Jeremiah 4:1-8

New King James Version

Jeremiah Laments over Judah

4 “If you will return, O Israel,” says the Lord,
^(A)“Return to Me;
And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight,
Then you shall not be moved.
²^(B)And you shall swear, ‘The Lord lives,’
^(C)In truth, in ^[a]judgment, and in righteousness;
^(D)The nations shall bless themselves in Him,
And in Him they shall ^(E)glory.”

³For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

^(F)“Break up your ^[b]fallow ground,
And ^(G)do not sow among thorns.
⁴^(H)Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
And take away the foreskins of your hearts,
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 doings.”

An Imminent Invasion

⁵Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say:

^(I)“Blow the trumpet in the land;
Cry, ‘Gather together,’
And say, ^(J)‘Assemble yourselves,
And let us go into the fortified cities.’
⁶Set up the ^[c]standard toward Zion.
Take refuge! Do not delay!
For I will bring disaster from the ^(K)north,
And great destruction.”

⁷^(L)The lion has come up from his thicket,
And ^(M)the destroyer of nations is on his way.
He has gone forth from his place
^(N)To make your land desolate.
Your cities will be laid waste,
Without inhabitant.
⁸For this, ^(O)clothe yourself with sackcloth,
Lament and wail.
For the fierce anger of the Lord
Has not turned back from us.