Jeremiah 4

1If you return, O Israel, declares Yahweh, to me you should return; if you remove your detestable things from before me and do not wander about,

2and if you swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations will bless themselves in him, and in him they will boast.

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

4Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath go out like fire and burn, with no one to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.

5Declare it in Judah, and proclaim it in Jerusalem, and say: Blow the trumpet in the land. Cry aloud, fill the air, and say: Gather yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.

6Raise a signal toward Zion. Take refuge; do not stand still, for I am bringing disaster from the north, and great destruction.

7A lion has come up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone out from his place to make your land a desolation. Your cities will be laid waste, without inhabitant.

8Because of this, put on sackcloth; mourn and wail, for the burning anger of Yahweh has not turned away from us.

9And it will happen on that day, declares Yahweh, that the heart of the king and the heart of the officials will perish, and the priests will be appalled, and the prophets will be astonished.

10Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while the sword has reached to the soul.”

11At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness comes toward the daughter of my people—not for winnowing and not for cleansing.”

12A wind too full for these will come for me; now I myself will also speak judgments against them.

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

14Wash your heart from evil, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will wicked thoughts lodge within you?

15For a voice is declaring from Dan, and proclaiming disaster from the hill country of Ephraim.

16Declare it to the nations: ‘Look, proclaim it concerning Jerusalem: Watchers are coming from a distant land, and they raise their voice against the cities of Judah.’

17Like watchmen of a field, they are against her all around, because she has rebelled against me, declares Yahweh.

18Your way and your deeds have brought these things upon you. This is your evil—how bitter it is! For it has reached your heart.

19My inward parts, my inward parts! I writhe in pain! O walls of my heart! My heart pounds within me; I cannot keep silent, for you, my soul, have heard the sound of the trumpet, the battle cry.

20Disaster upon disaster is proclaimed, for the whole land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are devastated, my curtains in a moment.

21How long must I see the signal flag and hear the sound of the trumpet?

22For my people are foolish; they do not know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but they do not know how to do good.

23I looked at the earth, and behold, it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and they had no light.

24I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills were shaken.

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

26I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were torn down before Yahweh, before his fierce anger.

27For thus says Yahweh: The whole land will be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end.

28Because of this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above will grow dark, because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I have not relented, nor will I turn back from it.

29At the sound of the horseman and the archer, every city flees; they go into the thickets and climb up among the rocks. Every city is abandoned, and no man dwells in them.

30And you, devastated one, what will you do? Though you dress in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, you beautify yourself in vain. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.

31For I have heard a sound like a woman in labor, distress like one giving birth to her first child— the sound of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, spreading out her hands: “Woe is me, for my life is faint before killers.”