Jeremiah 4:3-9

Living Bible

³ The Lord is saying to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Plow up the hardness of your hearts; otherwise the good seed will be wasted among the thorns. ⁴ Cleanse your minds and hearts,^[a] not just your bodies, or else my anger will burn you to a crisp because of all your sins. And no one will be able to put the fire out.

⁵ Shout to Jerusalem and to all Judea, telling them to sound the alarm throughout the land. “Run for your lives! Flee to the fortified cities!” ⁶ Send a signal from Jerusalem: “Flee now, don’t delay!” For I the Lord am bringing vast destruction on you from the north.^{[b] 7} A lion—a destroyer of nations—stalks from his lair; and he is headed for your land. Your cities will lie in ruin without inhabitant. ⁸ Put on clothes of mourning and weep with broken hearts, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not stopped yet. ⁹ In that day, says the Lord, the king and the princes will tremble in fear; and the priests and the prophets will be stricken with horror.