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 8

1“At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs. 2And they shall be spread ^bbbefore the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped. ^bcAnd they shall not be gathered or buried. ^bdThey shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. 3 ^beDeath shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family ^bfin all the places where I have driven them, declares the Lord of hosts.

Sin and Treachery

4 “You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
^bgWhen men fall, do they not rise again?
If one turns away, does he not return?
5Why then has this people ^bhturned away
in perpetual ^bibacksliding?
^bjThey hold fast to deceit;
they refuse to return.
6 ^bkI have paid attention and listened,
but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
^bllike a horse plunging headlong into battle.
7Even the stork in the heavens
knows her times,
and ^bmthe turtledove, ^bnswallow, and crane ▼

▼The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain

keep the time of their coming,
^bpbut my people know not
the rules ▼

▼Or just decrees

of the Lord.
8 ^br“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
and the law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie.
9 ^bsThe wise men shall be put to shame;
they shall be dismayed ^btand taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
so what wisdom is in them?
10 ^buTherefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
everyone ^bvis greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
11They have healed ^bwthe wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, ^bxthey were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
^byTherefore they shall fall among the fallen;
when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,

says the Lord.
13When I would gather them, declares the Lord,
there are ^bzno grapes on the vine,
^canor figs on the fig tree;
^cbeven the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them.” ▼

▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

14 Why do we sit still?
^cdGather together; ^celet us go into the fortified cities
and perish there,
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
and has ^cfgiven us ^cgpoisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 ^chWe looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
16 ^ci“The snorting of their horses is heard ^cjfrom Dan;
at the sound of the neighing ^ckof their stallions
^clthe whole land quakes.
They come ^cmand devour the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who dwell in it.
17For behold, I am sending among you ^cnserpents,
adders ^cothat cannot be charmed,
^cpand they shall bite you,”

declares the Lord.

Jeremiah Grieves for His People

18 My joy is gone; grief is upon me; ▼

▼Compare Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

^crmy heart is sick within me.
19Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people
from ^csthe length and breadth of the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
^ctIs her King not in her?”
^cu“Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images
and with their foreign idols?”
20“The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”
21For the wound of ^cvthe daughter of my people is my heart wounded;
^cwI mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.
22 Is there no ^cxbalm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
not been restored?