Jeremiah 4:5-Jeremiah 6:30 - An Invasion From The North
5 Announce ye in Judah, and cause to be heard in Jerusalem; and say, Strike the trumpet in the land: call, fill up, and say, Be ye gathered together and we will go to the fortified cities. 6 Lift up the signal of Zion: save ye by flight, ye shall not stand: for I bring evil from the north, and a great breaking. 7 The lion came up from his thicket, and destroying, he broke up the nations; he went forth from his place to set thy land for a desolation; thy cities shall be laid waste from none inhabiting. 8 For this, be ye girded with sackcloth, lament and wail: for the heat of the anger of Jehovah turned not back from us.
9 And it was in that day, says Jehovah, the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the chiefs; and the priests were astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
10 And saying, Ah, Lord Jehovah! surely, deceiving, thou didst deceive to this people and to Jerusalem, saying, Peace shall be to you; and the sword reached even to the soul.
11 In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A clear wind of the naked hills in the desert the way of the daughter of my people, not for winnowing, and not for separating. 12 A spirit of fulness above these shall come to me: now will I also speak judgments to them.
13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots as the whirlwind: his horses were swift above eagles. Wo to us for we were laid waste. 14 O Jerusalem, wash from evil to thy heart so that thou shalt be saved. How long shall purposes of thy vanity lodge in the midst of thee? 15 For a voice announcing from Dan, and causing calamity to be heard from mount Ephraim. 16 Bring ye to remembrance to the nations; behold, cause to be heard against Jerusalem, watchers coming from a land afar off, and they shall give their voice against the cities of Judah. 17 As watching a field they were against her from round about; for she embittered against me, says Jehovah. 18 Thy way and thy doings did these things to thee; this thine evil, for it was bitter because it reached even to thy heart.
19 My bowels, my bowels! I shall afflict the walls of my heart; my heart made commotion to me; I shall not be silent, for the voice of the trumpet thou didst hear, O my soul, the tumult of war. 20 Breaking upon breaking was called; for all the land was laid waste: suddenly were my tents laid waste, my curtains in a moment 21 How long shall I see the signal, shall I hear the voice of the trumpet?
22 For my people are foolish, they knew me not; foolish sons are they and they not understanding; wise are they to do evil, and to do good they knew not
23 I saw the earth, and behold, emptiness and a void; and to the heavens, and no lights. 24 I saw the mountains, and behold them trembling, and all the hills were shaken. 25 I saw, and behold, no man, and all the birds of the heavens fled away. 26 I saw, and behold, Carmel a desert, and all its cities were broken down from the face of Jehovah, from the face of the heat of his anger.
27 For thus said Jehovah, All the earth shall be a desert; and I will not make a completion. 28 For this, shall the earth mourn, and the heavens became dark from above: because I spake, I purposed, I lamented not, and I will not turn back from it
29 From the voice of the horseman and the throwing of the bowman all the city fled; they went into thickets, and they went up upon rocks: every city was forsaken, and not a man dwelling in them. 30 And thou being laid waste, what wilt thou do? If thou shalt put on scarlet, if thou shalt adorn thee with ornaments of gold, if thou shalt rend thine eyes with paint, in vain shalt thou beautify thyself: the lovers despised thee; they will Seek thy soul. 31 For I heard. the voice as of her bringing forth, the anguish as of her bearing her first child; the voice of the daughter of Zion, she will sigh, she will spread forth her hands, Wo now to me for my soul fainted for those slaying.
1 Run ye to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her broad places, if ye shall find a man, if there is he doing judgment, seeking faithfulness; and I will pardon to her. 2 And if Jehovah lives, they will say, for this they will swear to a falsehood. 3 O Jehovah, are not thine eyes upon faithfulness? thou didst smite them, and they were not pained; thou didst consume them, they refused to take instruction: they made their faces firm above the rock; they refused to turn back.
4 And I said, Surely, they are weak; they became foolish: for they knew not the way of Jehovah, the judgment of their God. 5 I will go for myself to the great ones, and I will speak to them; for they knew the way of Jehovah, the judgment of their God: surely they together broke the yoke and tore away the bonds. 6 For this, a lion from the forest struck them, a wolf of the deserts will destroy them, the panther watched over their cities: every one going forth from thence shall be torn in pieces; for their transgressions were multiplied, their turnings away were strong.
7 How shall I forgive to thee for this? thy sons forsook me, and they will swear by not God; and I will satisfy them, and they will commit adultery, and they will crowd themselves together to the house of the harlot 8 They were horses seducing to fornication: roaming about, they will neigh, a man for the wife of his neighbor. 9 For these shall I not review? says Jehovah; and shalt not my soul be avenged upon a nation such as this?
10 Go ye up upon her walls and destroy; and ye shall not make a completion: remove her twigs, for they are not to Jehovah. 11 For acting faithlessly, the house of Israel and the house of Judah acted faithlessly against me, says Jehovah. 12 They lied against Jehovah, and they will say, Not he; and evil shall not come upon us; and we shall not see the sword and famine: 13 And the prophets shall be for wind, and the word not in them: so shall it be done to them.
14 For this, thus said Jehovah, the God of armies, Because ye spake this word, behold me giving my word in thy mouth for fire, and this people wood, and it consumed them. 15 Behold me bringing upon you a nation from far off, O house of Israel, says Jehovah: it is a nation of strength, it is a nation of old, a nation thou wilt not know its tongue, and thou shalt not hear what it will speak. 16 Its quiver as a grave being opened, all they are strong. 17 And it ate thy harvest and thy bread, that thy sons and thy daughters shall eat: it shall eat thy sheep and thine oxen: it shall eat thy vine and thy fig-trees: it shall break down thy fortified cities which thou trustedst in them, with the sword.
