Jeremiah 4
4
A Call to Repentance
1The LORD says, “People of Israel, if you want to turn, then turn back to me. If you are faithful to me and remove the idols I hate, 2it will be right for you to swear by my name. Then#4.2 it will be right… name. Then; or and if you swear by my name and are truthful, just, and righteous, then. all the nations will ask me to bless them, and they will praise me.”
3 #
Hos 10.12
The LORD says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, “Plough up your unploughed fields; do not sow your seeds among thorns. 4Keep your covenant with me, your LORD, and dedicate yourselves to me, you people of Judah and Jerusalem. If you don't, my anger will burn like fire because of the evil things you have done. It will burn, and there will be no one to put it out.”
Judah is Threatened with Invasion
5Blow the trumpet throughout the land!
Shout loud and clear!
Tell the people of Judah and Jerusalem
to run to the fortified cities.
6Point the way to Zion!
Run for safety! Don't delay!
The LORD is bringing disaster
and great destruction from the north.
7Like a lion coming from its hiding place,
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He is coming to destroy Judah.
The cities of Judah will be left in ruins,
and no one will live in them.
8So put on sackcloth, and weep and wail
because the fierce anger of the LORD
has not turned away from Judah.
9The LORD said, “On that day kings and officials will lose their courage; priests will be shocked and prophets will be astonished.”
10Then I said, “Sovereign LORD, you have completely deceived the people of Jerusalem! You have said there would be peace, but a sword is at their throats.”
11The time is coming when the people of Jerusalem will be told that a scorching wind is blowing in from the desert towards them. It will not be a gentle wind that only blows away the chaff — 12the wind that comes at the LORD's command will be much stronger than that! It is the LORD himself who is pronouncing judgement on his people.
Judah is Surrounded by Enemies
13Look, the enemy is coming like clouds. Their war chariots are like a whirlwind, and their horses are faster than eagles. We are lost! We are doomed!
14Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart, so that you may be saved. How long will you go on thinking sinful thoughts?
15Messengers from the city of Dan and from the hills of Ephraim announce the bad news. 16They have come to warn the nations and to tell Jerusalem that enemies are coming from a country far away. These enemies will shout against the cities of Judah 17and will surround Jerusalem like men guarding a field, because her people have rebelled against the LORD. The LORD has spoken.
18Judah, you have brought this on yourself by the way you have lived and by the things you have done. Your sin has caused this suffering; it has stabbed you through the heart.
Jeremiah's Sorrow for his People
19The pain! I can't bear the pain!
My heart! My heart is beating wildly!
I can't keep quiet;
I hear the trumpets
and the shouts of battle.
20One disaster follows another;
the whole country is left in ruins.
Suddenly our tents are destroyed;
their curtains are torn to pieces.
21How long must I see the battle raging
and hear the blasts of trumpets?
22The LORD says, “My people are stupid;
they don't know me.
They are like foolish children;
they have no understanding.
They are experts at doing what is evil,
but failures at doing what is good.”
Jeremiah's Vision of the Coming Destruction
23I looked at the earth — it was a barren waste;
at the sky — there was no light.
24I looked at the mountains — they were shaking,
and the hills were rocking to and fro.
25I saw that there were no people;
even the birds had flown away.
26The fertile land had become a desert;
its cities were in ruins
because of the LORD's fierce anger.
27(The LORD has said that the whole earth will become a wilderness, but that he will not completely destroy it.)
28The earth will mourn;
the sky will grow dark.
The LORD has spoken
and will not change his mind.
He has made his decision
and will not turn back.
29At the noise of the horsemen and bowmen
everyone will run away.
Some will run to the forest,
others will climb up among the rocks.
Every town will be left empty,
and no one will live in them again.
30Jerusalem, you are doomed!
Why do you dress in scarlet?
Why do you put on jewellery and paint your eyes?
You are making yourself beautiful for nothing!
Your lovers have rejected you
and want to kill you.
31I heard a cry, like a woman in labour,
a scream like a woman bearing her first child.
It was the cry of Jerusalem gasping for breath,
stretching out her hand and saying,
“I am doomed!
They are coming to kill me!”
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Jeremiah 4: GNBDK
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 4
4
1“If you do return, O Yisra’ĕl,” declares יהוה, “return to Me. And if you remove your abominations from My presence, and cease straying,
2and shall swear, ‘As יהוה lives,’ in truth, in right-ruling, and in righteousness – then nations shall bless themselves in Him, and they shall boast in Him!”
3For this is what יהוה said to the men of Yehuḏah and Yerushalayim, “Break up your tillable ground, and do not sow among thorns.
4“Circumcise yourselves unto יהוה, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Yehuḏah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim, lest My wrath come forth like fire and burn, with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
5Declare in Yehuḏah and let it be heard in Yerushalayim, and say, “Blow a shophar in the land. Cry aloud and say, ‘Gather yourselves, and let us go into the walled city.’
6“Lift up the banner toward Tsiyon. Be strong, do not stand still! For I am bringing evil from the north, and great destruction.”
7“A lion has come up from his bush, and the destroyer of nations is on his way. He has set out from his place to make your land a ruin. Your cities are laid waste, without inhabitant.
8“For this, gird yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail. For the burning displeasure of יהוה has not turned back from us.
9“And in that day it shall be,” declares יהוה, “that the heart of the sovereign shall perish, and the heart of the heads. And the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets wonder.”
10Then I said, “Ah, Master יהוה! Truly, You have greatly deceived this people and Yerushalayim, saying, ‘Peace is for you,’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.”
11At that time it shall be said to this people and to Yerushalayim, “A scorching wind of the bare heights blows in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to fan or to cleanse.
12“A wind too strong for this shall come for Me. Now it is I who speak judgments against them.
13“See, he comes up like clouds, and his chariots like a whirlwind. His horses shall be swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we shall be ravaged!”
14O Yerushalayim, wash your heart from evil, and be saved. Till when would your wicked thoughts remain within you?
15For a voice is declaring from Dan, and is proclaiming trouble from Mount Ephrayim:
16“Announce to the nations, look, proclaim against Yerushalayim, that besiegers are coming from a distant land and raise their voice against the cities of Yehuḏah.
17“Like keepers of a field they are against her all around, because she has rebelled against Me,” declares יהוה.
18“Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your evil, because it is bitter, because it has reached into your heart.”
19O my inward parts, my inward parts! I am in pain! O the walls of my heart! My heart pounds in me, I am not silent. For you have heard, O my being, a voice of a shophar, a shout of battle!
20Destruction upon destruction is cried, for all the land is ravaged. Suddenly my tents are ravaged – my curtains in a moment.
21How long shall I see a banner, and hear a voice of a shophar?
22“For My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are stupid children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”
23I looked at the earth, and saw it was formless and empty. And the heavens, they had no light.
24I looked at the mountains, and saw they shook, and all the hills were swaying.
25I looked, and saw there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
26I looked, and saw the garden land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of יהוה, by His burning displeasure.
27For thus said יהוה, “All the earth shall be a ruin, but I shall not make a complete end.
28“On account of this, let the earth mourn and the heavens above be dark, because I have spoken, because I have purposed and shall not relent, nor do I turn back from it.”
29All the city is fleeing from the noise of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into bushes and climb up on the rocks. All the city is forsaken, and no one is dwelling in it.
30And when you are ravaged, what would you do? Though you put on crimson, 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 voice as of a woman in labour, the distress as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Tsiyon! She bewails herself, she spreads out her hands, saying, “Woe to me, for my being faints because of killers!”
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