Jeremiah 4; Jeremiah 5; Jeremiah 6

1 "If you return, O Israel, says the LORD, to me you should return. If you remove your abominations from my presence, and do not waver,

2 and if you swear, 'As the LORD lives,' in truth, in justice, and in uprightness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory."

3 For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your doings."

5 Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, "Blow the trumpet through the land; cry aloud and say, 'Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities!'

6 Raise a standard toward Zion, flee for safety, stay not, for I bring evil from the north, and great destruction.

7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone forth from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant.

8 For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned back from us."

9 "In that day, says the LORD, courage shall fail both king and princes; the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded."

10 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD, surely thou hast utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'It shall be well with you'; whereas the sword has reached their very life."

11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A hot wind from the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse,

12 a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who speak in judgment upon them."

13 Behold, he comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles--woe to us, for we are ruined!

14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?

15 For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims evil from Mount E'phraim.

16 Warn the nations that he is coming; announce to Jerusalem, "Besiegers come from a distant land; they shout against the cities of Judah.

17 Like keepers of a field are they against her round about, because she has rebelled against me, says the LORD.

18 Your ways and your doings have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart."

19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent; for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

20 Disaster follows hard on disaster, the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtains in a moment.

21 How long must I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

22 "For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but how to do good they know not."

23 I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.

24 I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.

25 I looked, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled.

26 I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.

27 For thus says the LORD, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

28 For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be black; for I have spoken, I have purposed; I have not relented nor will I turn back."

29 At the noise of horseman and archer every city takes to flight; they enter thickets; they climb among rocks; all the cities are forsaken, and no man dwells in them.

30 And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet, that you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.

31 For I heard a cry as of a woman in travail, anguish as of one bringing forth her first child, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands, "Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers."

1 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth; that I may pardon her.

2 Though they say, "As the LORD lives," yet they swear falsely.

3 O LORD, do not thy eyes look for truth? Thou hast smitten them, but they felt no anguish; thou hast consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.

4 Then I said, "These are only the poor, they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the LORD, the law of their God.

5 I will go to the great, and will speak to them; for they know the way of the LORD, the law of their God." But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds.

6 Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, a wolf from the desert shall destroy them. A leopard is watching against their cities, every one who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.

7 "How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of harlots.

8 They were well-fed lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife.

9 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?

10 "Go up through her vine-rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the LORD's.

11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly faithless to me, says the LORD.

12 They have spoken falsely of the LORD, and have said, 'He will do nothing; no evil will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.

13 The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!'"

14 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts: "Because they have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall devour them.

15 Behold, I am bringing upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, says the LORD. It is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.

16 Their quiver is like an open tomb, they are all mighty men.

17 They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; your fortified cities in which you trust they shall destroy with the sword."

18 "But even in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end of you.

19 And when your people say, 'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'"

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, proclaim it in Judah:

21 "Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not.

22 Do you not fear me? says the LORD; Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the bound for the sea, a perpetual barrier which it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail, though they roar, they cannot pass over it.

23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.

24 They do not say in their hearts, 'Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.'

25 Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you.

26 For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.

27 Like a basket full of birds, their houses are full of treachery; therefore they have become great and rich,

28 they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.

29 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?"

30 An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:

31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?

1 Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Teko'a, and raise a signal on Beth-hacche'rem; for evil looms out of the north, and great destruction.

2 The comely and delicately bred I will destroy, the daughter of Zion.

3 Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents around her, they shall pasture, each in his place.

4 "Prepare war against her; up, and let us attack at noon!" "Woe to us, for the day declines, for the shadows of evening lengthen!"

5 "Up, and let us attack by night, and destroy her palaces!"

6 For thus says the LORD of hosts: "Hew down her trees; cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city which must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her.

7 As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her wickedness; violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are ever before me.

8 Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I be alienated from you; lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land."

9 Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel; like a grape-gatherer pass your hand again over its branches."

10 To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn, they take no pleasure in it.

11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD; I am weary of holding it in. "Pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the gatherings of young men, also; both husband and wife shall be taken, the old folk and the very aged.

12 Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land," says the LORD.

13 "For from the least to the greatest of them, every one is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, every one deals falsely.

14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.

15 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown," says the LORD.

16 Thus says the LORD: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'

17 I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not give heed.'

18 Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.

19 Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing evil upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not given heed to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.

20 To what purpose does frankincense come to me from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.

21 Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will lay before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble; fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend shall perish.'"

22 Thus says the LORD: "Behold, a people is coming from the north country, a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.

23 They lay hold on bow and spear, they are cruel and have no mercy, the sound of them is like the roaring sea; they ride upon horses, set in array as a man for battle, against you, O daughter of Zion!"

24 We have heard the report of it, our hands fall helpless; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in travail.

25 Go not forth into the field, nor walk on the road; for the enemy has a sword, terror is on every side.

26 O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

27 "I have made you an assayer and tester among my people, that you may know and assay their ways.

28 They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron, all of them act corruptly.

29 The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed.

30 Refuse silver they are called, for the LORD has rejected them."