Jeremiah 4

1If you return, Israel, declares Yahweh, return to me; and if you remove your detestable things from before me, then you will not wander.

2and you will swear, “As Yahweh lives,” in truth, justice, and righteousness; nations will bless themselves in him, and in him they will glory.

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

4Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh and remove the foreskins of your heart, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath break out like fire and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

5Proclaim in Judah and Jerusalem; make it heard, and say, “Sound the trumpet throughout the land; call loudly and say, ‘Assemble yourselves, and let us enter the fortified cities!’”

6Raise a banner toward Zion! Take refuge—do not linger—for I am bringing calamity from the north, along with great devastation.

7A lion has risen from his thicket, a ravager of nations; he sets forth and goes out from his place to make your land a desolation, your cities laid waste without inhabitant.

8For this, gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament and howl; for the burning anger of Yahweh has not turned back from us.

9On that day, declares Yahweh, the king's heart will fail, and the princes' hearts too; the priests will be appalled, and the prophets astounded.

10And I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'Peace will be yours,' while the sword reaches to the soul."

11At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: a scorching wind from the barren heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not for winnowing nor for purifying.

12A wind at full strength from these will come to me; now even I will declare judgments against them.

13See, he advances like clouds, his chariots like a storm wind; his horses outpace eagles. Woe to us, for we lie destroyed.

14Jerusalem, wash the wickedness from your heart so you may be rescued. How long will your evil thoughts remain within you?

15For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims calamity from Mount Ephraim.

16Mention to the nations; behold, make it heard against Jerusalem: watchers coming from a distant land, and they raise their voice against the cities of Judah.

17Like field guards, they surround her on every side, because she has rebelled against me, declares Yahweh.

18Your way and your doings have brought these things upon you; this is your evil, because it is bitter, because it reaches your heart.

19My innards, my innards! I writhe; I am in pain at the walls of my heart. My heart roars within me; my heart—I cannot be silent, because I have heard the sound of the trumpet, you have heard, my soul, the shout of war.

20Disaster upon disaster is announced, for all the land is devastated; suddenly my tents are devastated, my curtains in a moment.

21How long will I see the banner and hear the trumpet's sound?

22For my people are fools, they do not know me; they are foolish children and lack all discernment; shrewd they are for doing evil, but doing good they do not know.

23I saw the earth, and there it was, formless and void; and the heavens had no light.

24I saw the mountains, and look, they quaked, and all the hills tottered.

25I saw, and behold, no man remained, and all the birds of the heavens had departed.

26I saw, and behold, Carmel was a wilderness, and all its cities were demolished before Yahweh, before the fury of his anger.

27For thus says Yahweh: All the land will become a desolation, yet I will not make a complete end.

28For this the earth will grieve and the heavens overhead will darken, because I have declared it, resolved it, and will neither relent nor turn back from it.

29Every city flees from the sound of the horseman and the bowman; they enter thickets and climb rocks, every city forsaken with no dweller in them, no man.

30And you, when devastated, what will you do? Though you dress in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with golden ornaments, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you beautify yourself; your lovers despise you, they seek your life.

31For I have heard a voice like a woman in labor, distress like one bearing her firstborn—the voice of Zion's daughter as she pants and spreads her palms: "Alas for me now! My soul is weary before killers."