Jeremiah 4

1 “If you, Israel, will return, then return to me,” declares the LORD. “If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray,
2 and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ then the nations will invoke blessings by him and in him they will boast.”
3 This is what the LORD says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done— burn with no one to quench it.

Disaster From the North

5 “Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say: ‘Sound the trumpet throughout the land!’ Cry aloud and say: ‘Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities!’
6 Raise the signal to go to Zion! Flee for safety without delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, even terrible destruction.”
7 A lion has come out of his lair; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to lay waste your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant.
8 So put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORDhas not turned away from us.
9 “In that day,” declares the LORD, “the king and the officials will lose heart, the priests will be horrified, and the prophets will be appalled.”
10 Then I said, “Alas, Sovereign LORD! How completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ when the sword is at our throats!”
11 At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse;
12 a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.”
13 Look! He advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! We are ruined!
14 Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?
15 A voice is announcing from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.
16 “Tell this to the nations, proclaim concerning Jerusalem: ‘A besieging army is coming from a distant land, raising a war cry against the cities of Judah.
17 They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against me,’ ” declares the LORD.
18 “Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!”
19 Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry.
20 Disaster follows disaster; the whole land lies in ruins. In an instant my tents are destroyed, my shelter in a moment.
21 How long must I see the battle standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.”
23 I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone.
24 I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.
25 I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away.
26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.
27 This is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely.
28 Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back.”
29 At the sound of horsemen and archers every town takes to flight. Some go into the thickets; some climb up among the rocks. All the towns are deserted; no one lives in them.
30 What are you doing, you devastated one? Why dress yourself in scarlet and put on jewels of gold? Why highlight your eyes with makeup? You adorn yourself in vain. Your lovers despise you; they want to kill you.
31 I hear a cry as of a woman in labor, a groan as of one bearing her first child— the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands and saying, “Alas! I am fainting; my life is given over to murderers.”

