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UST by section JER 4:1

⌂ ← JER 4:1–4:31 → ║ ═ ©

Jeremiah 4

4 Yahweh says, “If you Israelite people will again love and obey me,

and if you get rid of your detestable idols,

and if you do not act unfaithfully toward me,

2 and if, when you make promises in my name by saying, ‘Just as surely as Yahweh lives,’

you make those promises truthfully, justly, and with righteous intentions,

then the people in the other nations will request that I bless them as I have blessed you,

and they will praise me.”

3 This is what Yahweh says to the people of Jerusalem and the other cities in Judah,

“Prepare your inner beings to be ready to receive my messages

like farmers plow up hard ground so that they can plant seed in it.

Just as farmers do not waste good seed by sowing seeds among thorny plants,

so I do not want to waste my time telling you messages that you are not ready to receive.

4 Make your thoughts and motives acceptable to me,

people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem.

If you do not do that, my being angry with you

because of all the sins that you have committed

will be like a fire that will be impossible to extinguish.

5 Declare this to all the people in Jerusalem and the rest of Judea;

blow the trumpets everywhere in the land to warn the people.

Tell them that they should flee to

the cities that have high walls around them.

6 Shout to the people of Jerusalem,

‘Flee to a safe place now! Do not delay,

because I am about to cause you to experience a terrible disaster

that will come from the north.

7 An army that has destroyed many nations will attack you

like a lion that comes out of its den to attack other animals.

The soldiers of that army have taken down their tents

and they are already marching toward your land.

They will destroy your cities and leave them without any people still living in them.’

8 So, put on clothes that show that you are very sad.

Weep and wail

to show that you are very sorry for what you have done,

because Yahweh is still very angry with us.

9 Yahweh said that at the time when he punishes you, the king of Judah and all his officials will be very afraid,

and the priests and the prophets will be terrified.

10 Then I replied, “Oh, Yahweh my God, you completely deceived this people and the people of Jerusalem by telling them that there would be peace in Jerusalem, but now our enemies are ready to slaughter us with their swords!”

11 When that happens, Yahweh will say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem,

“A huge army will come to attack you.

They will not be like a gentle breeze that separates the wheat from the chaff.

They will be like a very hot wind that blows in from the desert.

12 They will be like a strong wind that I will send.

Now I am declaring that I will punish you.”

13 Our enemies are about to advance against us like clouds and their chariots are like whirlwinds.

Their horses are faster than eagles.

It will be terrible for us!

14 You people of Jerusalem cleanse your inner beings of evil thoughts and intentions,

in order that Yahweh will rescue you.

How long will you continue to think about wicked things?

15 From the city of Dan in the far north to the hills of Ephraim a few miles north of Jerusalem messengers are proclaiming that disasters are coming.”

16 Tell this to the people in other nations,

but also announce it in Jerusalem:

Yahweh says “An army is coming to Jerusalem from far away;

they will shout a battle cry against the cities in Judah.

17 They will set up tents around Jerusalem like people set up temporary shelters around a field at harvest time.

That will happen because the people of Judah have rebelled against me.

18 Your own actions are causing those things to happen to you

because of the evil things that you have done.

How extremely unpleasant it is!

It will be so bad that it will effect your inner being!”

19 Then I said to myself, “I am extremely anguished;

the pain in my inner being is very severe.

My heart beats wildly!

But I cannot remain silent

because I have heard our enemies blowing their trumpets

to announce that the battle against Judah will start immediately.

20 Disasters will occur one after another

until the whole land is ruined.

Suddenly all our tents will be destroyed;

and the curtains inside the tents will be ripped apart.

21 How long will this battle continue?

How long will I continue to see the enemy battle flags

and hear the sound of their trumpets being blown?

22 Yahweh says: “My people are foolish!

They do not have a relationship with me.

They are like stupid children

who do not understand anything.

They very cleverly do what is wrong,

but they do not know how to do what is good.”

23 God gave me a vision in which I saw

that the earth was barren and without form.

I looked at the sky,

and there was no light there.

24 I looked at the mountains and hills,

and they shook and moved from side to side.

25 I looked and saw that there were no more people

and all the birds had flown away.

26 I looked and saw that the fields that previously were fertile had become a desert.

The cities were all ruined;

they had all been destroyed by Yahweh because he was extremely angry.”

27 This is what Yahweh is saying,

“The entire land of Judah will be ruined,

but I will not destroy it completely.

28 I will do to my people what I said that I would do,

and I will not change my mind.

So when that happens, it will be as though the earth will mourn

and the sky will become very dark.

29 When the people hear the sound of the calvary and the archers from the enemy army,

they will flee from all of their cities.

Some of them will find places to hide in the bushes,

and others will run toward the hills to escape being killed by their enemies.

All the cities in Judah will be abandoned

and not one person will remain in them.

30 So you who will surely be destroyed,

what will you do then?

Even though you have worn beautiful clothes and jewelry

and paint around your eyes,

those things will not help you,

because the people in other countries that you think love you really despise you,

and they will try to kill you.

31 It is as though I already hear the people in Jerusalem crying very loudly,

as a woman cries when she is giving birth to her first child;

she gasps for breath and pleads for someone to help her.

It is as though the people in Jerusalem are saying, ‘Something terrible is happening to me! I am very afraid because they are about to murder me!’ ”