﻿Jeremiah.
Chapter 4.
“If you return, Israel,” declares the LORD, “return to me. If you remove your abominations from my presence and do not wander away, 
and if you swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’ in truth, justice, and righteousness, then the nations will bless themselves in him, and in him they will glory.” 
For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. 
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskins of your hearts, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to quench it, because of your evil deeds.” 
Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem: “Blow the trumpet in the land!” Cry out at the top of your voice and say, “Gather together! Let us enter the fortified cities!” 
“Raise a banner toward Zion! Seek refuge; do not delay, for I am bringing disaster from the north and great destruction. 
A lion has come up from his thicket; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will be ruined, without an inhabitant.” 
For this, put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us. 
“On that day,” declares the LORD, “the king will lose heart, and so will the officials. The priests will be appalled, and the prophets will be astounded.” 
Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! You have surely deceived this people and Jerusalem completely, saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while the sword reaches life itself!” 
At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness is coming toward the daughter of my people, neither to winnow nor to cleanse. 
A wind too strong for that comes at my bidding. Now I too will pronounce judgments against them.” 
Look, he comes up like clouds; his chariots are like a whirlwind, his horses swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are devastated! 
Wash the evil from your heart, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you? 
For a voice announces from Dan and proclaims disaster from the hill country of Ephraim. 
Tell the nations; proclaim concerning Jerusalem: “Besiegers are coming from a distant land, raising their voices against the cities of Judah. 
They surround her like keepers of a field, because she has rebelled against me,” declares the LORD. 
“Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your disaster—how bitter it is! It has reached your very heart.” 
My insides, my insides! I writhe in pain at the walls of my heart. My heart pounds within me; I cannot keep silent, for you have heard, my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 
Disaster upon disaster is announced, for the whole land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my tent curtains in an instant. 
How long must I see the banner and hear the sound of the trumpet? 
“For my people are foolish; they do not know me. They are senseless children, without understanding. They are skilled at doing evil, but they do not know how to do good.” 
I looked at the earth, and there it was, without form and void; at the heavens, and their light was gone. 
I looked at the mountains, and there they were, trembling; all the hills were shaking. 
I looked, and there was no one; all the birds of the heavens had fled. 
I looked, and the fertile land was a wilderness; all its cities were torn down before the LORD, before his fierce anger. 
For this is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be desolate, yet I will not make a complete end of it. 
For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above will grow dark, because I have spoken, I have purposed it. I have not relented, and I will not turn back from it.” 
At the sound of horsemen and archers, every city flees. They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned, and no one lives in them. 
And you, devastated one, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself in scarlet, adorn yourself with gold jewelry, and enlarge your eyes with paint, you beautify yourself in vain. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life. 
For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, anguish like a woman bearing her first child—the cry of the daughter of Zion, gasping for breath, spreading out her hands: “Woe to me! My soul faints before the killers!” 
