Jeremiah 4:19-6:15

New American Standard Bible

Grief over Judah’s Devastation

¹⁹^(A)My ^[a]soul, my ^[b]soul! I am in anguish! ^[c]Oh, my heart!
My ^(B)heart is pounding in me;
I cannot keep silent,
Because, ^[d]my soul, you have heard
The ^(C)sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.
²⁰^(D)Disaster upon disaster is proclaimed,
For the ^(E)whole land is devastated;
Suddenly my ^(F)tents are devastated,
And my curtains in an instant.
²¹How long must I see the flag
And hear the sound of the trumpet?
²²“^(G)For My people are foolish,
They do not know Me;
They are foolish children
And have no understanding.
They are skillful at ^(H)doing evil,
But they do not know how to do good.”

²³I looked at the earth, and behold, it was a ^[e]^(I)formless and desolate emptiness;
And to the heavens, and they had no light.
²⁴I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were ^(J)quaking,
And all the hills jolted back and forth.
²⁵I looked, and behold, there was no human,
And all the ^(K)birds of the sky had fled.
²⁶I looked, and behold, ^[f]the ^(L)fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were pulled down
Before the Lord, before His fierce anger.

²⁷For this is what the Lord says:
“The ^(M)whole land shall be a desolation,
Yet I will ^(N)not execute a complete destruction.
²⁸For this the ^(O)earth will mourn,
And the ^(P)heavens above will become dark,
Because I have ^(Q)spoken, I have purposed,
And I have not ^[g]changed My mind, nor will I turn from it.”
²⁹At the sound of the horseman and archer ^(R)every city flees;
They ^(S)go into the thickets and climb among the rocks;
^(T)Every city is abandoned,
And no one lives in them.
³⁰And you, desolate one, ^(U)what will you do?
Although you dress in scarlet,
Although you adorn yourself with jewelry of gold,
Although you ^(V)enlarge your eyes with makeup,
In vain you make yourself beautiful.
Your ^[h]^(W)lovers despise you;
They seek your life.
³¹For I heard a voice cry as of a woman in labor,
The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child.
The voice of the daughter of Zion ^(X)gasping for breath,
^(Y)Stretching out her ^[i]hands, saying,
“Ah, woe to me, for ^[j]I faint before murderers.”

Jerusalem’s Godlessness

5 “^(Z)Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem,
And look and take notice.
And seek in her public squares,
If you can ^(AA)find a person,
^(AB)If there is one who does justice, who seeks honesty,
Then I will forgive ^[k]her.
²And ^(AC)although they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’
Certainly they swear falsely.”
³Lord, do ^(AD)Your eyes not look for honesty?
You have ^(AE)struck them,
But they did not ^[l]weaken;
You have consumed them,
But they ^(AF)refused to accept discipline.
They have ^(AG)made their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to repent.

⁴Then I said, “They are only the poor,
They are foolish;
For they ^(AH)do not know the way of the Lord
Or the judgment of their God.
⁵I will go to the great
And speak to them,
For ^(AI)they know the way of the Lord
And the judgment of their God.”
But together they too have ^(AJ)broken the yoke
And burst the restraints.
⁶Therefore ^(AK)a lion from the forest will kill them,
A ^(AL)wolf of the deserts will destroy them,
A ^(AM)leopard is watching their cities.
Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces,
Because their ^(AN)wrongdoings are many,
Their apostasies are numerous.

⁷“Why should I forgive you?
Your sons have forsaken Me
And ^(AO)sworn by those who are ^(AP)not gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
They ^(AQ)committed adultery
And stayed at the prostitute’s house.
⁸They were well-fed lusty horses,
Each one neighing at his ^(AR)neighbor’s wife.
⁹Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord,
“And ^(AS)shall I not avenge Myself
On a nation such as this?

¹⁰“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
But do not execute a complete destruction;
Strip away her branches,
For they are not the Lord’s.
¹¹For the ^(AT)house of Israel and the house of Judah
Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares the Lord.
¹²They have ^(AU)lied about the Lord
And said, “^[m]^(AV)Not He;
Misfortune will ^(AW)not come upon us,
^(AX)Nor will we see sword or famine.
¹³The ^(AY)prophets are as wind,
And the word is not in them.
So it will be done to them!”

Judgment Proclaimed

¹⁴Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of armies says:
“Because you have spoken this word,
Behold, I am ^(AZ)making My words fire in your mouth,
And this people wood, and it will consume them.
¹⁵Behold, I am ^(BA)bringing a nation against you from far away, you house of Israel,” declares the Lord.
“It is an enduring nation,
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose ^(BB)language you do not know,
Nor can you understand what they say.
¹⁶Their ^(BC)quiver is like an ^(BD)open grave,
All of them are warriors.
¹⁷They will ^(BE)devour your harvest and your food;
They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds;
They will devour your ^(BF)vines and your fig trees;
They will demolish your ^(BG)fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.

