Jeremiah Chapter 4

¹ “If you want to come back, you can;

     get rid of your detestable idols

            and don’t waver back and forth with them.

² Swear, ‘As sure as the LORD lives,’

            honestly, justly, uprightly;

      then the nations will be blessed in him

            and glory in him.”

Coming Destruction from the North

³ The LORD says to the people in Judah and Jerusalem:

“Break up your heart’s fallow ground

      and don’t throw your seed among its thorns.

⁴ Circumcise yourselves to the LORD;

      remove the foreskins of your heart,

            people in Judah and Jerusalem,

      so my anger won’t flare because of your sins

            and burn with nobody to put it out.”                         

Jer 4:1-4

⁵ Declare in Judah and Jerusalem:

“Blow the bugle in the land;

      call out and say,

      ‘Flee to the fortified cities.’

⁶ Lift up a standard toward Zion!

         Run for refuge;

      hurry because I’m bringing

            widespread destruction from the north.”

⁷ A lion has come up out of its thicket,

      one that destroys nations;

it’s left its den to devastate your land

      and make your towns empty ruins.

⁸ Put on burlap for that;

      lament and wail,

      because the LORD’s fierce anger

            hasn’t turned away from us.                                      

Jer 4:5-8

⁹ “At that time,” the LORD says,

         “the hearts of the king and officials will fail,

      the priests will be terrified,

      and the prophets horrified.”

¹⁰ Then I said, “Lord GOD, you completely misled this nation and Jerusalem when you said they’d have peace; they have a sword at their throat!”

^11-12 “I’ll answer them, ‘A scorching wind from the desert’s barren hills will blow on you, a wind too strong for winnowing grain or sweeping a threshing floor. It will come at my command to pronounce condemnation on you.’

Jer 4:9-12

         ¹³Judah’s enemy rises up like clouds;

                  his chariots go up like a whirlwind;

      his horses are faster than eagles.

            ‘Misfortune awaits us! We’re doomed!’”

Jer 4:13

      ¹⁴ Jerusalem, wash the evil off your heart

                           so you can be saved;

            how long will you harbor bad thoughts?

      ¹⁵ A voice declares from Dan

            and announces from Mount Ephraim

                  that disaster is on the way.

      ¹⁶ “Warn the nearby nations now! Announce it in Jerusalem,

               besiegers are coming from a far country

                  to raise their battle cries at the towns in Judah.

      ¹⁷ Like watchmen around a field, they’re against it all around

                  because it’s rebelled against me,” the LORD says.

      ¹⁸ “Your ways and deeds have brought this on you;

            this bitter punishment has cut you to the heart!”

Jer 4:14-18

Jeremiah Anguish over Judah’s Desolation

      ¹⁹ My soul, my soul! I’m in anguish!

            My heart’s pounding, I can’t stay still.

            My soul, you’ve heard the bugle’s signal for war.

      ²⁰ Disaster on top of disaster is in store,

                  devastating the whole land.

      It’s destroyed my tents in no time;

            my curtains were gone in a flash.

      ²¹ How long do I have to look at the standard

            and listen to the bugle?

      ²² “My people are foolish; they don’t know me;

            they’re ignorant kids that don’t understand.

      They’re good at doing bad,

            but they don’t know how to do good.”                      

Jer 4:19-22

Jeremiah’s Vision of Coming Disaster

      ²³ I looked at the earth;

               it was unformed and empty;

      I looked up at the sky;

            it didn’t shed any light.

      ²⁴ I looked at the mountains and hills,

            quaking back and forth.

      ²⁵ I didn’t see any people;

            the birds had flown away.

      ²⁶ The fertile land had become a desert;

            its towns lay in ruins

                  in the face of the LORD’s fierce anger.                

Jer 4:23-26

      ²⁷ The LORD says,

            “The whole country will be a wasteland,

                  but I won’t completely destroy it.

      ²⁸ The earth will mourn,

                  and the sky will grow dark;

            I’ve told you my intentions,

                  and I won’t change my mind.”

      ²⁹ At the sound of calvary and archers, every town is scattering;

            they’re running into thickets and hiding in rocks;

            they’re abandoning the towns.                                   

Jer 4:27-29

      ³⁰ What are you going to do, desolate one?

            Though you’re dressed in scarlet

                  and decorate yourself with gold jewelry

                  and accent your eyes with mascara,

            making yourself beautiful won’t do any good,

                  because your lovers despise you,

                        intent on killing you.

      ³¹ I hear a woman crying out in labor,

            the anguish of one giving birth to her first child,

            the cry of the young woman of Zion gasping for breath,

            stretching out her hands and saying,

                  “Misfortune awaits me; I’m being murdered.”   

Jer 4:30-31