Jeremiah 4

1 “If Israel returns, says the Lord, let him return to me. If he removes his detestable things from his mouth and stands in awe before my face,”

2 “and swears, ‘The Lord lives,’ with truth, in judgment and in righteousness, then nations will bless themselves in her, and in him they will praise God in Jerusalem.”

3 “For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to those living in Jerusalem: Break up fresh ground for yourselves, and do not sow among thorns.”

4 “Circumcise yourselves to your God; circumcise your hardness of heart, men of Judah and you who live in Jerusalem — or my anger will go out like fire and burn, with no one to put it out, because of the evil of your conduct.”

5 “Announce it in Judah; let it be heard in Jerusalem. Say: Sound the trumpet through the land. Cry aloud and say: Gather together, and let us go into the fortified cities.”

6 “Pick up what you can and flee to Zion. Hurry, do not stop, for I am bringing disaster from the north, and a great shattering.”

7 “A lion has come up from his den. Destroying nations, he has set out and left his place to make the land a desolation, and the cities will be torn down and left with no one living in them.”

8 “For this, put on sackcloth, beat your breasts, and wail, for the Lord’s anger has not turned away from you.”

9 “In that day, says the Lord, the heart of the king will perish, and the heart of the rulers; the priests will be stunned, and the prophets will be amazed.”

10 I said,

“Master and Lord, you have truly deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘There will be peace for you’ — and look, the sword has reached their very soul.”

11 “At that time they will say to this people and to Jerusalem: A wind of wandering is in the wilderness — the way of the daughter of my people — leading neither to what is clean nor to what is holy.”

12 “A wind at full strength will come to me. And now I myself will declare my judgments against them.”

13 “Look, he comes up like a cloud, and his chariots like a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!”

14 “Wash your heart clean of wickedness, Jerusalem, so that you may be rescued. How long will the thoughts of your troubles lodge inside you?”

15 “For a voice will come announcing from Dan, and trouble will be heard from Mount Ephraim.”

16 “Remind the nations: look, they have come. Announce it in Jerusalem: raiding bands are coming from a distant land, and they have raised their voice against the cities of Judah.”

17 “Like men guarding a field, they have surrounded her, because you neglected me, says the Lord.”

18 “Your ways and your conduct have brought these things on you. This is your wickedness — how bitter it is, for it has reached your very heart.”

19 “My insides, my insides! I am in pain to the depths of my heart. My soul is in turmoil, my heart is torn. I will not be silent, for my soul has heard the sound of the trumpet, the cry of war.”

20 “And misery calls up shattering, for the whole land is devastated. Suddenly my tent is ruined, and its covers are torn apart.”

21 “How long must I see people fleeing and hear the sound of the trumpet?”

22 “For the leaders of my people have not known me. They are foolish, senseless children — wise at doing evil, but they do not know how to do good.”

23 “I looked at the earth — and look, nothing; and at the sky — its lights were gone.”

24 “I looked at the mountains — they were trembling, and all the hills were shaken.”

25 “I looked — and look, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled in terror.”

26 “I looked — and look, Carmel was a wilderness, and all the cities were burned with fire before the Lord; before his burning anger they were wiped out.”

27 “This is what the Lord says: The whole land will be desolate, but I will not make a complete end.”

28 “Let the earth mourn for these things, and let the sky above grow dark, because I have spoken and I will not change my mind; I have set my course and I will not turn back from it.”

29 “At the sound of the horseman and the drawn bow the whole country fled. They crept into caves, hid in the groves, and climbed up onto the rocks. Every city was abandoned; not a man lived in them.”

30 “And you — what will you do? Though you dress in scarlet, put on gold ornaments, and paint your eyes with kohl, you make yourself beautiful for nothing. Your lovers have rejected you; they are after your life.”

31 “For I heard a sound like a woman in labor — your groaning like a mother bearing her first child — the voice of the daughter of Zion. She will grow faint and let her hands fall: ‘Woe is me, for my soul is failing at the sight of the slain.’”