¹If you return, Israel, return to me, declares the LORD .

If you get rid of your disgusting idols from my presence

²and if you swear by the living God

then the nations will enjoy God’s blessings;

³This is what the LORD says to the people of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem:

Break up your hard rocky soil;

don’t plant among the thorns.

⁴Dedicate yourselves to the LORD ;[#4.4 Or circumcise]

don’t be thick-skinned,

or else my anger will spread like a wildfire.

Disaster approaches

⁵Announce in Judah,

sound the alarm throughout the land,

⁶Set up a flag to Zion;

take cover, don’t just stand there!

I’m bringing disaster from the north,

massive devastation.

⁷A lion bursts out of the thicket;

a destroyer of nations advances.

He’s gone forth from his place

to ravage your land,

to wipe out your towns,

⁸So put on funeral clothing.

Weep and wail,

⁹On that day, declares the LORD ,

the courage of the king and his princes will fail,

the priests will be stunned,

¹⁰Then I said, “LORD God, no!

You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem

even though the sword is at their throats.”

¹¹At that time, this people and Jerusalem will be told:

A blistering wind from the bare heights;

it rages in the desert toward my people,

¹²This wind is too devastating for that.

Now I, even I, will pronounce my sentence against them.

¹³Look! He approaches like the clouds;

How horrible! We’re doomed!

¹⁴Cleanse your heart of evil, Jerusalem,

that you may be saved.

How long will you entertain your destructive ideas?

¹⁵A voice declares from Dan;

someone proclaims disaster from the highlands of Ephraim.

¹⁶Warn the nations,

proclaim it to Jerusalem!

¹⁷They hem her in like those guarding a field,

because she has rebelled against me,

¹⁸Your own conduct, your own deeds have done this to you.

This is your payment and how bitter it is,

piercing into the depths of your heart.

Anguish over looming disaster

¹⁹Oh, my suffering, my suffering!

My pain is unbearable;

my heart is in turmoil;

it throbs nonstop.

I can’t be silent, because I hear the blast of the trumpet

and the roar of the battle cry!

²⁰Disaster follows disaster;

the whole land is ruined.

Suddenly, my tents are destroyed,

my shelter in a moment.

²¹How long must I see the battle flags

and hear the blast of the trumpet?

²²My people are foolish.

They don’t even know me!

They are thoughtless children

without understanding;

²³I looked at the earth,

and it was without shape or form;

²⁴I looked at the mountains

and they were quaking;

all the hills were rocking back and forth.

²⁵I looked and there was no one left;

every bird in the sky had taken flight.

²⁶I looked and the fertile land was a desert;

all its towns were in ruins

²⁷The LORD proclaims:

The whole earth will become a desolation,

²⁸Therefore, the earth will grieve

and the heavens grow dark

²⁹As the horsemen and archers approach,

the people take flight.

They hide in the bushes

and escape to the cliffs.

Every city is deserted;

no one remains.

³⁰And you, devastated one,

why dress up in scarlet,

deck yourself in gold jewelry,

and color your eyes with paint?

In vain you get all decked out;

your lovers have rejected you

and now seek your life.

³¹I hear the cry of a woman in labor,

the distress of one delivering her first child.

It is the cry of Daughter Zion,

gasping for breath,

her arms stretched out,

and moaning,

“I’m about to fall into the hands of murderers!”