Jeremiah 4

₁“If you return, O Israel,

to me you should return.

If you remove your detestable things from my presence,

and do not waver,

₂and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’

in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,

then nations shall bless themselves in him,

and in him shall they glory.”

“Break up your fallow ground,

and sow not among thorns.

₄Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;

remove the foreskin of your hearts,

O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;

lest my wrath go forth like fire,

and burn with none to quench it,

because of the evil of your deeds.”

“Blow the trumpet through the land;

cry aloud and say,

‘Assemble, and let us go

into the fortified cities!’

₆Raise a standard toward Zion,

flee for safety, stay not,

for I bring disaster from the north,

and great destruction.

₇A lion has gone up from his thicket,

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.

₈For this put on sackcloth,

lament and wail,

for the fierce anger of the Lord

has not turned back from us.”

₁₃Behold, he comes up like clouds;

his chariots like the whirlwind;

his horses are swifter than eagles—

woe to us, for we are ruined!

₁₄O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil,

that you may be saved.

How long shall your wicked thoughts

lodge within you?

₁₅For a voice declares from Dan

and proclaims trouble from Mount Ephraim.

₁₆Warn the nations that he is coming;

announce to Jerusalem,

“Besiegers come from a distant land;

they shout against the cities of Judah.

₁₇Like keepers of a field are they against her all around,

because she has rebelled against me,

₁₈Your ways and your deeds

have brought this upon you.

This is your doom, and it is bitter;

it has reached your very heart.”

₁₉My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!

Oh the walls of my heart!

My heart is beating wildly;

I cannot keep silent,

for I hear the sound of the trumpet,

the alarm of war.

₂₀Crash follows hard on crash;

the whole land is laid waste.

Suddenly my tents are laid waste,

my curtains in a moment.

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;

they have no understanding.

They are ‘wise’—in doing evil!

But how to do good they know not.”

₂₃I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form 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 air had fled.

₂₆I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert,

and all its cities were laid in ruins

before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

₂₈“For this the earth shall mourn,

and the heavens above be dark;

for I have spoken; I have purposed;

I have not relented, nor will I turn back.”

₂₉At the noise of horseman and archer

every city takes to flight;

they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;

all the cities are forsaken,

and no man dwells in them.

₃₀And you, O desolate one,

what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,

that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,

that you enlarge your eyes with paint?

In vain you beautify yourself.

Your lovers despise you;

they seek your life.

₃₁For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,

anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,

the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,

stretching out her hands,

“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”