Jeremiah 4-6

English Standard Version

4 “If you return, O Israel,
declares the Lord,
    ^(A)to me you should return.
If you remove your detestable things from my presence,
    ^(B)and do not waver,
²^(C)and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
    in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then ^(D)nations shall bless themselves in him,
    ^(E)and in him shall they glory.”

³For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

^(F)“Break up your fallow ground,
    and ^(G)sow not among thorns.
⁴^(H)Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
    remove the foreskin of your hearts,
    O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
^(I)lest my wrath go forth like fire,
    and burn with none to quench it,
    ^(J)because of the evil of your deeds.”

Disaster from the North

⁵Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,

^(K)“Blow the trumpet through the land;
    cry aloud and say,
^(L)‘Assemble, and let us go
    into the fortified cities!’
⁶^(M)Raise a standard toward Zion,
    flee for safety, stay not,
for I bring disaster from ^(N)the north,
    ^(O)and great destruction.
⁷^(P)A lion has gone up from his thicket,
    a destroyer of nations has set out;
    he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
    your cities will be ruins
    ^(Q)without inhabitant.
⁸For this ^(R)put on sackcloth,
    lament and wail,
for ^(S)the fierce anger of the Lord
    has not turned back from us.”

⁹“In that day, declares the Lord, ^(T)courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.” ¹⁰Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, ^(U)surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ whereas the sword has reached their very life.”

¹¹At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from ^(V)the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, ¹²a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who ^(W)speak in judgment upon them.”

¹³Behold, he comes up like clouds;
    ^(X)his chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are ^(Y)swifter than eagles—
    woe to us, ^(Z)for we are ruined!
¹⁴O Jerusalem, ^(AA)wash your heart from evil,
    that you may be saved.
How long shall your wicked thoughts
    lodge within you?
¹⁵For a voice ^(AB)declares from Dan
    and proclaims trouble from ^(AC)Mount Ephraim.
¹⁶Warn the nations that he is coming;
    announce to Jerusalem,
“Besiegers come ^(AD)from a distant land;
    they shout against the cities of Judah.
¹⁷Like keepers of a field ^(AE)are they against her all around,
    because she has rebelled against me,
declares the Lord.
¹⁸Your ways and your deeds
    have brought this upon you.
This is your doom, and ^(AF)it is bitter;
    it has reached your very heart.”

Anguish over Judah's Desolation

¹⁹^(AG)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^(AH)Crash follows hard on crash;
    the whole land is laid waste.
^(AI)Suddenly my tents are laid waste,
    my curtains in a moment.
²¹How long must I see the standard
    and hear the sound of the trumpet?

²²“For ^(AJ)my people are foolish;
    they know me not;
they are stupid children;
    they have no understanding.
^(AK)They are ‘wise’—in doing evil!
    But how to do good they know not.”

²³I looked on the earth, and behold, it was ^(AL)without form and void;
    ^(AM)and to the heavens, and they had no light.
²⁴I looked on ^(AN)the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
    and all the hills moved to and fro.
²⁵^(AO)I looked, and behold, there was no man,
    and all the birds of the air had fled.
²⁶I looked, and behold, the ^(AP)fruitful land was a desert,
    and all its cities were laid in ruins
    before the Lord, before ^(AQ)his fierce anger.

²⁷For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation; ^(AR)yet I will not make a full end.

²⁸^(AS)“For this the earth shall mourn,
^(AT)and the heavens above be dark;
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
^(AU)I have not relented, nor will I turn back.”

²⁹At the noise of horseman and archer
    every city takes to flight;
they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;
    all the cities are forsaken,
    and ^(AV)no man dwells in them.
³⁰And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
    ^(AW)that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
    ^(AX)that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
    ^(AY)Your lovers despise you;
    they seek your life.
³¹For I heard ^(AZ)a cry as of a woman in labor,
    anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,
the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
    ^(BA)stretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”

Jerusalem Refused to Repent

5 ^(BB)Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
    look and take note!
Search her squares to see
    ^(BC)if you can find a man,
one who does justice
    and seeks truth,
^(BD)that I may pardon her.
²^(BE)Though they say, “As the Lord lives,”
    ^(BF)yet they swear falsely.
³O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
^(BG)You have struck them down,
    but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
    but they refused to take correction.
^(BH)They have made their faces harder than rock;
    they have refused to repent.

⁴Then I said, “These are only the poor;
    they have no sense;
^(BI)for they do not know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.
⁵I will go to the great
    and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.”
^(BJ)But they all alike had broken the yoke;
    they had burst the bonds.

⁶Therefore ^(BK)a lion from the forest shall strike them down;
    a ^(BL)wolf from the desert shall devastate them.
^(BM)A leopard is watching their cities;
    everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
    their ^(BN)apostasies are great.

⁷^(BO)“How can I pardon you?
    Your children have forsaken me
    ^(BP)and have sworn by those who are no gods.
^(BQ)When I fed them to the full,
    ^(BR)they committed adultery
    ^(BS)and trooped to the houses of whores.
⁸They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
    ^(BT)each neighing ^(BU)for his neighbor's wife.
⁹^(BV)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord;
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?

¹⁰^(BW)“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
    ^(BX)but make not a full end;
strip away her branches,
    for they are not the Lord's.
¹¹^(BY)For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
    have been utterly treacherous to me,
declares the Lord.
¹²They have spoken falsely of the Lord
    and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
^(BZ)no disaster will come upon us,
    ^(CA)nor shall we see sword or famine.
¹³The prophets will become wind;
    the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!’”

