Jeremiah 4

¹If you return, O Israel,” declares Yahweh,[#Literally “a declaration of”]

And if you remove your abominations from my presence,

²and you swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’[#Literally “life of Yahweh”]

then nations will be blessed by him,

³For thus says Yahweh

“Break up for yourselves prepared virgin soil,

⁴Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh,

men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,

and there is no one who extinguishes it,

An Invasion from the North

⁵Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say,

call with a loud voice and say,

⁶Lift up a signal toward Zion,

for I am bringing evil from the north,

⁷A lion has gone up from his thicket,

He has gone out from his place to make your land as a horror,

⁸Because of this gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament and wail,[#Hebrew “sackcloths”]

⁹And then on that day,” declares Yahweh,[#Literally “a declaration of”]

“the heart of the king and the heart of the officials will be destroyed,

¹⁰Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It will be peace for you,’ while the sword reaches up to the throat.”

¹¹At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem,

in the direction of the daughter of my people,

¹²a wind too strong for these will come for me,[#Literally “a wind strong more than”]

¹³Look, he comes up like the clouds,

his horses are swifter than eagles,

¹⁴Cleanse your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem,

How long will your thoughts of mischief

¹⁵For a voice is declaring from Dan,

¹⁶“Report to the nations, ‘Here they are!’

‘Besiegers are coming from a distant land,

¹⁷Like watchers of a field they were against her from all around,

¹⁸“You obtained this for yourself

This is your doom, for it is bitter,

¹⁹My bowels, my bowels! I writhe!

My heart is restless within me, I cannot keep silent,

²⁰Destruction on destruction is proclaimed,

Suddenly my tents are devastated,

²¹How long must I see the banner,

²²“For my people are foolish,

They are foolish children,

They are skillful at doing evil,

²³I looked at the earth, and behold, it was wasteland and emptiness,

²⁴I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,

²⁵I looked and behold, there was no person,

²⁶I looked and behold, the fruitful land was a desert,[#Or “wilderness”]

²⁷For thus says Yahweh, “All of the land will be a desolation,

²⁸Because of this the earth will mourn,

Because I have spoken, I have planned,

²⁹From the sound of a horseman and an archer every town flees,[#Literally “one who shoots arrows of a bow”]

Every town is forsaken,

³⁰And you, O devastated one, what do you do,

that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,

In vain you beautify yourself.

³¹For I heard a voice like an ill woman,

the voice of the daughter of Zion.

“Woe is me, for I am becoming tired before killers.”