Jeremiah 4
4
How Israel Can Return to the Lord
1The Lord said:
Israel, if you really want
to come back to me, get rid
of those disgusting idols.
2Make promises only in my name,
and do what you promise!
Then all nations will praise me,
and I will bless them.
3 #
Ho 10.12. People of Jerusalem and Judah,
don't be so stubborn!
Your hearts have become hard,
like unplowed ground
where thornbushes grow.
4With all your hearts,
keep the agreement
I made with you.
But if you are stubborn
and keep on sinning,
my anger will burn like a fire
that cannot be put out.
Disaster Is Coming
The Lord said:
* 5“Sound the trumpets, my people.
Warn the people of Judah,#4.5 Judah: Hebrew “Judah and Jerusalem.”
‘Run for your lives!
6Head for Jerusalem
or another walled town!’
“Jeremiah, tell them I'm sending
disaster from the north.
7An army will come out,
like a lion from its den.
It will destroy nations
and leave your towns empty
and in ruins.”
8Then I told the people
of Israel,
“Put on sackcloth!#4.8 sackcloth: A rough, dark-colored cloth made from goat or camel hair and used to make grain sacks. It was worn in times of trouble or sorrow.
Mourn and cry out,
‘The Lord is still angry
with us.’ ”
9The Lord said,
“When all this happens,
the king and his officials,
the prophets and the priests
will be shocked and terrified.”
10I said, “You are the Lord God. So why have you fooled everyone, especially the people of Jerusalem? Why did you promise peace, when a knife is at our throats?”
The Coming Disaster
11-12When disaster comes, the Lord will tell you people of Jerusalem,
“I am sending a windstorm
from the desert—
not a welcome breeze.#4.11,12 a welcome breeze: Hebrew “a wind to blow away the husks.” Farmers used a special shovel to pitch grain and husks into the air. Wind would blow away the light husks, and the grain would fall back to the ground, where it could be gathered up.
And it will sweep you away
as punishment for your sins.
13Look! The enemy army
swoops down like an eagle;
their cavalry and chariots
race faster than storm clouds
blown by the wind.”
Then you will answer,
“We are doomed!”
14But Jerusalem, there is still time
for you to be saved.
Wash the evil from your hearts
and stop making sinful plans,
15before a message of disaster
arrives from the hills of Ephraim
and the town of Dan.#4.15 Ephraim … Dan: The hills of Ephraim were to the north of Jerusalem, and Dan was even farther north. They would be reached by the invading army first.
16-17The Lord said,
“Tell the nations that my people
have rebelled against me.
And so an army will come
from far away
to surround Jerusalem
and the towns of Judah.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
18“People of Judah,
your hearts will be in pain,
but it's your own fault
that you will be punished.”
Jeremiah's Vision of the Coming Punishment
19I can't stand the pain!
My heart pounds,
as I twist and turn in agony.
I hear the signal trumpet
and the battle cry of the enemy,
and I cannot be silent.
20I see the enemy defeating us
time after time,
leaving everything in ruins.
Even my own home
is destroyed in a moment.
21How long will I see enemy flags
and hear their trumpets?
22I heard the Lord say,
“My people ignore me.
They are foolish children
who do not understand
that they will be punished.
All they know is how to sin.”
23After this, I looked around.
The earth was barren,
with no form of life.
The sun, moon, and stars
had disappeared.
24The mountains were shaking;
25no people could be seen,
and all the birds
had flown away.
26Farmland had become a desert,
and towns were in ruins.
The Lord's fierce anger
had done all of this.
The Death of Jerusalem
27-28The Lord said:
I have made my decision,
and I won't change my mind.
This land will be destroyed,
although not completely.
The sky will turn dark,
and the earth will mourn.
29Enemy cavalry and archers
shout their battle cry.
People run for their lives
and try to find safety
among trees and rocks.
Every town is empty.
30Jerusalem, your land
has been wiped out.
But you act like a prostitute
and try to win back your lovers,
who now hate you.
You can put on a red dress,
gold jewelry, and eye shadow,
but it's no use—
your lovers are out to kill you!
31I heard groaning and crying.
Was it a woman giving birth
to her first child?
No, it was Jerusalem,
gasping for breath
and begging for help.
“I'm dying!” she said.
“They have murdered me.”
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Jeremiah 4: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 4
4
Judah Threatened With Invasion
1#Joel 2:12; Jer 3:22 If you will return, O Israel,
says the Lord,
return to Me.
