Jeremiah 4
4
Blessing or Curse
1If you return, # Or Repent Israel —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
you will return to Me, # Zch 1:3
if you remove your detestable 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 in justice, and in righteousness, # Hs 2:19
then the nations will be blessed # Or will bless themselves by Him # Gn 26:3-4
and will pride themselves 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 great destruction. # 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 # 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 # 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. # 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 within you? # 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 of life 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! # Lit My inner parts, my inner parts I writhe in agony!
Oh, the pain in # 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 no man was left; # Gn 2:5
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 enlarge your eyes with paint? # 2Kg 9:30
You beautify yourself for nothing.
Your lovers reject you; # Jr 30:14; Lm 1:19
they want 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: HCSB
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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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