Jeremiah 4
4
1“If you will come back, Israel,
then come back to me,” says the Lord.
“Throw away your idols that I hate.
Don’t wander away from me.
2Then you may say when you make a promise,
‘As surely as the Lord lives.’
And you can say it in a truthful, honest and right way.
Then the nations will be blessed by the Lord.
And they will praise the Lord for what he has done.”
3This is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
“Plow your unplowed fields.
Don’t plant seeds among the thorns.
4Give yourselves to the service of the Lord.
Decide to obey him.
Do this, men of Judah and people of Jerusalem.
If you don’t, my anger will spread among you like a fire.
No one will be able to put it out
because of the evil you have done.
Trouble from the North
5“Announce this message to Judah and say it in Jerusalem:
‘Blow the trumpet throughout the country!’
Shout out loud and say,
‘Come together!
Let’s all escape to the strong, walled cities!’
6Raise the signal flag toward Jerusalem!
Run for your lives! And don’t wait!
Do this because I am bringing disaster from the north.
It will be terrible destruction.”
7A lion has come out of his den.
A destroyer of nations has begun to march.
He has left his home
to destroy your land.
Your towns will be destroyed.
There will be no people left to live in them.
8So put on rough cloth,
show how sad you are and cry loudly.
The terrible anger of the Lord
has not turned away from us.
9“When this happens,” says the Lord,
“the king and officers will lose their courage.
The priests will be terribly afraid.
And the prophets will be shocked!”
10Then I, Jeremiah, said, “Lord God, you have tricked the people of Judah and Jerusalem. You said, ‘You will have peace.’ But now the sword is pointing at our throats!”
11At that time this message will be given to Judah and Jerusalem: “A hot wind blows from the bare hilltops. It comes out of the desert toward the Lord’s people. It is not like the gentle wind farmers use to separate grain from chaff. 12It’s a stronger wind than that. And it comes from the Lord. Now he will announce his judgment against the people of Judah.”
13Look! The enemy rises up like a cloud.
His chariots come like a windstorm.
His horses are faster than eagles.
How terrible it will be for us! We are ruined!
14People of Jerusalem, clean the evil from your hearts and be saved.
Don’t continue making evil plans.
15A voice from Dan makes an announcement.
From the mountains of Ephraim someone brings bad news.
16“Report this to the nations.
Spread this news in Jerusalem:
‘Enemies are coming from a faraway country.
They are shouting words of war against the cities of Judah.
17The enemy has surrounded Jerusalem as men guard a field.
This is because Judah turned against me,’” says the Lord.
18“The way you have lived and acted
has brought this trouble to you.
This is your punishment.
How terrible it is!
The pain stabs your heart!”
Jeremiah’s Cry
19Oh, how I hurt! How I hurt!
I am bent over in pain.
Oh, the torture in my heart!
My heart is pounding inside me.
I cannot keep quiet.
This is because I have heard the sound of the trumpet.
I have heard the words of war.
20Disaster follows disaster.
The whole country has been destroyed.
My tents are destroyed in only a moment.
My curtains are torn down quickly.
21How long must I look at the war flag?
How long must I listen to the war trumpets?
22The Lord says, “My people are foolish.
They do not know me.
They are stupid children.
They don’t understand.
They are skillful at doing evil.
They don’t know how to do good.”
Disaster Is Coming
23I looked at the earth.
It was empty and had no shape!
I looked at the sky.
And its light was gone.
24I looked at the mountains,
and they were shaking!
All the hills were trembling.
25I looked, and there were no people!
Every bird in the sky had flown away.
26I looked, and the good, rich land had become a desert!
All its towns had been destroyed.
The Lord and his great anger has caused this.
27This is what the Lord says:
“All the land will be ruined.
But I will not completely destroy it.
28So the people in the land will cry loudly.
And the sky will grow dark.
This is because I have spoken and will not change my mind.
I have made a decision, and I will not change it.”
29The towns will hear the sound of the horsemen and soldiers with bows.
All the people will run away.
Some of them will hide in the thick bushes.
Some will climb up into the rocks.
All of the cities of Judah are empty.
No one lives in them.
30Judah, you destroyed nation, what are you doing?
Why do you put on your finest dress?
Why do you put on your gold jewelry?
Why do you put on your eye shadow?
You make yourself beautiful, but it is all useless.
Your lovers hate you.
They want to kill you.
31I hear a cry like a woman having a baby.
It is a cry like a woman having her first child.
It is the voice of Jerusalem gasping for breath.
