Jeremiah 4:1-16 ▼

1 “If you would return, O Israel, a declaration of YHWH, to Me you must return!” And if you will put away your abominations from My sight, and no longer waver,

2 and you swear, ‘As YHWH’ lives, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory.”

3 For thus says YHWH to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up for yourself the unplowed ground, and do not sow among thorns.

4 Circumcise yourselves to YHWH, and turn aside the foreskins of your⁺ heart, O men of Judah and dwellers of Jerusalem, lest My fury should go forth like the fire and burn—with no one to extinguish it—from the face of the evil of your⁺ deeds!”

5 Declare in Judah and in Jerusalem! Proclaim and say, “Blow the shofar in the land; call out, gather together, and say: ‘Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities!’

6 Lift up the standard toward Zion! Seek refuge; do not delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, and great destruction.

7 A lion has come up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out! He has gone forth from his place to make your land into a desolation; your cities will be in ruins, without inhabitant.

8 Upon thus gird yourselves with sackcloth; lament and wail! For the burning of the anger of YHWH has not turned back from us.”

9 “And it will come to pass in that day,” a declaration of YHWH, “That the heart of the king will perish, and the heart of the princes and shall be devastated; the priests and the prophets will be astounded.”

10 And I said, “Ah, my Lord YHWH! Truly You have greatly decieved this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘There shall be peace for You⁺,’ and the sword reaches as far as the soul.

11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: “A dry wind from the barren heights of the wilderness is toward the way of the daughter of My people, not to winnow and not to cleanse—

12 a wind more full than these will come to Me! Even now I speak judgments against them.”

13 Behold, like clouds he shall come up, and his chariots like a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles! Woe to us, for we are ruined!

14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall wicked thoughts lodge within you?

15 For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims affliction from Mount Ephraim.

16 Make mention to the nations—behold, proclaim over Jerusalem: “Besiegers are coming from a land far away, and they will raise their voice against the cities of Judah.