Jeremiah 4:19–6:15
Anguish over Judah’s Desolation
19 dMy anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
Oh the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
I cannot keep silent,
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.
20 eCrash follows hard on crash;
the whole land is laid waste.
fSuddenly my tents are laid waste,
my curtains in a moment.
21 How long must I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For gmy people are foolish;
they know me not;
they are stupid children;
they have no understanding.
hThey are ‘wise’—in doing evil!
But how to do good they know not.”
23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was iwithout form and void;
jand to the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I looked on kthe mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
25 lI looked, and behold, there was no man,
and all the birds of the air had fled.
26 I looked, and behold, the mfruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the Lord, before nhis fierce anger.
27 For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation; oyet I will not make a full end.
28 p“For this the earth shall mourn,
qand the heavens above be dark;
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
rI have not relented, nor will I turn back.”
29 At the noise of horseman and archer
every city takes to flight;
they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;
all the cities are forsaken,
and sno man dwells in them.
what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
tthat you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
uthat you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
vYour lovers despise you;
they seek your life.
31 For I heard wa cry as of a woman in labor,
anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,
the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
xstretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”
5 yRun to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look and take note!
Search her squares to see
zif you can find a man,
one who does justice
and seeks truth,
athat I may pardon her.
2 bThough they say, “As the Lord lives,”
cyet they swear falsely.
3 O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
dYou have struck them down,
but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
but they refused to take correction.
eThey have made their faces harder than rock;
they have refused to repent.
4 Then I said, “These are only the poor;
they have no sense;
ffor they do not know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.
and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.”
gBut they all alike had broken the yoke;
they had burst the bonds.
6 Therefore ha lion from the forest shall strike them down;
a iwolf from the desert shall devastate them.
jA leopard is watching their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
their kapostasies are great.
7 l“How can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
mand have sworn by those who are no gods.
nWhen I fed them to the full,
othey committed adultery
pand trooped to the houses of whores.
8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
qeach neighing rfor his neighbor’s wife.
9 sShall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord;
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?
10 t“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
ubut make not a full end;
strip away her branches,
for they are not the Lord’s.
11 vFor the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly treacherous to me,
declares the Lord.
12 They have spoken falsely of the Lord
and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
wno disaster will come upon us,
xnor shall we see sword or famine.
13 The prophets will become wind;
the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!’ ”
14 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:
“Because you have spoken this word,
behold, yI am making my words in your mouth za fire,
and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
15 aBehold, I am bringing against you
a nation from afar, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.
It is an enduring nation;
it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
bnor can you understand what they say.
16 cTheir quiver is like dan open tomb;
they are all mighty warriors.
17 eThey shall eat up your harvest and your food;
they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;
they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
your ffortified cities in which you trust
they shall beat down with the sword.”
18 “But even in those days, declares the Lord, uI will not make a full end of you. 19 And when your people say, g‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, hso you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’ ”
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob;
proclaim it in Judah:
21 “Hear this, iO foolish and senseless people,
jwho have eyes, but see not,
who have ears, but hear not.
22 kDo you not fear me? declares the Lord.
Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand las the boundary for the sea,
a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
though mthey roar, they cannot pass over it.
23 nBut this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say in their hearts,
‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
owho gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
pthe weeks appointed for the harvest.’
25 qYour iniquities have turned these away,
and your sins have kept good from you.
26 For wicked men are found among my people;
rthey lurk like fowlers lying in wait.1
sThey set a trap;
they catch men.
their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
28 tthey have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
uthey judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
29 vShall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord,
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?”
30 An appalling and whorrible thing
has happened in the land:
31 xthe prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule at their direction;
ymy people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?
Impending Disaster for Jerusalem
6 Flee for safety, zO people of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in aTekoa,
and raise a signal on bBeth-haccherem,
for disaster looms cout of the north,
and great destruction.
2 The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,
3 eShepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
fthey shall pitch their tents around her;
they shall pasture, each in his place.
4 g“Prepare war against her;
arise, and let us attack hat noon!
Woe to us, for the day declines,
for the shadows of evening lengthen!
5 Arise, and let us attack by night
and destroy her palaces!”
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts:
i“Cut down her trees;
jcast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be kpunished;
there is nothing but oppression within her.
7 lAs a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her evil;
mviolence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.
nlest I turn from you in disgust,
lest I make you oa desolation,
an uninhabited land.”
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
p“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
over its branches.”
10 qTo whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
rBehold, their ears are uncircumcised,
sthey cannot listen;
behold, tthe word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
uI am weary of holding it in.
v“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
wboth husband and wife xshall be taken,
the elderly and the very aged.
12 yTheir houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together,
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,”
declares the Lord.
13 z“For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone ais greedy for unjust gain;
and from bprophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, c‘Peace, peace,’
dwhen there is no peace.
15 eWere they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
fat the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the Lord.