¹⁸“Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make a complete destruction of you. ¹⁹And it shall come about ^(BH)when ^[n]they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will ^(BI)serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

²⁰“Declare this in the house of Jacob
And proclaim it in Judah, saying,
²¹‘Now hear this, you foolish and ^[o]senseless people,
Who have ^(BJ)eyes but do not see,
Who have ears but do not hear.
²²Do you not ^(BK)fear Me?’ declares the Lord.
‘Do you not tremble in My presence?
For I have ^(BL)placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,
An eternal limit, and it will not cross over it.
Though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, they will not cross over it.
²³But this people has a ^(BM)stubborn and rebellious heart;
They have turned aside and departed.
²⁴They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the Lord our God,
Who ^(BN)gives rain in its season,
Both ^(BO)the autumn rain and the spring rain,
Who keeps for us
The ^(BP)appointed weeks of the harvest.”
²⁵Your ^(BQ)wrongdoings have turned these away,
And your sins have kept good away from you.
²⁶For wicked people are found among My people,
They ^(BR)watch like fowlers ^[p]lying in wait;
They set a trap,
They catch people.
²⁷Like a cage full of birds,
So their houses are full of ^(BS)deceit;
Therefore they have become great and rich.
²⁸They are ^(BT)fat, they are sleek,
They also ^[q]excel in deeds of wickedness;
They do not plead the cause,
The cause of the ^[r]^(BU)orphan, so that they may be successful;
And they do not ^[s]defend the rights of the poor.
²⁹^(BV)Shall I not punish them for these things?’ declares the Lord,
‘Or shall I not avenge Myself
On a nation such as this?’

³⁰“An appalling and ^(BW)horrible thing
Has happened in the land:
³¹The ^(BX)prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule ^[t]on their own authority;
And My people ^(BY)love it this way!
But what will you do ^[u]when the end comes?

The Coming Destruction of Jerusalem

6 “Flee to safety, you sons of ^(BZ)Benjamin,
From the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow a trumpet in Tekoa
And raise a warning signal over ^[v]^(CA)Beth-haccerem;
For evil looks down from the ^(CB)north,
Along with a great destruction.
²The beautiful and ^(CC)delicate one, ^(CD)the daughter of Zion, I will destroy.
³^(CE)Shepherds and their flocks will come to her,
They will ^(CF)pitch their tents ^[w]around her,
They will pasture, each in his ^[x]place.
⁴‘^[y]^(CG)Prepare for war against her;
Arise, and let’s ^[z]attack at ^(CH)noon.
Woe to us, for the day declines,
For the shadows of the evening lengthen!
⁵Arise, and let’s ^[aa]attack by night
And ^(CI)destroy her ^[ab]palaces!’”
⁶For this is what the Lord of armies says:
“^(CJ)Cut down her trees
And pile up an ^(CK)assault ramp against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished,
In whose midst there is only ^(CL)oppression.
⁷^(CM)As a well ^[ac]keeps its waters fresh,
So she ^[ad]keeps fresh her wickedness.
^(CN)Violence and destruction are heard in her;
^(CO)Sickness and wounds are constantly before Me.
⁸^(CP)Be warned, Jerusalem,
Or ^[ae]^(CQ)I shall be alienated from you,
And make you a desolation,
An uninhabited land.”

⁹This is what the Lord of armies says:
“They will ^(CR)thoroughly glean the ^(CS)remnant of Israel like the vine;
Pass your hand over the branches again
Like a grape gatherer.”
¹⁰To whom shall I speak and give warning,
That they may hear?
Behold, their ^(CT)ears are ^[af]closed
And they cannot listen.
Behold, ^(CU)the word of the Lord has become for them a rebuke;
They take no delight in it.
¹¹But I am ^(CV)full of the wrath of the Lord;
I am ^(CW)weary of holding it in.
“^(CX)Pour it out on the children in the street
And on the ^[ag]gathering of young men together;
For both husband and wife shall be taken,
The old ^[ah]and the very old.
¹²Their ^(CY)houses shall be turned over to others,
Their fields and their wives together;
For I will ^(CZ)stretch out My hand
Against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord.
¹³“For ^(DA)from the least of them to the greatest of them,
Everyone is ^(DB)greedy for gain,
And from the prophet to the priest
Everyone deals falsely.
¹⁴They have ^(DC)healed the brokenness of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.
¹⁵Were they ^(DD)ashamed because of the abomination they had done?
They were not ashamed at all,
Nor did they know even how to be ashamed.
Therefore they will fall among those who fall;
At the time that I punish them,
They will collapse,” says the Lord.