|
Chapter 4 |
| 1 | If thou wilt
return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away
thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. |
| 2 | And
thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness;
and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they
glory. |
| 3 |
For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,
Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. |
| 4 | Circumcise
yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of
Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn
that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. |
| 5 |
Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in
the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go
into the defenced cities. |
|
6 | Set up the standard toward Zion:
retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great
destruction. |
| 7
| The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer
of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land
desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant. |
| 8 |
For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the
LORD is not turned back from us. |
| 9 | And it shall come to pass at
that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the
heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets
shall wonder. |
|
10 | Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly
deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the
sword reacheth unto the soul. |
|
11 | At that time shall it be said to this
people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward
the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse, |
| 12 | Even a full
wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence
against them. |
|
13 | Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his
chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto
us! for we are spoiled. |
| 14 | O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from
wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge
within thee? |
|
15 | For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth
affliction from mount Ephraim. |
| 16 | Make ye mention to the
nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far
country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. |
| 17 | As
keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been
rebellious against me, saith the LORD. |
| 18 | Thy way and thy doings have
procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter,
because it reacheth unto thine heart. |
| 19 | My bowels, my bowels! I am
pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace,
because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of
war. |
| 20 |
Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is
spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. |
| 21 |
How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
|
| 22 | For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish
children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do
good they have no knowledge. |
|
23 | I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was
without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. |
| 24 | I
beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved
lightly. |
| 25
| I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of
the heavens were fled. |
| 26 | I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a
wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the
LORD, and by his fierce anger. |
| 27 | For thus hath the LORD said,
The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. |
| 28 |
For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have
spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back
from it. |
| 29
| The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen
and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every
city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein. |
| 30 | And when
thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson,
though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face
with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise
thee, they will seek thy life. |
| 31 | For I have heard a voice as
of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first
child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that
spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of
murderers. |
