Jeremiah 4:11-28
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights[a] in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse,(A) 12 a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them.(B)
13 Look! He comes up like clouds,
his chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are swifter than eagles—
woe to us, for we are ruined!(C)
14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart clean of wickedness
so that you may be saved.
How long shall your evil schemes
lodge within you?(D)
15 For a voice declares from Dan
and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim.
16 Tell the nations, “Here they are!”
Proclaim against Jerusalem,
“Besiegers come from a distant land;
they shout against the cities of Judah.(E)
17 They have closed in around her like watchers of a field
because she has rebelled against me,
says the Lord.(F)
18 Your ways and your doings
have brought this upon you.
This is your doom; how bitter it is!
It has reached your very heart.”(G)
Sorrow for a Doomed Nation
19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
I cannot keep silent,
for I[b] hear the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.(H)
20 Disaster overtakes disaster;
the whole land is laid waste.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
my curtains in a moment.(I)
21 How long must I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For my people are foolish;
they do not know me;
they are stupid children;
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil
but do not know how to do good.”(J)
23 I looked on the earth, and it was complete chaos,
and to the heavens, and they had no light.(K)
24 I looked on the mountains, and they were quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.(L)
25 I looked, and there was no one at all,
and all the birds of the air had fled.(M)
26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the Lord, before his fierce anger.(N)
27 For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end.(O)
28 Because of this the earth shall mourn
and the heavens above grow black,
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
I have not relented, nor will I turn back.(P)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.