Jeremiah 4
4
1“If you, Israel, will return,” announces the Lord,
“then return to me.
Put the statues of your gods out of my sight.
I hate them.
Stop going astray.
2Make all your promises in my name.
When you promise say, ‘You can be sure that the Lord is alive.’
Be truthful, fair and honest when you make these promises.
Then the nations will ask for blessings from me.
And they will boast about me.”
3Here is what the Lord is telling the people of Judah and Jerusalem. He says,
“Your hearts are as hard as a field
that has not been plowed.
So change your ways and produce good crops.
Do not plant seeds among thorns.
4People of Judah and you who live in Jerusalem, obey me.
Do not let your hearts be stubborn.
If you do, my anger will blaze out against you.
It will burn like fire because of the evil things you have done.
No one will be able to put it out.
Trouble Will Come From the North
5“Announce my message in Judah.
Tell it in Jerusalem.
Say, ‘Blow trumpets all through the land!’
Give a loud shout and say,
‘Gather together!
Let’s run to cities that have high walls around them!’
6Warn everyone to go to Zion!
Run for safety! Do not wait!
I am bringing trouble from the north.
Everything will be totally destroyed.”
7Lions have come out of their dens.
Those who destroy nations have begun to march out.
They have left their place
to destroy your land completely.
Your towns will be broken to pieces.
No one will live in them.
8So put on the clothes of sadness.
Mourn and weep over what has happened.
The Lord hasn’t turned
his great anger away from us.
9“A dark day is coming,” announces the Lord.
“The king and his officials will lose hope.
The priests will be shocked.
And the prophets will be terrified.”
10Then I said, “You are my Lord and King. You have completely tricked the people of Judah and Jerusalem! You have told them, ‘You will have peace and rest.’ But swords are pointed at our throats!”
11At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be warned. They will be told, “A hot and dry wind is coming, my people. It is blowing toward you from the bare hilltops in the desert. But it does not separate straw from grain. 12It is much too strong for that. The wind is coming from me. I am making my decision against you.”
13Look! Our enemies are approaching like the clouds.
Their chariots are coming like a strong wind.
Their horses are faster than eagles.
How terrible it will be for us!
We’ll be destroyed!
14People of Jerusalem, wash your sins from your hearts and be saved.
How long will you hold on to your evil thoughts?
15A voice is speaking all the way from the city of Dan.
From the hills of Ephraim it announces
that trouble is coming.
16“Tell the nations.
Make an announcement concerning Jerusalem.
Say, ‘An army will attack Judah.
It is coming from a land far away.
It will shout a war cry
against the cities of Judah.
17It will surround them like people who guard a field.
Judah has refused to obey me,’ ”
announces the Lord.
18“The army will attack you
because of your conduct and actions.
This is how you will be punished.
It will be so bitter!
It will cut deep down into your hearts!”
19I’m suffering! I’m really suffering!
I’m hurting badly.
My heart is suffering so much!
It’s pounding inside me.
I can’t keep silent.
I’ve heard the sound of trumpets.
I’ve heard the battle cry.
20One trouble follows another.
The whole land is destroyed.
In an instant my tents are gone.
My home disappears in a moment.
21How long must I look at our enemy’s battle flag?
How long must I hear the sound of the trumpets?
22The Lord says, “My people are foolish.
They do not know me.
They are children who do not have any sense.
They have no understanding at all.
They are skilled in doing what is evil.
They do not know how to do what is good.”
23I looked at the earth.
It didn’t have any shape. And it was empty.
I looked at the sky.
Its light was gone.
24I looked at the mountains.
They were shaking.
All the hills were swaying.
25I looked. And there weren’t any people.
Every bird in the sky had flown away.
26I looked. And the fruitful land had become a desert.
All its towns were destroyed.
The Lord had done all this because of his great anger.
27The Lord says,
“The whole land will be destroyed.
But I will not destroy it completely.
28So the earth will be filled with sadness.
The sky above will grow dark.
I have spoken, and I will not take pity on them.
I have made my decision, and I will not change my mind.”
29People can hear the sound of horsemen.
Men armed with bows are coming.
The people in every town run away.
Some of them go into the bushes.
Others climb up among the rocks.
All the towns are deserted.
No one is living in them.
30What are you doing, you who are destroyed?
Why do you dress yourself in bright red clothes?
Why do you put on jewels of gold?
Why do you put makeup on your eyes?
You make yourself beautiful for no reason at all.
Your lovers hate you.
They want to kill you.
31I hear a cry like the cry of a woman having a baby.
I hear a groan like someone having her first child.
It’s the cry of the people of Zion struggling to breathe.
They reach out their hands and say,
“Help us! We’re fainting!
Murderers are about to kill us!”
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Jeremiah 4: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Jeremiah 4
4
1If you return, Israel—oracle of the Lord—
return to me.
If you put your detestable things out of my sight,
and do not stray,#Jer 25:5.
