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Jeremiah 4:1-31 — Disaster from the North

Jer.4.1-31

¹“If you return, O Israel,” declares the LORD, "return to me ; and if you remove your detestable idols from my presence, and do not waver , ²and if you swear, 'As the LORD lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will bless themselves in him, and in him they will boast." ³For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. ⁴Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your hearts , O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds." ⁵Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: "Blow the horn in the land; cry aloud and say, 'Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities!' ⁶Raise a signal flag toward Zion; flee for safety, do not delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, and great destruction." ⁷A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone out from his place to make your land a desolation. Your cities will be laid waste, without inhabitant. ⁸For this, put on sackcloth, mourn and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned back from us. ⁹“And it will come about on that day,” declares the LORD, “that the heart of the king will perish, along with the heart of the officials; the priests will be appalled, and the prophets will be astounded.” ¹⁰Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You will have peace,' while a sword reaches to the throat.” ¹¹At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: "A scorching wind from the barren heights in the wilderness blows toward the daughter of my people—not to winnow, and not to cleanse; ¹²a wind too full for these comes for me. Now I also will pronounce judgments against them." ¹³Behold, he comes up like clouds, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined! ¹⁴Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you? ¹⁵For a voice declares from Dan, and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim. ¹⁶Announce to the nations, behold! Proclaim against Jerusalem: "Watchers are coming from a far country, and they raise their voices against the cities of Judah. ¹⁷Like keepers of a field they are against her all around, because she has rebelled against me," declares the LORD. ¹⁸“Your ways and your deeds have brought these things upon you. This is your calamity; how bitter it is, because it reaches to your heart!” ¹⁹My bowels, my bowels! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is pounding within me; I cannot be silent. For my soul has heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of war. ²⁰Destruction upon destruction is proclaimed, for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtains in a moment. ²¹How long must I see the signal flag, and hear the sound of the horn? ²²“For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, and they have no understanding. They are wise in doing evil, but they do not know how to do good.” ²³I looked at the earth, and behold, it was formless and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. ²⁴I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking; and all the hills were swaying. ²⁵I looked, and behold, there was no human; and all the birds of the heavens had fled. ²⁶I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were torn down before the LORD, before his fierce anger. ²⁷For thus says the LORD: "The whole land will be a desolation, yet I will not make a complete end. ²⁸For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above will grow dark, because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I have not relented, and I will not turn back from it." ²⁹At the sound of the horseman and the archer, every city flees; they go into the thickets, and climb up among the rocks. Every city is abandoned, and not a man dwells in them. ³⁰And you, O devastated one, what will you do? Even though you dress yourself in scarlet, even though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, even though you enlarge your eyes with paint, you beautify yourself in vain. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life. ³¹For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, anguish like one bearing her first child—the cry of the daughter of Zion , who gasps for breath, who spreads out her hands, saying, “Woe is me, for my soul faints before the murderers!”

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4/11/2026

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