Jeremiah 4
4
Blessing or Curse
1If you return,#4:1 Or Repent Israel —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
you will return to me,#Zch 1:3
if you remove your abhorrent idols#Jr 7:30; 16:18; 32:34
from my presence
and do not waver,
2then you can swear, “As the Lord lives,”#Dt 6:13; 10:20; Jr 5:2
in truth,#Is 65:16 justice, and righteousness,#Hs 2:19
and then the nations will be blessed#4:2 Or will bless one another by him#Gn 26:3–4
and will boast in him.#Gn 12:1–3; 18:18; 22:18; 1Co 1:31
3For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
Break up the unplowed ground;#Hs 10:12
do not sow among the thorns.#Mt 13:7
4Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,#Gn 17:14; Dt 10:16; Jr 9:25; Rm 2:28–29
men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem.
Otherwise, my wrath will break out like fire
and burn with no one to extinguish it#Is 1:31; Jr 21:12; Am 5:6; Mal 4:1
because of your evil deeds.
Judgment from the North
5Declare in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land.#Jr 6:1; Hs 5:8; Jl 2:1; 1Th 4:16–17
Cry out loudly and say,
“Assemble yourselves,
and let’s flee to the fortified cities.”
6Lift up a signal flag toward Zion.#Is 62:10
Run for cover! Don’t stand still!
For I am bringing disaster from the north —
a crushing blow.#Is 14:31; 41:25; Jr 1:13; 4:20; 6:1; 15:12; 47:2; 50:3,9,41; 51:48; Ezk 26:7
7A lion has gone up from his thicket;#Ps 10:9; 17:12; Is 5:29; Jr 2:15; 5:6; 25:38; 49:19; 50:17,44
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his lair
to make your land a waste.
Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.#Is 1:7; 6:11
8Because of this, put on sackcloth;
mourn and wail,#Jl 1:13
for the Lord’s burning anger#Nm 25:4; Ps 78:49
has not turned away from us.
9“On that day” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “the king and the officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be scared speechless.”
10I said, “Oh no, Lord God, you have certainly deceived#1Kg 22:22; Ezk 14:9; 2Th 2:11 this people and Jerusalem, by announcing, ‘You will have peace,’#Jr 6:14; 23:17 while a sword is at#4:10 Lit sword touches our throats.”
11“At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, ‘A searing wind#Ezk 17:10 blows from the barren heights in the wilderness on the way to my dear#4:11 Lit to the daughter of my people. It comes not to winnow or to sift; 12a wind too strong for this comes at my call.#4:12 Lit comes for me Now I will also pronounce judgments against them.’”#Jr 1:16; Ezk 5:8
13Look, he advances like clouds;#Rv 1:7
his chariots are like a storm.#Is 5:28; 66:15
His horses are swifter than eagles.#2Sm 1:23; Jb 9:26; Lm 4:19
Woe to us, for we are ruined!#Lm 5:16
14Wash the evil from your heart,#Ps 51:2,7; Is 1:16; Jr 2:22; Ti 3:5; Jms 4:8 Jerusalem,
so that you will be delivered.
How long will you harbor
malicious thoughts?#Ps 119:113
15For a voice announces from Dan,
proclaiming malice from Mount Ephraim.
16Warn the nations: Look!
Proclaim to Jerusalem:
Those who besiege are coming
from a distant land;#Is 39:3
they raise their voices
against the cities of Judah.
17They have her surrounded#2Kg 25:1–4
like those who guard a field,
because she has rebelled against me.#Is 1:20
This is the Lord’s declaration.
18Your way and your actions
have brought this on you.#Ps 107:17; Pr 1:31; Jr 7:3,5; 17:10; 18:11; 23:22; 25:5; 26:3,13; 32:19; Hs 4:9; 12:2; Zch 1:4,6
This is your punishment. It is very bitter,
because it has reached your heart!
Jeremiah’s Lament
19My anguish, my anguish!#4:19 Lit My inner parts, my inner parts I writhe in agony!
Oh, the pain in#4:19 Lit the walls of my heart!#Is 16:11; Hab 3:16; Rm 9:1–2
My heart pounds;
I cannot be silent.
For you, my soul,
have heard the sound of the ram’s horn —
the shout of battle.
20Disaster after disaster#Ezk 7:26 is reported
because the whole land is destroyed.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
my tent curtains, in a moment.
21How long must I see the signal flag
and hear the sound of the ram’s horn?
22“For my people are fools;
they do not know me.
They are foolish children,
without understanding.#Ps 82:5; Is 1:3
They are skilled in doing what is evil,
but they do not know how to do what is good.”#Rm 16:19
23I looked at the earth,
and it was formless and empty.#Gn 1:2; Jb 26:7; Is 45:18
I looked to the heavens,
and their light was gone.#Is 5:30; 13:10
24I looked at the mountains,
and they were quaking;#Jdg 5:5; Ps 46:1–3
all the hills shook.
25I looked, and there was no human being,#Gn 2:5
and all the birds of the sky had fled.#Zph 1:3
26I looked, and the fertile field#Jr 2:7 was a wilderness.#Ps 107:34
All its cities were torn down
because of the Lord
and his burning anger.#Ps 76:7
27For this is what the Lord says:
“The whole land will be a desolation,#Is 6:11
but I will not finish it off.#Neh 9:31; Jr 5:10,18; Rm 11:1–7
28Because of this, the earth will mourn;#Jr 8:13; 14:2; Hs 4:3
the skies above will grow dark.#Ps 105:28; Is 13:10; 50:3; Ezk 30:18
I have spoken; I have planned,
and I will not relent or turn back from it.”#Nm 23:19; Is 46:11; 48:15; Ezk 37:14
29Every city flees#2Kg 25:4
at the sound of the horseman and the archer.
They enter the thickets
and climb among the rocks.#Is 2:19–21
Every city is abandoned;
no inhabitant is left.
30And you, devastated one, what are you doing#Is 10:3
that you dress yourself in scarlet,
that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry,
that you enhance your eyes with makeup?#2Kg 9:30
You beautify yourself for nothing.
Your lovers reject you;#Jr 30:14; Lm 1:19
they intend to take your life.#Ezk 23:9–10,22
31I hear a cry like a woman in labor,#Ps 48:6; Is 13:8; 21:3; 42:14; Jr 6:24; 13:21; 22:23; 30:6; 50:43; Mc 4:9–10; 1Th 5:3
a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child.
The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands:#Is 1:15
“Woe is me, for my life is weary
because of the murderers!”
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Jeremiah 4: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
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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