Jeremiah 4:16-31 ▼

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.

17 Like those guarding a field, they will be against her all around, because she has rebelled against Me!” A declaration of YHWH.

18 “Your way and your deeds have made these things for you. This is your evil—how bitter it is, how it reaches as far as your heart!”

19 My bowels, my bowels, I writhe in pain, in the walls heart! My heart is roaring within me, I cannot keep silent, for my soul does hear the voice of the shofar, the shout of war.

20 Destruction upon destruction is called out; for all the land is brought to ruin! Suddenly my tents are left in ruins, and my curtains in a moment.

21 How long will I see the standard, and hear the voice of the shofar?

22 “For My people are foolish—they have not known Me! They are foolish children, and they have no understanding! They are wise to do evil, and to do good they do not know.

23 I looked upon the earth, and behold—it was formless and void; and to the heavens, and there was no light in them.

24 I looked upon the mountains, and behold—they began shaking, and all the hills were swaying.

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

26 I looked, and behold—the fertile land was a desert, and all its cities were torn down, before YHWH, before the face of the fury of his nose!

27 For thus says YHWH: “All the land will be a desolation; and I will not make a full end.

28 For the earth will mourn, and the heavens above will grow dark; for I have spoken, I have planned, and I will not repent, and I will not turn back from it.”

29 From the voice of the horsemen and the bowman every city is fleeing! They will go into thickets, and go up into the rocks; every city is forsaken, and there is not a man dwelling in them.

30 And you, O devastated one, what are you doing, that you clothe yourself with crimson, that you adorn with ornaments of gold, that you tear open your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself; for you have rejected the ones lusting; they seek your life!

31 For I have heard a voice like a woman in labor, distress like one bearing her first child—the voice of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath; she spreads out her hands: “Woe now to me! For my soul has grown faint before those killing.”