And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight,
then you shall not be moved.
2#Isa 65:16; Jer 9:24; Ge 22:18 You shall swear, “As the Lord lives,”
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness;
then the nations shall bless themselves in Him,
and in Him they shall glory.
3#Hos 10:12; Mt 13:7For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
Break up your fallow ground,
and do not sow among thorns.
4#Dt 10:16; Jer 9:26 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
and take away the foreskins of your heart,
you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
lest My fury come forth like fire,
and burn so that no one can quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds.
5#Jer 8:14; Jos 10:20 Declare in Judah and publish in Jerusalem, and say:
Blow the trumpet in the land.
Cry aloud and say,
“Assemble yourselves,
and let us go into the fortified cities.”
6#Jer 1:13–15; 50:2 Set up the standard toward Zion.
Seek refuge, do not delay.
For I will bring disaster from the north,
and a great destruction.
7#Jer 2:15; Isa 1:7 The lion has come up from his thicket,
and the destroyer of the nations is on his way.
He has gone forth from his place
to make your land desolate.
And your cities shall be laid waste
without an inhabitant.
8#Isa 22:12; Jer 6:26 For this gird yourself with sackcloth,
lament and howl.
For the fierce anger of the Lord
is not turned back from us.
9#Isa 22:3–5; 29:9–10 It shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord,
that the heart of the king will fail and the heart of the officials;
and the priests will be astonished
and the prophets will wonder.
10#Jer 5:12Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace,’ whereas the sword reaches the throat.”
11#Eze 17:10; Hos 13:15At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to fan or to cleanse, 12#Jer 1:16even a full wind from those places, will come to Me. Now also I will pronounce judgments against them.
13#Isa 5:28; 19:1 Look! He shall come up as clouds,
and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind.
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for we are ruined!
14#Jas 4:8; Pr 1:22 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved.
How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
15#Jer 8:16 For a voice declares from Dan,
and publishes wickedness from Mount Ephraim:
16#Jer 5:15; Eze 21:22 “Report it to the nations, now!”
Indeed, proclaim against Jerusalem:
“Besiegers come from a far country,
and lift their voices against the cities of Judah.
17#Jer 5:23; 2Ki 25:1–4 As watchmen of a field, they are against her all around,
because she has been rebellious against Me,
says the Lord.
18#Jer 2:19; Ps 107:17; Isa 50:1 Your way and your deeds
have procured these things to you.
This is your wickedness.
How bitter it is!
How it touches your heart!”
Sorrow for a Doomed Nation
19#Isa 16:11; 22:4 My soul, my soul!
I am pained at my very heart.
My heart makes a noise in me.
I cannot hold my peace,
because you have heard, O my soul,
the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
20#Ps 42:7 Destruction upon destruction is proclaimed,
for the whole land is devastated.
Suddenly are my tents devastated,
and my curtains in a moment.
21How long shall I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22#Ro 16:19; 1Co 14:20 “For My people are foolish,
they have not known Me.
They are foolish children,
and they have no understanding.
They are wise to do evil,
but to do good they have no knowledge.”
23#Ge 1:2; Isa 5:30 I looked on the earth,
and it was without form and void.
And to the heavens,
and they had no light.
24#Isa 5:25; Eze 38:20 I looked on the mountains,
and they trembled,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
25I looked, and there was no man,
and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
26#Ps 107:34 I looked, and the fruitful place was a wilderness,
and all the cities were broken down
at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger.
27#Jer 5:10; 5:18For thus says the Lord:
The whole land shall be desolate.
Yet I will not make a full end.
28#Nu 23:19; Isa 50:3 For this the earth shall mourn,
and the heavens above be black,
because I have spoken it, I have purposedit,
and will not relent, nor will I turn back from it.
29#Isa 2:19–21; Jer 4:7 The whole city shall flee
for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen.
They shall go into thickets
and climb up upon the rocks.
Every city shall be forsaken,
and not a man dwell in it.
30#2Ki 9:30; La 1:2 When you are devastated, what will youdo?
Though you clothe yourself with crimson,
though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold,
though you enlarge your eyes with paint,
in vain you will make yourself fair.
Your lovers will despise you;
they will seek your life.
31#Isa 1:15; La 1:17 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor,
and the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child,
the voice of the daughter of Zion,
that bewails herself, that spreads her hands, saying,
“Ah, woe is me,
for my soul is wearied because of murderers.”
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