1
"If you will return, O Israel," declares the LORD, "Then you should return to Me. And if you will putaway your detestedthings from My presence, And will not waver,
2
And you will swear, 'As the LORDlives,' In truth, in justice and in righteousness; Then the nations will bless themselves in Him, And in Him they will glory."
4
"Circumcise yourselves to the LORD And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Orelse My wrath will goforth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because* of the evil of your deeds."
5
Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, "Blow the trumpet in the land; Cryaloud and say, 'Assemble yourselves, and let us go Into the fortifiedcities.'
7
"A lion has gone up from his thicket, And a destroyer of nations has set out; He has gone out from his place To make your land a waste. Your cities will be ruinsWithoutinhabitant.
9
"It shall come about in that day," declares the LORD, "that the heart of the king and the heart of the princes will fail; and the priests will be appalled and the prophets will be astounded."
10
Then I said, "Ah, LordGOD! Surely You have utterlydeceivedthispeople and Jerusalem, saying, 'You will havepeace '; whereas a swordtouches the throat."
11
In that time it will be said to thispeople and to Jerusalem, "A scorchingwind from the bareheights in the wilderness in the direction of the daughter of My people -not to winnow and not to cleanse,