Jeremiah 4

1“If you return, O Israel,

declares the Lord,
^ato me you should return.
If you remove your detestable things from my presence,
^band do not waver,
2 ^cand if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then ^dnations shall bless themselves in him,
^eand in him shall they glory.”
3For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

^f“Break up your fallow ground,
and ^gsow not among thorns.
4 ^hCircumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
ⁱlest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
^jbecause 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 ^mRaise a standard toward Zion,
flee for safety, stay not,
for I bring disaster from ⁿthe north,
^oand great destruction.
7 ^pA 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
^qwithout inhabitant.
8For this ^rput on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for ^sthe fierce anger of the Lord
has not turned back from us.”
9“In that day, declares the Lord, ^tcourage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.” 10Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, ^usurely 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 ^vthe 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 ^wspeak in judgment upon them.”

13 Behold, he comes up like clouds;
^xhis chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are ^yswifter than eagles—
woe to us, ^zfor we are ruined!
14O Jerusalem, ^aawash your heart from evil,
that you may be saved.
How long shall your wicked thoughts
lodge within you?
15For a voice ^abdeclares from Dan
and proclaims trouble from ^acMount Ephraim.
16Warn the nations that he is coming;
announce to Jerusalem,
“Besiegers come ^adfrom a distant land;
they shout against the cities of Judah.
17Like keepers of a field ^aeare 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 ^afit is bitter;
it has reached your very heart.”

Anguish over Judah’s Desolation

19 ^agMy 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 ^ahCrash follows hard on crash;
the whole land is laid waste.
^aiSuddenly 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 ^ajmy people are foolish;
they know me not;
they are stupid children;
they have no understanding.
^akThey are ‘wise’—in doing evil!
But how to do good they know not.”
23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was ^alwithout form and void;
^amand to the heavens, and they had no light.
24I looked on ^anthe mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
25 ^aoI looked, and behold, there was no man,
and all the birds of the air had fled.
26I looked, and behold, the ^apfruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the Lord, before ^aqhis fierce anger.
27For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation; ^aryet I will not make a full end.

28 ^as“For this the earth shall mourn,
^atand the heavens above be dark;
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
^auI have not relented, nor will I turn back.”
29 At the noise of horseman and archer
every city takes to flight;
they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;
all the cities are forsaken,
and ^avno man dwells in them.
30And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
^awthat you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
^axthat you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
^ayYour lovers despise you;
they seek your life.
31For I heard ^aza 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,
^bastretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”

Jeremiah 18

The Potter and the Clay

1The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2“Arise, and go down to ^bbthe potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3So I went down to ^bcthe potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4And the vessel he was making of clay was ^bdspoiled in the potter’s hand, and ^behe reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

5Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6“O house of Israel, ^bfcan I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. ^bgBehold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will ^bhpluck up and break down and destroy it, 8and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, ^biturns from its evil, ^bjI will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. 9And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will ^bkbuild and plant it, 10and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. 11Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. ^blReturn, every one from his evil way, and ^bmamend your ways and your deeds.’

12“But they say, ^bn‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to ^bothe stubbornness of his evil heart.’

13 “Therefore thus says the Lord:
^bpAsk among the nations,
Who has heard the like of this?
The virgin Israel
has done ^bqa very horrible thing.
14Does the snow of Lebanon leave
the crags of Sirion? ▼

▼Hebrew  of the field

Do the mountain waters run dry, ▼

▼Hebrew Are foreign waters plucked up

the cold flowing streams?
15 ^btBut my people have forgotten me;
they make offerings to ^bufalse gods;
they made them stumble in their ways,
^bvin the ancient roads,
and to walk into side roads,
^bwnot the highway,
16making their land ^bxa horror,
a thing ^byto be hissed at forever.
^bzEveryone who passes by it is horrified
^caand shakes his head.
17 ^cbLike the east wind ^ccI will scatter them
before the enemy.
^cdI will show them my back, not my face,
in the day of their calamity.”
18Then they said, ^ce“Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, ^cffor the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. ^cgCome, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

19 Hear me, O Lord,
and ^chlisten to the voice of my adversaries.
20 ^ciShould good be repaid with evil?
Yet ^cjthey have dug a pit for my life.
^ckRemember how I stood before you
to speak good for them,
to turn away your wrath from them.
21Therefore ^cldeliver up their children to famine;
give them over to the power of the sword;
let their wives become childless ^cmand widowed.
May their men meet death by pestilence,
their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.
22 ^cnMay a cry be heard from their houses,
when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them!
For ^cothey have dug a pit to take me
^cpand laid snares for my feet.
23Yet ^cqyou, O Lord, know
all their plotting to kill me.
^crForgive not their iniquity,
nor blot out their sin from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
deal with them in the time of your anger.