God Calls Israel by His Promise
1 “If you will return, Israel,” says the Lord,
“if you will return to me,
and if you will put your abominations out of my sight,
then you will not be removed,
2 and if you will swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then the nations will be blessed by him,
and they will glory in him.”
3 For the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem:
“Break up your fallow ground
and do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord
and take away the foreskins of your heart,
you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
lest my wrath go out like fire
and burn so that no one can quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds.”
Disaster from the North
5 Declare it in Judah and announce it in Jerusalem, and say:
“Blow the trumpet in the land!’
Cry aloud and say,
‘Assemble yourselves!
Let us go into the fortified cities!’
6 Set up a standard toward Zion.
Flee for safety! Do not wait!
For I will bring disaster from the north,
and great destruction.
7 A lion has gone up from his thicket
and a destroyer of nations.
He is on his way. He has left his place
to make your land desolate,
to lay waste to your cities,
leaving them without inhabitants.
8 For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for the fierce anger of the Lord
has not turned back from us.”
9 “It will happen at that time,” says the Lord,
“that the king will lose heart and perish,
along with the heart of the officials.
The priests will be appalled,
and the prophets will be astonished.”
10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace,’ whereas the sword is at our throat.”
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A dry wind from barren heights blows in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse, 12 a full wind from these places will come at my word. Now I will also utter judgments against my people.”
13 He will come up like the clouds,
and his chariots will be like the whirlwind.
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us! For we are ruined.
14 Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness,
that you may be saved.
How long will evil thoughts
be harbored within you?
15 For a voice is declaring from Dan,
announcing disaster from the hills of Ephraim,
16 Tell the nations! Proclaim against Jerusalem,
“Enemies are coming from a distant country,
to raise their voice against the cities of Judah.
17 As the keepers of a field, they surround her,
because she has been rebellious against me,” says the Lord.
18 “Your ways and your deeds
have brought these things upon you.
This is your punishment, for it is bitter,
for it pierces to the heart.”
Lamentation for Judah
19 My anguish, my anguish!
I am pained to my very heart!
My heart trembles within me.
I cannot hold my peace,
because you have heard, O my soul,
the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
20 Destruction on destruction is decreed,
for the whole land is laid waste.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
and my curtains–gone in a moment.
21 How long will I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For my people are foolish.
They do not know me.
They are foolish children,
and they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil,
but they do not know how to do good.”
23 I saw the earth,
and it was waste and void,
and the heavens,
and they had no light.
24 I saw the mountains,
and they trembled,
and all the hills moved back and forth.
25 I looked, and there was no man,
and all the birds of the sky had fled.
26 I looked, and the fruitful field was a wilderness,
and all its cities were broken down
at the presence of the Lord,
before his fierce anger.
27 For the Lord says,
“The whole land will be desolate,
yet I will not destroy it completely.
28 For this earth will mourn,
and the heavens above will be black,
because I have spoken it.
I have planned it,
and I have decided
and will not turn back from it.”
29 Every city flees
from the noise of the horsemen and archers.
They go into the thickets
and climb up on the rocks.
Every city is forsaken,
and not a man dwells within.
30 You, when you are made desolate,
what will you do?
Though you clothe yourself with scarlet,
though you deck yourself out with gold jewelry,
though you enlarge your eyes with makeup.
You make yourself beautiful in vain.
Your lovers despise you.
They seek your life.
31 For I have heard a voice like a woman in labor,
like the anguish of a woman giving birth to her first child,
the voice of the daughter of Zion,
who gasps for breath,
who spreads her hands, saying,
“Woe is me!
For I faint before the murderers.”