VerseAI

NIV

Jeremiah 4

  1. 1<pb/><t>“If you, Israel, will return,</t> <t>then return to me,”</t> <t>declares the LORD.</t> <t>“If you put your detestable idols out of my sight</t> <t>and no longer go astray,</t>
  2. 2<t>and if in a truthful, just and righteous way</t> <t>you swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’</t> <t>then the nations will invoke blessings by him</t> <t>and in him they will boast.”</t>
  3. 3<pb/>This is what the LORD says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: <pb/><t>“Break up your unplowed ground</t> <t>and do not sow among thorns.</t>
  4. 4<t>Circumcise yourselves to the LORD,</t> <t>circumcise your hearts,</t> <t>you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,</t> <t>or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire</t> <t>because of the evil you have done—</t> <t>burn with no one to quench it.</t>
  5. 5<t>“Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say:</t> <t>‘Sound the trumpet throughout the land!’</t> <t>Cry aloud and say:</t> <t>‘Gather together!</t> <t>Let us flee to the fortified cities!’</t>
  6. 6<t>Raise the signal to go to Zion!</t> <t>Flee for safety without delay!</t> <t>For I am bringing disaster from the north,</t> <t>even terrible destruction.” <pb/></t>
  7. 7<t>A lion has come out of his lair;</t> <t>a destroyer of nations has set out.</t> <t>He has left his place</t> <t>to lay waste your land.</t> <t>Your towns will lie in ruins</t> <t>without inhabitant.</t>
  8. 8<t>So put on sackcloth,</t> <t>lament and wail,</t> <t>for the fierce anger of the LORD</t> <t>has not turned away from us. <pb/></t>
  9. 9<t>“In that day,” declares the LORD,</t> <t>“the king and the officials will lose heart,</t> <t>the priests will be horrified,</t> <t>and the prophets will be appalled.”</t>
  10. 10<pb/>Then I said, “Alas, Sovereign LORD! How completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ when the sword is at our throats!”
  11. 11<pb/>At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse;
  12. 12a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.”
  13. 13<pb/><t>Look! He advances like the clouds,</t> <t>his chariots come like a whirlwind,</t> <t>his horses are swifter than eagles.</t> <t>Woe to us! We are ruined!</t>
  14. 14<t>Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved.</t> <t>How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?</t>
  15. 15<t>A voice is announcing from Dan,</t> <t>proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.</t>
  16. 16<t>“Tell this to the nations,</t> <t>proclaim concerning Jerusalem:</t> <t>‘A besieging army is coming from a distant land,</t> <t>raising a war cry against the cities of Judah.</t>
  17. 17<t>They surround her like men guarding a field,</t> <t>because she has rebelled against me,’ ”</t> <t>declares the LORD.</t>
  18. 18<t>“Your own conduct and actions</t> <t>have brought this on you.</t> <t>This is your punishment.</t> <t>How bitter it is!</t> <t>How it pierces to the heart!” <pb/></t>
  19. 19<t>Oh, my anguish, my anguish!</t> <t>I writhe in pain.</t> <t>Oh, the agony of my heart!</t> <t>My heart pounds within me,</t> <t>I cannot keep silent.</t> <t>For I have heard the sound of the trumpet;</t> <t>I have heard the battle cry.</t>
  20. 20<t>Disaster follows disaster;</t> <t>the whole land lies in ruins.</t> <t>In an instant my tents are destroyed,</t> <t>my shelter in a moment.</t>
  21. 21<t>How long must I see the battle standard</t> <t>and hear the sound of the trumpet? <pb/></t>
  22. 22<t>“My people are fools;</t> <t>they do not know me.</t> <t>They are senseless children;</t> <t>they have no understanding.</t> <t>They are skilled in doing evil;</t> <t>they know not how to do good.” <pb/></t>
  23. 23<t>I looked at the earth,</t> <t>and it was formless and empty;</t> <t>and at the heavens,</t> <t>and their light was gone.</t>
  24. 24<t>I looked at the mountains,</t> <t>and they were quaking;</t> <t>all the hills were swaying.</t>
  25. 25<t>I looked, and there were no people;</t> <t>every bird in the sky had flown away.</t>
  26. 26<t>I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert;</t> <t>all its towns lay in ruins</t> <t>before the LORD, before his fierce anger.</t>
  27. 27<pb/>This is what the LORD says: <pb/><t>“The whole land will be ruined,</t> <t>though I will not destroy it completely.</t>
  28. 28<t>Therefore the earth will mourn</t> <t>and the heavens above grow dark,</t> <t>because I have spoken and will not relent,</t> <t>I have decided and will not turn back.” <pb/></t>
  29. 29<t>At the sound of horsemen and archers</t> <t>every town takes to flight.</t> <t>Some go into the thickets;</t> <t>some climb up among the rocks.</t> <t>All the towns are deserted;</t> <t>no one lives in them. <pb/></t>
  30. 30<t>What are you doing, you devastated one?</t> <t>Why dress yourself in scarlet</t> <t>and put on jewels of gold?</t> <t>Why highlight your eyes with makeup?</t> <t>You adorn yourself in vain.</t> <t>Your lovers despise you;</t> <t>they want to kill you. <pb/></t>
  31. 31<t>I hear a cry as of a woman in labor,</t> <t>a groan as of one bearing her first child—</t> <t>the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,</t> <t>stretching out her hands and saying,</t> <t>“Alas! I am fainting;</t> <t>my life is given over to murderers.”</t>