2And swear, “As the Lord lives,”#As the Lord lives: this oath, made sincerely, implies Israel’s return and loyal adherence to God. Thus the ancient promises are fulfilled; cf. Gn 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; Ps 72:17.
in truth, in judgment, and in justice,
Then the nations shall bless themselves in him
and in him glory.#Jer 12:16; Dt 10:20; Is 65:16.
3For to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, thus says the Lord:
Till your untilled ground,
and do not sow among thorns.#Hos 10:12; Mt 13:7, 22.
4Be circumcised for the Lord,#The external rite of circumcision accomplishes nothing unless it is accompanied by the removal of blindness and obstinacy of heart. Jeremiah’s view is reflected in Rom 2:25, 29; 1 Cor 7:19; Gal 5:6; 6:13, 15.
remove the foreskins of your hearts,
people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
Or else my anger will break out like fire,
and burn so that no one can quench it,
because of your evil deeds.#Jer 9:24.
The Invasion from the North
5Proclaim it in Judah,
in Jerusalem announce it;
Blow the trumpet throughout the land,
call out, “Fill the ranks!”
Say, “Assemble, let us march
to the fortified cities.”
6Raise the signal—to Zion!
Seek refuge! Don’t stand there!
Disaster I bring from the north,
and great destruction.
7Up comes the lion from its lair,
the destroyer of nations has set out,
has left its place,
To turn your land into a desolation,
your cities into an uninhabited waste.#Jer 2:15; 5:6.
8So put on sackcloth,
mourn and wail:
“The blazing anger of the Lord
has not turned away from us.”#Jer 6:26; Is 5:25.
9In that day—oracle of the Lord—
The king will lose heart, and the princes;
the priests will be horrified,
and the prophets stunned.
10“Ah! Lord God,” they will say,
“You really did deceive#You really did deceive: Jeremiah complains that the Lord misled the people by fostering their complacency, leaving them unprepared and unrepentant as judgment approaches. us
When you said: You shall have peace,
while the sword was at our very throats.”#Jer 6:14.
11At that time it will be said
to this people and to Jerusalem,
A scorching wind from the bare heights comes
through the wilderness toward my daughter, the people.#My daughter, the people: the covenant people personified as a young woman. Ezekiel 16 presents Israel and Judah as female infants whom the Lord adopts and then abandons and punishes because they desire other lords.
Not to winnow, not to cleanse,
12a strong wind from there comes at my bidding.
Now I too pronounce
sentence upon them.#Jer 1:16.
13See! like storm clouds he advances,
like a whirlwind, his chariots;
Swifter than eagles, his horses:
“Woe to us! we are ruined.”
14Cleanse your heart of evil, Jerusalem,
that you may be saved.
How long will you entertain
wicked schemes?
15A voice proclaims it from Dan,
announces wickedness from Mount Ephraim:
16“Make this known to the nations,
announce it against Jerusalem:
Besiegers are coming from the distant land,
shouting their war cry against the cities of Judah.”#Jer 5:15.
17Like watchers in the fields they surround her,
for she has rebelled against me—oracle of the Lord.#Jer 6:3.
18Your conduct, your deeds, have done this to you;
how bitter is this evil of yours,
how it reaches to your very heart!#Jer 2:17, 19.
19My body! my body! how I writhe!#Probably the prophet’s own anguish at the coming destruction of Judah.
The walls of my heart!
My heart beats wildly,
I cannot be still;
For I myself have heard the blast of the horn,
the battle cry.
20Ruin upon ruin is reported;
the whole land is laid waste.
In an instant my tents are ravaged;
in a flash, my shelters.#Jer 10:20.
21How long must I see the signal,
hear the blast of the horn!
22My people are fools,
they do not know me;
They are senseless children,
without understanding;
They are wise at evil,
but they do not know how to do good.#Dt 32:5–6, 28.
23I looked at the earth—it was waste and void;
at the heavens—their light had gone out!#Is 24:1, 3.
24I looked at the mountains—they were quaking!
All the hills were crumbling!
25I looked—there was no one;
even the birds of the air had flown away!
26I looked—the garden land was a wilderness,
with all its cities destroyed
before the Lord, before his blazing anger.#Lv 26:31.
27For thus says the Lord:
The whole earth shall be waste,
but I will not wholly destroy it.#Jer 5:18.
28Because of this the earth shall mourn,
the heavens above shall darken;
I have spoken, I will not change my mind,
I have decided, I will not turn back.#Is 24:4.
29At the shout of rider and archer
each city takes to flight;
They shrink into the thickets,
they scale the rocks:
All the cities are abandoned,
no one lives in them.
30You now who are doomed, what are you doing
dressing in purple,
bedecking yourself with gold,
Enlarging your eyes with kohl?
You beautify yourself in vain!
Your lovers reject you,
they seek your life.
31Yes, I hear the cry, like that of a woman in labor,
like the anguish of a mother bearing her first child—
The cry of daughter Zion gasping,
as she stretches out her hands:
“Ah, woe is me! I sink exhausted
before my killers!”#Jer 6:24.
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