2And you will swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’
         In truth, in justice and in righteousness;
         Then the nations will bless themselves in Him,
         And in Him they will glory.”

      3For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem,
         “Break up your fallow ground,
         And do not sow among thorns.

4“Circumcise yourselves to the LORD
         And remove the foreskins of your heart,
         Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
         Or else My wrath will go forth like fire
         And burn with none to quench it,
         Because of the evil of your deeds.”

5Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
         “Blow the trumpet in the land;
         Cry aloud and say,
         ‘Assemble yourselves, and let us go
         Into the fortified cities.’

6“Lift up a standard toward Zion!
         Seek refuge, do not stand still,
         For I am bringing evil from the north,
         And great destruction.

7“A lion has gone up from his thicket,
         And a destroyer of nations has set out;
         He has gone out from his place
         To make your land a waste.
         Your cities will be ruins
         Without inhabitant.

8“For this, put on sackcloth,
         Lament and wail;
         For the fierce anger of the LORD
         Has not turned back from us.”

9“It shall come about in that day,” declares the LORD, “that the heart of the king and the heart of the princes will fail; and the priests will be appalled and the prophets will be astounded.”

      10Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace’; whereas a sword touches the throat.”

      11In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness in the direction of the daughter of My people—not to winnow and not to cleanse, 12a wind too strong for this—will come at My command; now I will also pronounce judgments against them.

13“Behold, he goes up like clouds,
         And his chariots like the whirlwind;
         His horses are swifter than eagles.
         Woe to us, for we are ruined!”

14Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem,
         That you may be saved.
         How long will your wicked thoughts
         Lodge within you?

15For a voice declares from Dan,
         And proclaims wickedness from Mount Ephraim.

16“Report it to the nations, now!
         Proclaim over Jerusalem,
         ‘Besiegers come from a far country,
         And lift their voices against the cities of Judah.

17‘Like watchmen of a field they are against her round about,
         Because she has rebelled against Me,’ declares the LORD.

18“Your ways and your deeds
         Have brought these things to you.
         This is your evil. How bitter!
         How it has touched your heart!”

Lament over Judah’s Devastation

19My soul, my soul! I am in anguish! Oh, my heart!
         My heart is pounding in me;
         I cannot be silent,
         Because you have heard, O my soul,
         The sound of the trumpet,
         The alarm of war.

20Disaster on disaster is proclaimed,
         For the whole land is devastated;
         Suddenly my tents are devastated,
         My curtains in an instant.

21How long must I see the standard
         And hear the sound of the trumpet?

22“For My people are foolish,
         They know Me not;
         They are stupid children
         And have no understanding.
         They are shrewd to do evil,
         But to do good they do not know.”

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

24I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
         And all the hills moved to and fro.

25I looked, and behold, there was no man,
         And all the birds of the heavens had fled.

26I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness,
         And all its cities were pulled down
         Before the LORD, before His fierce anger.

27For thus says the LORD,
         “The whole land shall be a desolation,
         Yet I will not execute a complete destruction.

28“For this the earth shall mourn
         And the heavens above be dark,
         Because I have spoken, I have purposed,
         And I will not change My mind, nor will I turn from it.”

29At the sound of the horseman and bowman every city flees;
         They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks;
         Every city is forsaken,
         And no man dwells in them.

30And you, O desolate one, what will you do?
         Although you dress in scarlet,
         Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold,
         Although you enlarge your eyes with paint,
         In vain you make yourself beautiful.
         Your lovers despise you;
         They seek your life.

31For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,
         The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,
         The cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
         Stretching out her hands, saying,
         “Ah, woe is me, for I faint before murderers.”

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
and thou shalt swear, As Jehovah liveth, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And thou shalt swear: As the Lord liveth, in truth, and in judgement, and in justice: and the Gentiles shall bless him, and shall praise him.

Darby Bible Translation
and thou shalt in truth, in justice, and in righteousness swear, As Jehovah liveth! and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.

English Revised Version
and 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.

Webster's Bible Translation
And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.

World English Bible
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."

