORD. {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 [2>]shofar[<2], 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
[3>]shofar[<3]?
{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 the LORD, before his fierce anger.
{4:27} For thus says the LORD, "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 the LORD lives;' surely they
swear falsely."
{5:3} O LORD, 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD; "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 the LORD's. {5:11} For the
house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously
against me," says the LORD.
{5:12} They have denied the LORD, 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 the LORD, the God of Hosts, "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 the LORD. "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 the LORD, "I will not make a
full end with you. {5:19} It will happen, when you say, 'Why has the
LORD 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 the LORD '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 the LORD 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 the LORD. "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 [4>]shofar[<4] 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 the LORD of Hosts 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 the LORD of Hosts, "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 the LORD has become a reproach to them. They have no delight
in it. {6:11} Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD. 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
the LORD."
{6:13} "For from their least even to their greatest, 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 the
LORD.
{6:16} Thus says the LORD, "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
[5>]shofar[<5]!' 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 the LORD, "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 the LORD, "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 become feeble: anguish
has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labor. {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,
clothe 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 the LORD has rejected them."
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Footnotes:
[1] {4:5} or, trumpet
[2] {4:19} or, trumpet
[3] {4:21} or, trumpet
[4] {6:1} or, trumpet
[5] {6:17} or, trumpet
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