The Lord Proclaims Judgment

¹⁴Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:
“Because you have spoken this word,
behold, ^(CB)I am making my words in your mouth ^(CC)a fire,
    and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
¹⁵^(CD)Behold, I am bringing against you
    a nation from afar, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.
It is an enduring nation;
    it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
    ^(CE)nor can you understand what they say.
¹⁶^(CF)Their quiver is like ^(CG)an open tomb;
    they are all mighty warriors.
¹⁷^(CH)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 ^(CI)fortified cities in which you trust
    they shall beat down with the sword.”

¹⁸“But even in those days, declares the Lord, ^(CJ)I will not make a full end of you. ¹⁹And when your people say, ^(CK)‘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, ^(CL)so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”

²⁰Declare this in the house of Jacob;
    proclaim it in Judah:
²¹“Hear this, ^(CM)O foolish and senseless people,
    ^(CN)who have eyes, but see not,
    who have ears, but hear not.
²²^(CO)Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.
    Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand ^(CP)as the boundary for the sea,
    a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
    though ^(CQ)they roar, they cannot pass over it.
²³^(CR)But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
    they have turned aside and gone away.
²⁴They do not say in their hearts,
    ‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
^(CS)who gives the rain in its season,
    the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
    ^(CT)the weeks appointed for the harvest.’
²⁵^(CU)Your iniquities have turned these away,
    and your sins have kept good from you.
²⁶For wicked men are found among my people;
    ^(CV)they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.^[a]
^(CW)They set a trap;
    they catch men.
²⁷Like a cage full of birds,
    their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
²⁸    ^(CX)they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
    ^(CY)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^(CZ)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord,
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?”

³⁰An appalling and ^(DA)horrible thing
    has happened in the land:
³¹^(DB)the prophets prophesy falsely,
    and the priests rule at their direction;
^(DC)my people love to have it so,
    but what will you do when the end comes?

Impending Disaster for Jerusalem

6 Flee for safety, ^(DD)O people of Benjamin,
    from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in ^(DE)Tekoa,
    and raise a signal on ^(DF)Beth-haccherem,
for disaster looms ^(DG)out of the north,
    and great destruction.
²The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,
    ^(DH)the daughter of Zion.^[b]
³^(DI)Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
    ^(DJ)they shall pitch their tents around her;
    they shall pasture, each in his place.
⁴^(DK)“Prepare war against her;
    arise, and let us attack ^(DL)at noon!
Woe to us, for the day declines,
    for the shadows of evening lengthen!
⁵Arise, and let us attack by night
    and destroy her palaces!”

⁶For thus says the Lord of hosts:
^(DM)“Cut down her trees;
    ^(DN)cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be ^(DO)punished;
    there is nothing but oppression within her.
⁷^(DP)As a well keeps its water fresh,
    so she keeps fresh her evil;
^(DQ)violence and destruction are heard within her;
    sickness and wounds are ever before me.
⁸Be warned, O Jerusalem,
    ^(DR)lest I turn from you in disgust,
lest I make you ^(DS)a desolation,
    an uninhabited land.”

⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts:
^(DT)“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
    the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
    over its branches.”
¹⁰^(DU)To whom shall I speak and give warning,
    that they may hear?
^(DV)Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
    ^(DW)they cannot listen;
behold, ^(DX)the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
    they take no pleasure in it.
¹¹Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
    ^(DY)I am weary of holding it in.
^(DZ)“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
    and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
^(EA)both husband and wife ^(EB)shall be taken,
    the elderly and the very aged.
¹²^(EC)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,”
declares the Lord.
¹³^(ED)“For from the least to the greatest of them,
    everyone ^(EE)is greedy for unjust gain;
and from ^(EF)prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.
¹⁴They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ^(EG)‘Peace, peace,’
    ^(EH)when there is no peace.
¹⁵^(EI)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;
    ^(EJ)at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the Lord.

¹⁶Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
    and ask for ^(EK)the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
    ^(EL)and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
¹⁷^(EM)I set watchmen over you, saying,
    ‘Pay attention to ^(EN)the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ^(EO)‘We will not pay attention.’
¹⁸Therefore hear, O nations,
    and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
¹⁹Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
    ^(EP)the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
    and as for my law, they have rejected it.
²⁰^(EQ)What use to me is ^(ER)frankincense that comes from ^(ES)Sheba,
    or sweet cane from a distant land?
^(ET)Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
    nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
²¹Therefore thus says the Lord:
^(EU)‘Behold, I will lay before this people
    stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
fathers and sons together,
    neighbor and friend shall perish.’”

²²Thus says the Lord:
^(EV)“Behold, a people is coming ^(EW)from the north country,
    a great nation is stirring from ^(EX)the farthest parts of the earth.
²³They lay hold on bow and javelin;
    they are ^(EY)cruel and have no mercy;
    ^(EZ)the sound of them is like the roaring sea;
they ride on horses,
    set in array as a man for battle,
    against you, O daughter of Zion!”
²⁴We have heard the report of it;
    ^(FA)our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
    ^(FB)pain as of a woman in labor.
²⁵Go not out into the field,
    nor walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
    ^(FC)terror is on every side.
²⁶O daughter of my people, ^(FD)put on sackcloth,
    and ^(FE)roll in ashes;
^(FF)make mourning as for an only son,
    most bitter lamentation,
for suddenly the destroyer
    will come upon us.

²⁷“I have made you ^(FG)a tester of metals among my people,
    that you may know and ^(FH)test their ways.
²⁸^(FI)They are all stubbornly rebellious,
    ^(FJ)going about with slanders;
they are ^(FK)bronze and iron;
    all of them act corruptly.
²⁹The ^(FL)bellows blow fiercely;
    the lead is consumed by the fire;
^(FM)in vain the refining goes on,
    for the wicked are not removed.
³⁰^(FN)Rejected silver they are called,
    for the Lord has rejected them.”