| 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. |
