Jeremiah 4
Authorized (King James) Version
4 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me:
and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight,
then shalt thou not remove.
2 And thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth,
in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness;
and the nations shall bless themselves in him,
and in him shall they glory.
3 For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,
Break up your fallow ground,
and sow not among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
and take away the foreskins of your heart,
ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem:
lest my fury come forth like fire,
and burn that none can quench it,
because of the evil of your doings.
5 Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem;
and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land:
cry, gather together, and say,
Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
6 Set up the standard toward Zion:
retire, stay not:
for I will bring evil from the north,
and a great destruction.
7 The lion is come up from his thicket,
and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way;
he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate;
and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
8 For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl:
for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us.
9 And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the Lord,
that the heart of the king shall perish,
and the heart of the princes;
and the priests shall be astonished,
and the prophets shall wonder.
10 Then said I, Ah, Lord God!
surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem,
saying, Ye shall have peace;
whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
11 At that time shall it 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, nor to cleanse,
12 even a full wind from those places shall come unto me:
now also will I give sentence against them.
13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds,
and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind:
his horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
14 O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness,
that thou mayest be saved.
How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
15 For a voice declareth from Dan,
and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.
16 Make ye mention to the nations;
behold, publish against Jerusalem,
that watchers come from a far country,
and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
17 As keepers of a field, are they against her round about;
because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the Lord.
18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee;
this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter,
because it reacheth unto thine heart.
19 My bowels, my bowels!
I am pained at my very heart;
my heart maketh a noise in me;
I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul,
the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
20 Destruction upon destruction is cried;
for the whole land is spoiled:
suddenly are my tents spoiled,
and my curtains in a moment.
21 How long shall I see the standard,
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me;
they are sottish children,
and they have none understanding:
they are wise to do evil,
but to do good they have no knowledge.
23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void;
and the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled,
and all the hills moved lightly.
25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man,
and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness,
and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord,
and by his fierce anger.
27 For thus hath the Lord said,
The whole land shall be desolate;
yet will I not make a full end.
28 For this shall the earth mourn,
and the heavens above be black:
because I have spoken it, I have purposed it,
and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
29 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 therein.
30 And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do?
Though thou clothest thyself with crimson,
though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold,
though thou rentest thy face with painting,
in vain shalt thou make thyself fair;
thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail,
and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child,
the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself,
that spreadeth her hands, saying,
Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
Jeremiah 4
New Living Translation
4 “O Israel,” says the Lord,
“if you wanted to return to me, you could.
You could throw away your detestable idols
and stray away no more.
2 Then when you swear by my name, saying,
‘As surely as the Lord lives,’
you could do so
with truth, justice, and righteousness.
Then you would be a blessing to the nations of the world,
and all people would come and praise my name.”
Coming Judgment against Judah
3 This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
“Plow up the hard ground of your hearts!
Do not waste your good seed among thorns.
4 O people of Judah and Jerusalem,
surrender your pride and power.
Change your hearts before the Lord,[a]
or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire
because of all your sins.
5 “Shout to Judah, and broadcast to Jerusalem!
Tell them to sound the alarm throughout the land:
‘Run for your lives!
Flee to the fortified cities!’
6 Raise a signal flag as a warning for Jerusalem[b]:
‘Flee now! Do not delay!’
For I am bringing terrible destruction upon you
from the north.”
7 A lion stalks from its den,
a destroyer of nations.
It has left its lair and is headed your way.
It’s going to devastate your land!
Your towns will lie in ruins,
with no one living in them anymore.
8 So put on clothes of mourning
and weep with broken hearts,
for the fierce anger of the Lord
is still upon us.
9 “In that day,” says the Lord,
“the king and the officials will tremble in fear.
The priests will be struck with horror,
and the prophets will be appalled.”
10 Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord,
the people have been deceived by what you said,
for you promised peace for Jerusalem.
But the sword is held at their throats!”
11 The time is coming when the Lord will say
to the people of Jerusalem,
“My dear people, a burning wind is blowing in from the desert,
and it’s not a gentle breeze useful for winnowing grain.
12 It is a roaring blast sent by me!
Now I will pronounce your destruction!”
13 Our enemy rushes down on us like storm clouds!
His chariots are like whirlwinds.
His horses are swifter than eagles.
How terrible it will be, for we are doomed!
14 O Jerusalem, cleanse your heart
that you may be saved.
How long will you harbor
your evil thoughts?
15 Your destruction has been announced
from Dan and the hill country of Ephraim.
16 “Warn the surrounding nations
and announce this to Jerusalem:
The enemy is coming from a distant land,
raising a battle cry against the towns of Judah.
17 They surround Jerusalem like watchmen around a field,
for my people have rebelled against me,”
says the Lord.
18 “Your own actions have brought this upon you.
This punishment is bitter, piercing you to the heart!”
Jeremiah Weeps for His People
19 My heart, my heart—I writhe in pain!
My heart pounds within me! I cannot be still.
For I have heard the blast of enemy trumpets
and the roar of their battle cries.
20 Waves of destruction roll over the land,
until it lies in complete desolation.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed;
in a moment my shelters are crushed.
21 How long must I see the battle flags
and hear the trumpets of war?
22 “My people are foolish
and do not know me,” says the Lord.
“They are stupid children
who have no understanding.
They are clever enough at doing wrong,
but they have no idea how to do right!”
Jeremiah’s Vision of Coming Disaster
23 I looked at the earth, and it was empty and formless.
I looked at the heavens, and there was no light.
24 I looked at the mountains and hills,
and they trembled and shook.
25 I looked, and all the people were gone.
All the birds of the sky had flown away.
26 I looked, and the fertile fields had become a wilderness.
The towns lay in ruins,
crushed by the Lord’s fierce anger.
27 This is what the Lord says:
“The whole land will be ruined,
but I will not destroy it completely.
28 The earth will mourn
and the heavens will be draped in black
because of my decree against my people.
I have made up my mind and will not change it.”
29 At the noise of charioteers and archers,
the people flee in terror.
They hide in the bushes
and run for the mountains.
All the towns have been abandoned—
not a person remains!
30 What are you doing,
you who have been plundered?
Why do you dress up in beautiful clothing
and put on gold jewelry?
Why do you brighten your eyes with mascara?
Your primping will do you no good!
The allies who were your lovers
despise you and seek to kill you.
31 I hear a cry, like that of a woman in labor,
the groans of a woman giving birth to her first child.
It is beautiful Jerusalem[c]
gasping for breath and crying out,
“Help! I’m being murdered!”
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