Young's Literal Translation
And thou hast sworn -- Jehovah liveth, In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness, And blessed themselves in Him have nations, And in Him they boast themselves.The Wailing of Risca
You all know the story; it scarce needs that I should tell it to you. Last Saturday week some two hundred or more miners descended in health and strength to their usual work in the bowels of the earth. They had not been working long, their wives and their children had risen, and their little ones had gone to their schools, when suddenly there was heard a noise at the mouth of the pit;--it was an explosion,--all knew what it meant. Men's hearts failed them, for well they prophesied the horror which …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 7: 1861

How those are to be Admonished who Sin from Sudden Impulse and those who Sin Deliberately.
(Admonition 33.). Differently to be admonished are those who are overcome by sudden passion and those who are bound in guilt of set purpose. For those whom sudden passion overcomes are to be admonished to regard themselves as daily set in the warfare of the present life, and to protect the heart, which cannot foresee wounds, with the shield of anxious fear; to dread the hidden darts of the ambushed foe, and, in so dark a contest, to guard with continual attention the inward camp of the soul. For, …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Prevailing Prayer.
Text.--The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.--James v. 16. THE last lecture referred principally to the confession of sin. To-night my remarks will be chiefly confined to the subject of intercession, or prayer. There are two kinds of means requisite to promote a revival; one to influence men, the other to influence God. The truth is employed to influence men, and prayer to move God. When I speak of moving God, I do not mean that God's mind is changed by prayer, or that his …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

How to Make Use of Christ for Cleansing of us from Our Daily Spots.
Having spoken of the way of making use of Christ for removing the guilt of our daily transgressions, we come to speak of the way of making use of Christ, for taking away the guilt that cleaveth to the soul, through daily transgressions; "for every sin defileth the man," Matt. xv. 20; and the best are said to have their spots, and to need washing, which presupposeth filthiness and defilement, Eph. v. 27. John xiii. 8-10. Hence we are so oft called to this duty of washing and making us clean. Isa. …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

"For they that are after the Flesh do Mind the Things of the Flesh,",
Rom. viii. 5.--"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,", &c. Though sin hath taken up the principal and inmost cabinet of the heart of man--though it hath fixed its imperial throne in the spirit of man, and makes use of all the powers and faculties in the soul to accomplish its accursed desires and fulfil its boundless lusts, yet it is not without good reason expressed in scripture, ordinarily under the name of "flesh," and a "body of death," and men dead in sins, are …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Jeremiah
Among those who had hoped for a permanent spiritual revival as the result of the reformation under Josiah was Jeremiah, called of God to the prophetic office while still a youth, in the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign. A member of the Levitical priesthood, Jeremiah had been trained from childhood for holy service. In those happy years of preparation he little realized that he had been ordained from birth to be "a prophet unto the nations;" and when the divine call came, he was overwhelmed with …
Ellen Gould White—The Story of Prophets and Kings

"Who Walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the Flesh,"
Rom. viii. 4, 5.--"Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh," &c. If there were nothing else to engage our hearts to religion, I think this might do it, that there is so much reason in it. Truly it is the most rational thing in the world, except some revealed mysteries of faith, which are far above reason, but not contrary to it. There is nothing besides in it, but that which is the purest reason. Even that part of it which is most difficult to man, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"If So be that the Spirit of God Dwell in You. Now if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ, He is None of His. "
Rom. viii. 9.--"If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." "But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?" 2 Chron. vi. 18. It was the wonder of one of the wisest of men, and indeed, considering his infinite highness above the height of heavens, his immense and incomprehensible greatness, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, and then the baseness, emptiness, and worthlessness of man, it may be a wonder to the …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Visions of Future Glory
In the darkest days of her long conflict with evil, the church of God has been given revelations of the eternal purpose of Jehovah. His people have been permitted to look beyond the trials of the present to the triumphs of the future, when, the warfare having been accomplished, the redeemed will enter into possession of the promised land. These visions of future glory, scenes pictured by the hand of God, should be dear to His church today, when the controversy of the ages is rapidly closing and the …
Ellen Gould White—The Story of Prophets and Kings

The Acceptable Sacrifice;
OR, THE EXCELLENCY OF A BROKEN HEART: SHOWING THE NATURE, SIGNS, AND PROPER EFFECTS OF A CONTRITE SPIRIT. BEING THE LAST WORKS OF THAT EMINENT PREACHER AND FAITHFUL MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST, MR. JOHN BUNYAN, OF BEDFORD. WITH A PREFACE PREFIXED THEREUNTO BY AN EMINENT MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN LONDON. London: Sold by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopgates, 1692. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. The very excellent preface to this treatise, written by George Cokayn, will inform the reader of …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Original Sin
Q-16: DID ALL MANKIND FALL IN ADAM'S FIRST TRANSGRESSION? A: The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him, by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression. 'By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,' &c. Rom 5:12. Adam being a representative person, while he stood, we stood; when he fell, we fell, We sinned in Adam; so it is in the text, In whom all have sinned.' Adam was the head …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

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