18 And also in those days, says Jehovah, I will not make with you a completion. 19 And it was when ye shalt say, For what did Jehovah our God all these things to us? and thou saidst to them, As ye forsook me, and ye will serve a strange god in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land not to you. 20 Announce ye this in the house of Jacob, and cause it to be heard in Judah, saying,
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and no heart; eyes to them and they will not see; and ears to them, and they will not hear: 22 Will ye not fear me? says Jehovah; or will ye not tremble from my face, who set the sand a bound to the sea a law forever, and it shall not pass over it: and its waves shall toss themselves and shall not prevail; and they were put in commotion and shall not pass over it 23 And to this people was a heart turning aside and perverse, and they turned aside and departed. 24 And they said not in their heart, Now will we fear Jehovah our God, giving rain, and the early and latter rain in its time: the appointed sevenths of harvest he will watch for us 25 Your iniquities turned away these things, and your sins withheld the good from you. 26 for evil ones were found among my people: he will look about as the stooping of fowlers; they set snares, they will take men. 27 As a cane full of birds, so their houses full of deceit: for this they were magnified and they will be rich. 28 They became fat, they shone: they passed over words of evil: they judged not judgment, the judgment of the orphan, and they will give success; and the judgment of the needy they judged not. 29 For these things shall I not review? says Jehovah: or shall not my soul be avenged upon a nation such as this?
30 Astonishment and horror was in the land. 31 The prophets prophesied in falsehood, and the priests will spread out with their hands; and my people loved it thus: and what will ye do to its last part
1 Be strong, ye sons of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem, and in Tekoa strike the trumpet, and lift up a lifting up upon the house of the vineyard, for evil overhung from the north, and great breaking. 2 I likened the daughter of Zion to her becoming and delicate 3 To her shall come the shepherds and their flocks; they fixed the tents upon her round about; they fed each with his hand. 4 Consecrate ye war against her; arise, and we will go up at noon. Wo to us! for the day turned away, for the shadows of the evening will stretch forth. 5 Arise, and we will go up in the night, and we will destroy her fortresses.
6 For thus said Jehovah of armies, Cut off the wood, and throw up a mound against Jerusalem: this the city to be reviewed; oppression is wholly in her midst 7 As a pit, letting flow her waters, so she dug up her evil: violence and oppression will be heard in her; upon my face continually disease and smiting. 8 Be admonished, O Jerusalem, lest thy soul shall be alienated from thee; lest I shall set thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.
9 Thus said Jehovah of armies, Gleaning, they shall glean as a vine the remainder of Israel: turn back thy hand as he gathering grapes into wicker baskets.
10 To whom shall I speak and testify, and they will hear? behold, their ear being uncircumcised, and they shall not be able to hearken: behold, the word of Jehovah was to them for a reproach; they will not delight in it 11 I was filled with the wrath of Jehovah; I was weary holding up; to pour out upon the child in the street and upon the assembly of the young men together; for also the man with the woman shall be taken, the old man with the full of days. 12 And their houses were turned to others, the fields and women together; for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the earth, says Jehovah.
13 For from their little even to their great, every one plundering, plundered; and from the prophet and even to the priest every one did falsehood. 14 And they will heal the breaking of the daughter of my people by making light, and saying, Peace, peace; and no peace. 15 Were they ashamed when they did abomination? also shaming they will not be ashamed; also they knew not feeling shame; for this they shall fall with those falling: in the time of my reviewing them they shall faint, said Jehovah.
16 Thus said Jehovah, Stand ye upon the ways, and see, and ask for the beaten paths of old, where this the good way, and go ye in it, and find rest to your soul. And they will say, We will not go. 17 And I set up watchers over you, Attend ye to the voice of the trumpet And they will say, We will not attend.
18 For this, hear ye nations, and know, O Assembly, what is among them. 19 Hear, thou earth: Behold me bringing evil to this people, the fruit of their purposes, for to my word they hearkened not, and my law they will reject it. 20 Wherefore this to me shall frankincense come from Sheba, and the good cane from a land from far off? your burnt-offerings are not for acceptance, and your sacrifices were not sweet to me. 21 For this, thus said Jehovah, Behold me giving to this people stumbling blocks, and they stumbled upon them, the fathers and sons together; the inhabitant and his neighbor shall perish
22 Thus said Jehovah, Behold, a people coming from the land of the north, and a great nation shall be raised up from the thighs of the earth. 23 They shall lay hold of bow and javelin; it is fierce and they will not pity; their voice will roar as the sea, and they will ride upon horses arranged as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion..
24 We heard its report: our hands were relaxed; straits held us, pain as of her bringing forth 25 Thou shalt not go forth to the field, and thou shalt not go by the way; for the sword to the enemy, fear from round about. 26 O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, and roll thyself in ashes: make to thee the mourning of an only begotten, a wailing of bitterness; for he laying waste shall suddenly come upon us.
27 I gave thee a watch-tower among my people, a fortification, and thou shalt know and try their way. 28 They are all turning aside, degenerate shoots, going about tale-bearing: brass and iron, they are destroyers all of them. 29 The bellows were burnt from their fire, the founder melted the lead in vain, and the evil were not plucked up. 30 They called to them, Rejected silver, because Jehovah rejected them.