Beginning
4 1 True repentance. 4 He exhorteth to the circumcision of the heart. 5 The destruction of Judah is prophesied for the malice of their hearts. 19 The Prophet lamenteth it.
1 O Israel, if thou return, [a]return unto me, saith the Lord: and if thou put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.
2 And thou shalt [b]swear, The Lord liveth in truth, in judgment and in righteousness, and the nations shall be blessed in him, and shall glory in him.
3 For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah, and to Jerusalem,
4 Break up [c]your fallow ground, and sow not among the thorns: be circumcised to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, ye men of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath come forth like fire, and burn, that none can quench it, because of the wickedness of your inventions.
5 [d]Declare in Judah, and show forth in Jerusalem, and say, Blow the trumpet in the land: cry, and gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into strong cities.
6 Set up the standard in Zion: [e]prepare to flee, and stay not: for I will bring a plague from the North, and a great destruction.
7 The [f]lion is come up from his den, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is departed, and gone forth of his place to lay thy land waste, and thy cities shall be destroyed without an inhabitant.
8 Wherefore gird you with sackcloth: lament, and howl, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is not turned back from us.
9 And in that day, saith the Lord, the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes and the Priests shall be astonished, and the [g]Prophets shall wonder.
10 Then said I, Ah, Lord God, surely thou hast [h]deceived this people, and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace, and the sword pierceth unto the heart.
11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry [i]wind in the high places of the wilderness cometh toward the daughter of my people, but neither [j]to fan nor to cleanse.
12 A mighty wind shall come unto me from those places, and now will I also give sentence upon them.
13 Behold, he shall come up as the [k]clouds, and his chariots shall be as a tempest: his horses are lighter than eagles. [l]Woe unto us, for we are destroyed.
14 O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved: how long shall thy wicked thoughts remain within thee?
15 For a voice declareth from [m]Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount [n]Ephraim.
16 Make ye mention of the heathen, and publish in Jerusalem, Behold, the scouts come from a far country, and cry out against the cities of Judah.
17 They have compassed her about as the watchmen of the [o]field, because it hath provoked me unto wrath, saith the Lord.
18 Thy ways and thine inventions have procured thee these things, such is thy wickedness: therefore it shall be bitter, therefore it shall pierce unto thine heart.
19 My belly, my [p]belly, I am pained, even at the very heart: mine heart is troubled within me: I cannot be still: for my soul hath heard the sound of the trumpet, and the alarm of the battle.
20 Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is wasted: suddenly are my [q]tents destroyed, 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 foolish children, and have none understanding: [r]they are wise to do evil, but to do well they have no knowledge.
23 I have looked upon the earth, and lo, it was without form and [s]void: and to the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains: and lo, they trembled, and all the hills shook.
25 I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heaven were departed.
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 wrath.
27 For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate: yet will I [t]not make a full end.
28 Therefore shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above shall be darkened, because I have pronounced it: I have thought 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 shalt be destroyed, what wilt thou do? Though thou [u]clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou paintest thy face with colors, yet shalt thou trim thyself in vain: for thy lovers will abhor thee and seek thy life.
31 For I have heard a noise as of a woman travailing, or as one laboring of her first child, even the voice of the daughter Zion that sigheth and stretcheth out her hands: [v]woe is me now: for my soul fainteth because of the murderers.
5 1 In Judah no righteous man is found, neither among the people nor the rulers. 15 Wherefore Judah is destroyed of the Chaldeans.
1 Run to and fro by the streets of Jerusalem, and behold now, and know, and inquire in the open places thereof, if ye can find a man, or if there be any that executeth judgment, and seeketh the truth, and I will spare [w]it.
2 For though they say, The [x]Lord liveth, yet do they swear falsely.
3 O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the [y]truth? thou hast [z]stricken them, but they have not sorrowed: thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a stone, and have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, Surely they are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God.
5 I will get me unto the [aa]great men, and will speak unto them: for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 Wherefore a [ab]lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the wilderness shall destroy them: a leopard shall watch over their cities: everyone that goeth out thence, shall be torn in pieces, because their trespasses are many, and their rebellions are increased.
7 How should I spare thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and [ac]sworn by them that are no gods: though I fed them to the full, yet they committed adultery, and assembled themselves by companies in the harlot’s houses.
8 They rose up in the morning like fed horses: for every man (A)neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 [ad]Climb up upon their walls, and destroy them, but make not a full end: [ae]take away their battlements, for they are not the Lord’s.
11 For the house of Israel, and the house of Judah have grievously trespassed against me, saith the Lord.
12 They have [af]denied the Lord, and said, It is not he, neither shall the plague come upon us, neither shall we see sword nor famine.
