Open English Translation JER Chapter 4

4 Yahweh says:

If you’ll return, Yisrael (Israel),

yes, if you’ll return to me

and remove those detestable idols away from me without wavering,

2 and if you promise as Yahweh lives, in truth, justice, and righteousness,

then the nations will bless themselves in him,

and it’s him that they’ll boast about.

3 Yes, tells the people from Yerushalem and across all Yehudah (Judah):

Plough your unploughed ground, but don’t sow thornbushes.[ref]

4 Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh by removing the foreskins from your hearts

you people of Yerushalem and Yehudah,

so that my rage doesn’t burst out and burn like fire,

because there wouldn’t be anyone to extinguish it due to the wickedness of your behaviour.

5 Announce in Yerushalem and declare in Yehudah to blow the horn in the land.

Call out loudly to gather together and enter the fortified cities.

6 Lift up a banner towards Tsiyyon (Zion) and get to safety.

Don’t stand still because I’m about to bring calamity from the north with horrific destruction.

7 A lion has come up from its thicket,

≈ and a destroyer of nations has set out.

He’s come out from his place to make your country into a wasteland.

Your cities will be reduced to ruins with no inhabitants.

8 So put on sackcloth—mourn and wail

because Yahweh’s burning anger hasn’t turned away from us.

9 Yahweh says that at that time,

the king and his officials will lose heart

and the priests and prophets will be astonished.

10 Then I replied, “Oh now! My master Yahweh,

you’ve certainly completely deceived Yerushalem and also this people,

saying, ‘It will be well for you all.’ Yet the sword will come for our throats.”

11 When that happens, Yerushalem and this people will be told:

A scorching wind will come from the bare hills in the wilderness.

It won’t be coming just to winnow the grain and blow away the chaff—

12 it’ll be a strong blast from me.

Then I’ll speak judgements against them.

13 Listen, he goes up like the clouds,

and his chariots are like the storm wind.

≈ His horses are faster than eagles.

→ We won’t end well because we’ll be devastated.

14 Yerushalem, wash the evil from your heart so that you can be saved.

How much longer will you hold onto your wicked thoughts for,

15 because a voice from Dan declares trouble

and disaster is proclaimed from Efrayim’s hill?

16 Remind the nations—

≈ listen, announce to Yerushalem:

They’re coming from a distant land to lay seige against you,

and they raise their voice against Yehudah’s cities.

17 They’ll surround Yerushalem like the watchmen around a field because it rebelled against me.

That’s Yahweh’s declaration.

18 Your conduct and your actions have brought that to you, Yerushalem.

That’s your punishment—it’s bitter and it’ll pierce to your heart.

19 My inward parts, my insides!

≈ I writhe with chest pains.

≈ My heart is pounding—I won’t stay silent,

→ because my soul, you hear the sound of the trumpet—an alarm for battle.

20 Destruction followed by more destruction has been proclaimed,

≈ because all the land has been devastated.

Suddenly my tents are devastated—

≈ my tent fabrics gone in a moment.

21 How long do I have to watch the enemy’s banner for?

How long will that trumpet sound go on for?

22 Yes, my people are foolish—they don’t know me.

≈ They’re like stupid children who don’t understand anything.

They’ve very clever at doing what’s evil

≈ and they don’t know how to do what’s good.

23 I saw the land, and wow, it was formless and empty,

≈ and the skies didn’t have any light.

24 I saw the mountains, and wow, they were quaking,

≈ and all the hills shook back-and-forth.

25 I looked, and wow, there were no more people,

≈ and all the birds had flown away.

26 I saw, and wow, the orchard had turned into a wilderness,

≈ and all the cities had been pulled down out of Yahweh’s sight

due to his burning anger,

27 because Yahweh says this:

The entire country will become desolate,

^ but I won’t completely destroy it.

28 The land will mourn after that,

≈ and the skies will darken from above,

because I’ve revealed my resolution,

^ and I won’t change my mind or turn back from it.

29 The city people will flee from the sound of approaching horsemen and archers.

≈ They’ll head into the thickets and up onto the cliffs.

→ Every city will be abandoned without anyone living in them.

30 So you,[fn] what will you do for the devastated one?

You dress in scarlet, adorning yourself with gold jewelry.

≈ You make your eyes look bigger with makeup, but it won’t help—

your lovers reject you and they’re coming for your life.

31 Yes, I hear a sound like a woman in labour—

≈ distress like a woman giving birth to her first child—

the sound of Tsiyyon’s daughter as she gasps for breath.

She spreads out her hands saying,

‘I fear for my life because of those murderers.’