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Jeremiah 4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Judah Threatened with Invasion

4 “If you will ^(A)return, Israel,” declares the Lord,
“Then you should return to Me.
And ^(B)if you will put away your detestable things from My presence,
And will not waver,
²And if you will ^(C)swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
^(D)In truth, in justice, and in righteousness;
Then the ^(E)nations will bless themselves in Him,
And ^(F)in Him they will boast.”

³For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem:

“^[a]^(G)Break up your uncultivated ground,
And ^(H)do not sow among thorns.
⁴^(I)Circumcise yourselves to the Lord
And remove the foreskins of your hearts,
Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Or else My ^(J)wrath will spread like fire
And burn with ^(K)no one to quench it,
Because of the evil of your deeds.”

⁵Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
“^(L)Blow the trumpet in the land;
Cry aloud and say,
‘^(M)Assemble, and let’s go
Into the fortified cities.’
⁶Raise a ^(N)flag toward Zion!
Take refuge, do not stand still,
For I am bringing ^(O)evil from the north,
And great destruction.
⁷A ^(P)lion has gone up from his thicket,
And a ^(Q)destroyer of nations has set out;
He has gone out from his place
To ^(R)make your land a waste.
Your cities will be ruins,
Without an inhabitant.
⁸For this, ^(S)put on sackcloth,
Mourn and wail;
For the ^(T)fierce anger of the Lord
Has not turned away from us.”

⁹“And it shall come about on that day,” declares the Lord, “that the ^(U)heart of the king and the hearts of the leaders will fail; and the priests will tremble, and the ^(V)prophets will be astonished.”

¹⁰Then I said, “Oh, Lord ^[b]God! Surely You have utterly ^(W)deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘^(X)You will have peace’; yet a sword touches the ^[c]throat.”

¹¹At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A ^(Y)scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness, in the direction of the daughter of My people—not to winnow and not to cleanse, ¹²a wind too ^[d]strong for ^[e]this—will come ^[f]at My command; now I will also pronounce judgments against them.”

¹³“Behold, he ^(Z)goes up like clouds,
And his ^(AA)chariots like the whirlwind;
His horses are ^(AB)swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for ^(AC)we are ruined!”

¹⁴Wash your heart from evil, Jerusalem,
So that you may be saved.
How long will your ^(AD)wicked thoughts
Lodge within you?
¹⁵For a voice declares from ^(AE)Dan,
And proclaims wickedness from Mount Ephraim.
¹⁶“Report it to the nations, now!
Proclaim to Jerusalem,
‘^[g]Enemies are coming from a ^(AF)remote country,
And ^(AG)they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.
¹⁷Like watchmen of a field they are ^(AH)against her all around,
Because she has ^(AI)rebelled against Me,’ declares the Lord.
¹⁸Your ^(AJ)ways and your deeds
Have ^[h]brought these things upon you.
This is your evil. How ^(AK)bitter!
How it has touched your heart!”

Grief over Judah’s Devastation

¹⁹^(AL)My ^[i]soul, my ^[j]soul! I am in anguish! ^[k]Oh, my heart!
My ^(AM)heart is pounding in me;
I cannot keep silent,
Because, ^[l]my soul, you have heard
The ^(AN)sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.
²⁰^(AO)Disaster upon disaster is proclaimed,
For the ^(AP)whole land is devastated;
Suddenly my ^(AQ)tents are devastated,
And my curtains in an instant.
²¹How long must I see the flag
And hear the sound of the trumpet?
²²“^(AR)For My people are foolish,
They do not know Me;
They are foolish children
And have no understanding.
They are skillful at ^(AS)doing evil,
But they do not know how to do good.”

²³I looked at the earth, and behold, it was a ^[m]^(AT)formless and desolate emptiness;
And to the heavens, and they had no light.
²⁴I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were ^(AU)quaking,
And all the hills jolted back and forth.
²⁵I looked, and behold, there was no human,
And all the ^(AV)birds of the sky had fled.
²⁶I looked, and behold, ^[n]the ^(AW)fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were pulled down
Before the Lord, before His fierce anger.

²⁷For this is what the Lord says:
“The ^(AX)whole land shall be a desolation,
Yet I will ^(AY)not execute a complete destruction.
²⁸For this the ^(AZ)earth will mourn,
And the ^(BA)heavens above will become dark,
Because I have ^(BB)spoken, I have purposed,
And I have not ^[o]changed My mind, nor will I turn from it.”
²⁹At the sound of the horseman and archer ^(BC)every city flees;
They ^(BD)go into the thickets and climb among the rocks;
^(BE)Every city is abandoned,
And no one lives in them.
³⁰And you, desolate one, ^(BF)what will you do?
Although you dress in scarlet,
Although you adorn yourself with jewelry of gold,
Although you ^(BG)enlarge your eyes with makeup,
In vain you make yourself beautiful.
Your ^[p]^(BH)lovers despise you;
They seek your life.
³¹For I heard a voice cry as of a woman in labor,
The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child.
The voice of the daughter of Zion ^(BI)gasping for breath,
^(BJ)Stretching out her ^[q]hands, saying,
“Ah, woe to me, for ^[r]I faint before murderers.”

New American Standard Bible (NASB)