Jeremiah 4:1-9

1 If you will return, Yisra'el, says the LORD, if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you shall not be removed;

2 and you shall swear, As the LORD lives, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.

3 For thus says the LORD to the men of Yehudah and to Yerushalayim, Break up your fallow ground, and don't sow among thorns.

4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Yehudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

5 Declare you in Yehudah, and publish in Yerushalayim; and say, Blow you the shofar in the land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.

6 Set up a standard toward Tziyon: flee for safety, don't stay; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.

7 A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.

8 For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of the LORD hasn't turned back from us.

9 It shall happen at that day, says the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the Kohanim shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

Jeremiah 4:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 4

This chapter begins with several exhortations to repentance; first to Israel, or the ten tribes, to return to the Lord with their whole hearts, and put away their abominations, and serve him in sincerity and uprightness of soul; with promises of rest and safety to themselves; and that it would have a happy influence on the Gentiles, and issue in their conversion; who would hereupon bless themselves in the Lord, and glory in him, Jer 4:1,2, and next to the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, to show a concern for renewing and sanctifying grace, signified by various metaphors, lest they should be consumed with the fire of divine wrath, Jer 4:3,4 and then the destruction of that land and city is foretold and described, partly by what was introductory to it, and the proclamation of it, signified by blowing the trumpet, and setting up the standard, Jer 4:5,6,15,19,20, by an account of the destroyers, their cruelty, swiftness, and diligence, Jer 4:7,13,16,17, and of the destruction itself, compared to a violent wind, Jer 4:11,12, by the effect it should have upon the inhabitants of all sorts, high and low, Jer 4:8,9, and had upon the prophet himself, Jer 4:10,19,21, and by the cause and ground of it, the sins of the people, which they are called upon to repent of, Jer 4:14,17,18,22 and by a vision the prophet had of the dreadful desolation of the land, Jer 4:23-29 and by the vain and false hopes the people would have of their recovery, and the great anxiety and distress they would be in, Jer 4:30,31.