Cross References 96

  • 1. S Deuteronomy 4:30; S 2 Kings 17:13; S Hosea 12:6; Jeremiah 3:1,22; Joel 2:12
  • 2. S 2 Kings 21:4; Jeremiah 16:18; Jeremiah 35:15; Ezekiel 8:5
  • 3. Deuteronomy 10:20; S Isaiah 19:18; Isaiah 65:16
  • 4. S Numbers 14:21; Jeremiah 5:2; Jeremiah 12:16; Jeremiah 44:26; Hosea 4:15
  • 5. S Genesis 12:2; Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:8
  • 6. Jeremiah 9:24
  • 7. Hosea 10:12
  • 8. Mark 4:18
  • 9. S Leviticus 26:41; Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 9:26; Romans 2:28-29
  • 10. Zephaniah 1:18; Zephaniah 2:2
  • 11. S Job 41:21
  • 12. S Exodus 32:22
  • 13. Isaiah 1:31; Amos 5:6
  • 14. Jeremiah 5:20; Jeremiah 11:2,6
  • 15. S ver 21; S Numbers 10:2,7; S Job 39:24
  • 16. S Joshua 10:20; Jeremiah 8:14
  • 17. ver 21; Psalms 74:4; S Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 31:9; Jeremiah 50:2
  • 18. Jeremiah 11:11; Jeremiah 18:11
  • 19. S Isaiah 14:31; Jeremiah 1:13-15; Jeremiah 50:3
  • 20. S 2 Kings 24:1; S Jeremiah 2:15
  • 21. Jeremiah 25:38; Hosea 5:14; Hosea 13:7; Nahum 2:12
  • 22. Jeremiah 6:26; Jeremiah 15:8; Jeremiah 22:7; Jeremiah 48:8; Jeremiah 51:1,53; Ezekiel 21:31; Ezekiel 25:7
  • 23. S Isaiah 1:7; Ezekiel 12:20
  • 24. ver 29; S Leviticus 26:31; S Isaiah 6:11; Jeremiah 25:9
  • 25. 1 Kings 21:27; S Isaiah 3:24; Isaiah 22:12; Jeremiah 6:26; Ezekiel 7:18; Joel 1:8
  • 26. Jeremiah 7:29; Jeremiah 9:20; Amos 5:1
  • 27. S Isaiah 10:4; S Jeremiah 30:24
  • 28. S 1 Samuel 17:32
  • 29. S Isaiah 29:9
  • 30. S Exodus 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:11
  • 31. Isaiah 30:10; Jeremiah 6:14; Jeremiah 8:11; Jeremiah 14:13; Jeremiah 23:17; Ezekiel 13:10; Micah 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:3
  • 32. S Genesis 41:6; S Leviticus 26:33; S Job 1:19; Ezekiel 17:10; Hosea 13:15
  • 33. S Isaiah 64:6
  • 34. Jeremiah 1:16
  • 35. S 2 Samuel 22:10; Isaiah 19:1
  • 36. Isaiah 66:15; Ezekiel 26:10; Nahum 2:4
  • 37. S 2 Kings 2:1; Isaiah 5:28
  • 38. Habakkuk 3:8
  • 39. S Deuteronomy 28:49; Habakkuk 1:8
  • 40. ver 20,27; Isaiah 6:11; Isaiah 24:3; Jeremiah 7:34; Jeremiah 9:11,19; Jeremiah 12:11; Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 44:6; Micah 2:4
  • 41. S Ruth 3:3; S Psalms 51:2; James 4:8
  • 42. Isaiah 45:22
  • 43. S Psalms 6:3
  • 44. S Genesis 30:6; Jeremiah 8:16
  • 45. Jeremiah 31:6
  • 46. S Deuteronomy 28:49
  • 47. ver 19; Ezekiel 21:22
  • 48. S Jeremiah 1:15
  • 49. S 2 Kings 25:1,4
  • 50. S 1 Samuel 12:15; Jeremiah 5:23
  • 51. Psalms 107:17; S Isaiah 1:28; Jeremiah 5:25; Isaiah 50:1
  • 52. Jeremiah 2:17
  • 53. Jeremiah 2:19
  • 54. Isaiah 16:11; Isaiah 22:4; Jeremiah 6:24; Jeremiah 9:10; Lamentations 1:20
  • 55. S Job 6:10; S Job 14:22; Jeremiah 10:19
  • 56. S Job 37:1; Jeremiah 23:9
  • 57. S Job 4:2; Jeremiah 20:9
  • 58. S ver 21; S Numbers 10:2; S Job 39:24
  • 59. S ver 16; Numbers 10:9; Jeremiah 49:2; Zephaniah 1:16
  • 60. S Deuteronomy 31:17; Psalms 42:7; Ezekiel 7:26
  • 61. S ver 13
  • 62. S Numbers 24:5; Jeremiah 10:20; Lamentations 2:4
  • 63. S ver 6; S Numbers 2:2; S Isaiah 18:3
  • 64. ver 5,19; S Joshua 6:20; Jeremiah 6:1; Hosea 5:8; Amos 3:6; Zephaniah 1:16
  • 65. Jeremiah 5:21; Jeremiah 10:8
  • 66. S Isaiah 1:3; Isaiah 27:11; Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 8:7; Hosea 5:4; Hosea 6:6
  • 67. S Psalms 14:4; S Psalms 53:2
  • 68. Jeremiah 13:23; S 1 Corinthians 14:20
  • 69. S Psalms 36:3; Romans 16:19
  • 70. S Genesis 1:2
  • 71. ver 28; S Job 9:7; Job 30:26; S Isaiah 5:30; Isaiah 59:9; Lamentations 3:2
  • 72. S Exodus 19:18; S Job 9:6; Isaiah 5:25; Ezekiel 38:20
  • 73. Jeremiah 7:20; Jeremiah 9:10; Jeremiah 12:4; Hosea 4:3; Zephaniah 1:3
  • 74. S Genesis 13:10; Jeremiah 12:4; Jeremiah 23:10
  • 75. S Isaiah 6:11
  • 76. Jeremiah 12:13; Jeremiah 25:38
  • 77. S ver 13
  • 78. S Leviticus 26:44; Jeremiah 5:10,18; Jeremiah 12:12; Jeremiah 30:11; Jeremiah 46:28; Ezekiel 20:17; Amos 9:8
  • 79. Jeremiah 12:4,11; Jeremiah 14:2; Hosea 4:3
  • 80. S ver 23; Isaiah 5:30; Isaiah 50:3
  • 81. S Numbers 23:19
  • 82. ver 8; Jeremiah 23:20; Jeremiah 30:24
  • 83. S ver 13; Jeremiah 6:23; Jeremiah 8:16
  • 84. 2 Kings 25:4
  • 85. S Exodus 33:22; S 1 Samuel 26:20
  • 86. S ver 7; S Isaiah 6:12
  • 87. Isaiah 10:3-4
  • 88. Ezekiel 16:11; Ezekiel 23:40
  • 89. S 2 Kings 9:30
  • 90. Job 19:14; Lamentations 1:2; Ezekiel 23:9,22
  • 91. S Psalms 35:4
  • 92. S Genesis 3:16; Jeremiah 6:24; Jeremiah 13:21; Jeremiah 22:23; Jeremiah 30:6; Micah 4:10
  • 93. S Psalms 9:14
  • 94. Isaiah 42:14
  • 95. Isaiah 1:15; Lamentations 1:17
  • 96. S Deuteronomy 32:25; Lamentations 2:21

Jeremiah 4 Commentaries

Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.