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Jeremiah 4

¹If you wilt return, O Israel, saith Jehovah, if you wilt return unto me, and if you wilt put away yours abominations out of my sight; then shall you not be removed; ²and you shall swear, As YHWH liveth, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. ³For thus saith YHWH to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. ⁴Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. ⁵Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities. ⁶Set up a standard toward Zion: flee for safety, stay not; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. ⁷A 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. ⁸For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of YHWH is not turned back from us. ⁹And it shall come to pass at that day, saith Jehovah, that the heare of the king shall perish, and the heare of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder. ¹⁰Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! surely you hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the life. ¹¹At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse; ¹²a full wind from these shall come for me: now will I also utter judgments against them. ¹³Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots [shall be] as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are ruined. ¹⁴O Jerusalem, wash your heare from wickedness, that you mayest be saved. How long shall yours evil thoughts lodge within thee? ¹⁵For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth evil from the hills of Ephraim: ¹⁶make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, [that] watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. ¹⁷As keepers of a field are they against her round about, because she hath been rebellious against me, saith Jehovah. ¹⁸Thy way and your doings have procured these things unto thee; this is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reacheth unto your heart. ¹⁹My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heare is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; because you hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. ²⁰Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, [and] my curtains in a moment. ²¹How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? ²²For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are sottish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. ²³I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. ²⁴I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro. ²⁵I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. ²⁶I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of Jehovah, [and] before his fierce anger. ²⁷For thus saith Jehovah, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end. ²⁸For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it. ²⁹Every city fleeth for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they go into the thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwelleth therein. ³⁰And thou, when you are made desolate, what wilt you do? Though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though you deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though you enlargest yours eyes with paint, in vain dost thou make thyself fair; [thy] lovers despise thee, they seek your life. ³¹For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands, [saying], Woe is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers.

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