13 And the Prophets shall be as [ag]wind, and the word is [ah]not in them: thus shall it come unto them.
14 Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak such words, behold, I will put my words into [ai]thy mouth, like a fire, and this people shall be as wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you [aj]from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, which is a mighty nation, and an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
16 Whose quiver is as an [ak]open sepulcher: they are all very strong.
17 And they shall eat thine harvest and thy bread: they shall devour thy sons and thy daughters: they shall eat up thy sheep and thy bullocks: they shall eat thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall destroy with the sword thy fenced cities, wherein thou didst trust.
18 Nevertheless, at those days, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end of [al]you.
19 And when (B)ye shall say, Wherefore doth the Lord our God do these things unto us? then shalt [am]thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and [an]without understanding, which have (C)eyes and see not, which have ears and hear not.
22 Fear ye not me, saith the Lord? or will ye not be afraid at my presence, which have placed the sand for the (D)bounds of the sea by the perpetual decree that it cannot pass it, and though the waves thereof rage, yet can they not prevail, though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
23 But this people hath an unfaithful and rebellious heart: they are departed and gone.
24 For they say not in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain both early and late in due season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 Yet your [ao]iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have hindered good things from you.
26 For among my people are found wicked persons, that lay wait as he that setteth snares: they have made a pit, to catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: thereby they are become great and waxen rich.
28 They are waxen fat and shining: they do overpass the deeds of the wicked: (E)they execute no judgment, no not the judgment of the fatherless: yet they [ap]prosper, though they execute no judgment for the poor.
29 Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 An horrible and filthy thing is committed in the land.
31 The [aq]prophets prophesy lies, and the priests [ar]receive gifts in their hands, and my people delight therein. What will ye then do in the end thereof?
6 1 The coming of the Assyrians and Chaldeans. 16 He exhorteth the Jews to repentance.
1 O ye children of [as]Benjamin, prepare to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in [at]Tekoa: set up a standard upon [au]Beth-Haccerem: for a plague appeareth out of the North and great destruction.
2 I have compared the daughter of Zion to [av]a beautiful and dainty woman.
3 The Pastors with their flocks [aw]shall come unto her: they shall pitch their tents round about by her, and everyone shall feed in his place.
4 [ax]Prepare war against her: arise, and let us go up toward the South: woe unto us: for the day declineth, and the shadows of the evening are stretched out.
5 Arise, and let us go up by night, and destroy her palaces.
6 For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, Hew down wood, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this city must be visited; all oppression is in the midst of it.
7 As the fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her malice; [ay]cruelty and spoil is continually heard in her before me, with sorrow and strokes.
8 Be thou instructed, O [az]Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate as a land that none inhabiteth.
9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall gather as a vine, the residue of Israel: turn [ba]back thine hand as the grape gatherer into the baskets.
10 Unto whom shall I speak, and admonish that they may hear? behold, their ears are [bb]uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them as a reproach: they have no delight in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord: I am weary with holding it: [bc]I will pour it out upon the [bd]children in the street, and likewise upon the assembly of the young men: for the husband shall even be taken with the wife, and the aged with him that is full of days.
12 And their houses with their lands, and wives also shall be turned unto strangers: for I will stretch out mine hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord.
13 For from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, everyone is given unto covetousness, and from the Prophet even unto the Priest, they all deal falsely.
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people with sweet words, saying, [be]Peace, peace, when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not ashamed, no neither could they have any shame: therefore they shall fall among the [bf]slain: when I shall visit them, they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.
16 Thus saith the Lord, Stand in the ways and behold, and ask for the [bg]old way, which is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls: but they said, We will not walk therein.
17 Also I set [bh]watchmen over you, which said, Take heed to the sound of the trumpet: but they said, We will not take heed.
18 Hear therefore, ye [bi]Gentiles, and thou Congregation know, what is among them.
19 Hear, O earth, behold, I will cause a plague to come upon this people, even the fruit of their own imaginations: because they have not taken heed unto my words, nor to my Law, but cast it off.
20 To what purpose bringest thou me [bj]incense from Sheba, and sweet calamus from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not pleasant, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.
21 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them: the neighbor and his friend shall perish.
22 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people cometh from the [bk]North country, and a great nation shall arise from the sides of the earth.
23 With bow and shield shall they be weaponed: they are cruel and will have no compassion: their voice roareth like the sea, and they ride upon horses well appointed, like men of war against thee, O daughter Zion.
24 We have heard their fame, and our hands wax [bl]feeble: sorrow is come upon us, as the sorrow of a woman in travail.
25 Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way: for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.
26 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in the ashes: make lamentation, and bitter mourning as for thine only son: for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
27 I have set [bm]thee for a defense and fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their ways.
28 They are all rebellious traitors, walking craftily; they are brass and iron, they all are destroyers,
29 The [bn]bellows are burnt; the lead is consumed in the fire; the founder melteth in vain; for the wicked are not taken away.
30 They shall call them reprobate silver, because the Lord hath rejected them.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.