LEB JER Chapter 4

An Invasion from the North

• 5 Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say, “Blow a horn through the land,
• call with a loud voice[fn] and say,
  • ‘Be gathered and let us go into the fortified cities.’
  • 6 Lift up a signal toward Zion, bring yourselves to safety; you must not remain standing,
• for I am bringing evil from the north,
  • and a great destruction.
  • 7 A 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 as a horror,
  • your cities will go to ruin without[fn] inhabitant.
  • 8 Because of this gird yourselves with sackcloth,[fn] lament and wail, for the burning anger[fn] of Yahweh has not turned back from us.
• 9 And then on that day,” declares[fn] Yahweh, “the heart of the king and the heart of the officials will be destroyed,
  • and the priests will be appalled,
  • and the prophets will be astonished.”

10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It will be peace for you,’ while the sword reaches up to the throat.”

• 11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “ A hot wind from the barren heights[fn] in the desert,[fn]
• in the direction of[fn] the daughter of my people,
  • not to winnow and not to cleanse,
  • 12 a wind too strong for[fn] these will come for me, now also I speak judgments against them.”
  • 13 Look, he comes up like the clouds, and his chariots are like the whirlwind,
• his horses are swifter than eagles,
  • woe to us, for we are devastated.
  • 14 Cleanse your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved.
• How long[fn] will your thoughts of mischief
  • dwell in your inner part?
  • 15 For a voice is declaring from Dan, and is proclaiming disaster from the mountain of Ephraim.
  • 16 “Report to the nations, ‘Here they are!’ Proclaim against Jerusalem,
• ‘Besiegers are coming from a distant land ,[fn]
  • and they raise their voice against the cities of Judah.’
  • 17 Like watchers of a field they were against her from all around, because she has rebelled against me,” declares[fn] Yahweh.
  • 18 “You obtained this for yourself because of your way and your deeds.
• This is your doom, for it is bitter,
  • yes, it has reached up to your heart.”
  • 19 My bowels, my bowels! I writhe! The walls of my heart!
• My heart is restless within me, I cannot keep silent,
  • for I hear in my inner self the sound of a horn, the alarm of war.
  • 20 Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, for all of the land is devastated.
• Suddenly my tents are devastated,
  • my tent curtains in a moment.
  • 21 How long must I see the banner, and hear the sound of a horn?
  • 22 “For my people are foolish, they have not known me.
• They are foolish children,
  • and they do not have insight.
• They are skillful at doing evil,
  • and they do not know how to do good.”
  • 23 I looked at the earth, and behold, it was wasteland and emptiness, and to the heavens, and they were without their light.
  • 24 I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all of the hills were jolted to and fro.
  • 25 I looked and behold, there was no person, and all of the birds[fn] of the sky had fled.
  • 26 I looked and behold, the fruitful land was a desert,[fn] and all of its cities were ruined before Yahweh,
  • before the face of his burning anger .[fn]
  • 27 For thus says Yahweh, “All of the land will be a desolation, yet I will not make a complete desolation.
  • 28 Because of this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above will become dark.
• Because I have spoken, I have planned,
  • and I have not relented, and I will not turn back from it.”
  • 29 From the sound of a horseman and an archer[fn] every town flees, they enter in the thickets and among the rocks they climb.
• Every town is forsaken,
  • and there is no person who lives in them.
  • 30 And you, O devastated one, what do you do, that you put on crimson,
• that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
  • that you make your eyes look bigger with the eye make-up?
• In vain you beautify yourself.
  • Your lovers reject you;
  • they seek your life.
  • 31 For I heard a voice like an ill woman, anxiety like a woman who bears her first child,
• the voice of the daughter of Zion.
  • She is gasping for breath,
  • she is spreading out her hands:
• “Woe is me, for I am becoming tired[fn] before killers.”