She lifts her hands in prayer and says,
“Oh! I am about to faint.
They are about to murder me!”
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Jeremiah 4: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Jeremiah 4
4
1If thou dost turn back, O Israel, An affirmation of Jehovah, unto Me turn back, And if thou dost turn aside Thine abominations from My face, Then thou dost not bemoan.
2And thou hast sworn — Jehovah liveth, In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness, And blessed themselves in Him have nations, And in Him they boast themselves.
3For thus said Jehovah, To the man of Judah, and to Jerusalem: Till for yourselves tillage, And do not sow unto the thorns.
4Be circumcised to Jehovah, And turn aside the foreskins of your heart, O man of Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury go out as fire, and hath burned, And there is none quenching, Because of the evil of your doings.
5Declare in Judah, and in Jerusalem sound, And say ye, ‘Blow a trumpet in the land,’ Call ye fully, and say ye: ‘Be gathered, and we go in to the fenced city.’
6Lift up an ensign Zionward, Strengthen yourselves, stand not still, For evil I am bringing in from the north, And a great destruction.
7Gone up hath a lion from his thicket, And a destroyer of nations hath journeyed, He hath come forth from his place To make thy land become a desolation, Thy cities are laid waste, without inhabitant.
8For this, gird on sackcloth, lament and howl, For the fierce anger of Jehovah hath not turned back from us.
9And it hath come to pass, in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah: ‘Perish doth the heart of the king, And the heart of the princes, And astonished have been the priests, And the prophets do wonder.’
10And I say, ‘Ah, Lord Jehovah, Surely thou hast entirely forgotten this people and Jerusalem, saying, Peace is for you, And struck hath a sword unto the soul!’
11At that time it is said of this people, And of Jerusalem: ‘A dry wind of high places in the wilderness,’ The way of the daughter of My people, (Not for winnowing, nor for cleansing,)
12A full wind from these doth come for Me, Now, also, I speak judgments with them.
13Lo, as clouds he cometh up, And as a hurricane his chariots, Lighter than eagles have been his horses, Woe to us, for we have been spoiled.
14Wash from evil thy heart, O Jerusalem, That thou mayest be saved, Till when dost thou lodge in thy heart Thoughts of thy strength?
15For a voice is declaring from Dan, And sounding sorrow from mount Ephraim.
16Make ye mention to the nations, Lo, sound ye to Jerusalem: ‘Besiegers are coming from the land afar off, And they give forth against cities of Judah their voice.
17As the keepers of a field They have been against her round about, For with Me she hath been rebellious, An affirmation of Jehovah.’
18Thy way and thy doings have done these to thee, This [is] thy vexation, for [it is] bitter, For it hath struck unto thy heart.
19My bowels, my bowels! I am pained [at] the walls of my heart, Make a noise for me doth My heart, I am not silent, For the voice of a trumpet I have heard, O my soul — a shout of battle!
20Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, For spoiled hath been all the land, Suddenly spoiled have been my tents, In a moment — my curtains.
21Till when do I see an ensign? Do I hear the voice of a trumpet?
22For my people [are] foolish, me they have not known, Foolish sons [are] they, yea, they [are] not intelligent, Wise [are] they to do evil, And to do good they have not known.
23I looked [to] the land, and lo, waste and void, And unto the heavens, and their light is not.
24I have looked [to] the mountains, And lo, they are trembling. And all the hills moved themselves lightly.
25I have looked, and lo, man is not, And all fowls of the heavens have fled.
26I have looked, and lo, The fruitful place [is] a wilderness, And all its cities have been broken down, Because of Jehovah, Because of the fierceness of His anger.
27For thus said Jehovah: All the land is a desolation, but a completion I make not.
28For this doth the land mourn, And black have been the heavens above, because I have spoken — I have purposed, And I have not repented, Nor do I turn back from it.
29From the voice of the horseman, And of him shooting with the bow, all the city is fleeing, They have come into thickets, And on cliffs they have gone up, All the city is forsaken, And there is no one dwelling in them.
30And thou, O spoiled one, what dost thou? For thou puttest on scarlet, For thou adornest thyself [with] ornaments of gold. For thou rendest with pain thine eyes, In vain thou dost make thyself fair, Kicked against thee have doting ones, Thy life they do seek.
31For a voice as of a sick woman I have heard, Distress, as of one bringing forth a first-born, The voice of the daughter of Zion, She bewaileth herself, she spreadeth out her hands, ‘Woe to me now, for weary is my soul of slayers!’
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