Jeremiah 4:5-Jeremiah 6:30 - An Invasion From The North

5 Declare in Judah, and let it be heard in Jerusalem; and say, Blow the trumpet in the land; cry, gather together, and say, Gather yourselves and let us go into the fortified cities. 6 Set up the banner toward Zion; flee for safety and do not wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great ruin. 7 The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the nations has set out; he has left his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will fall into ruins without inhabitant. 8 Put on sackcloth for this, wail and howl; for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us.

9 And it shall be at that day, says Jehovah, the king's heart will perish, and the heart of the rulers; and the priests will be amazed, and the prophets will be astounded.

10 Then I said, Ah, Lord Jehovah! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; but the sword reaches to the soul.

11 At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind from the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to sift nor to cleanse. 12 A wind more full than these shall come for Me. Now also I will utter judgments against them.

13 Behold, he shall come up like clouds, and his chariots like a tempest. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are plundered! 14 O Jerusalem, cleanse your heart from evil so that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you? 15 For a voice declares from Dan, and proclaims affliction from mount Ephraim. 16 Tell it to the nations: Behold! proclaim against Jerusalem! Besiegers are going to come from a distant land; and they will set their voice against the cities of Judah. 17 Like watchmen of a field, they are against her all around; because she rebelled against Me, says Jehovah. 18 Your way and your doings have brought these things on you; this is your evil, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart.

19 My bowels, my bowels! I convulse in pain. O walls of my heart! My heart is restless within me; I cannot be silent because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the ram's horn, the alarm of war. 20 Ruin on ruin is cried; for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are laid waste, my curtains in a moment. 21 How long shall I see the banner and hear the sound of the ram's horn?

22 For My people are foolish; they have not known Me; they are stupid sons, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

23 I looked on the earth, and, lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I looked on the mountains, and, lo, they quaked; and all the hills were shaken. 25 I looked, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. 26 I looked, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down before the face of Jehovah, before His fierce anger.

27 For so Jehovah has said, The whole land shall be desolate, yet I will not make a full end. 28 The earth shall mourn for this, and the heavens above shall be black, because I have spoken, I have purposed, and will not repent, nor will I turn back from it.

29 Every city shall flee from the sound of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up among the rocks. All the city is abandoned, and not a man shall live in them. 30 And you, O desolate one, what will you do? Though you dress with crimson, though you put on ornaments of gold, though you make your eyes large with paint, you shall make yourself beautiful in vain; your lovers will despise you; they will seek your life. 31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as one bearing her first child, the voice of Zion's daughter, gasping and spreading her hands, saying, Woe to me now! For my soul faints because of murderers.

1 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her open places, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks the truth; and I will pardon her. 2 And though they say, As Jehovah lives; surely they swear falsely. 3 O Jehovah, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have destroyed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return.

4 So I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they do not know the way of Jehovah, nor the judgment of their God. 5 I will go up for myself to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of Jehovah and the judgment of their God. But these have broken the yoke together and have torn off the bonds! 6 Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, and a wolf of the deserts shall rob them; a leopard shall watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from them shall be torn in pieces, because their sins are many and their backslidings are multiplied.

7 Why shall I pardon you for this? Your sons have forsaken Me, and have sworn by No-gods. When I adjured them, then they committed adultery, and gathered themselves by troops in a harlot's house. 8 They were like lusty, well-fed stallions in the morning; every one neighing after his neighbor's wife. 9 Shall I not judge for these things? says Jehovah. And shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

10 Go up on her vine-rows and destroy; but do not make a full end; take away her branches, for they are not Jehovah's. 11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very deceitfully against Me, says Jehovah. 12 They have lied against Jehovah and said, It is not He; neither shall evil come on us; nor shall we see sword nor famine. 13 And the prophets shall become wind, and the Word is not in them; so it shall be done to them.

14 Therefore so says Jehovah, the God of Hosts, Because you spoke this word, behold, I will make My Words in your mouth fire, and these people wood, and it shall devour them. 15 Lo, I will bring a nation on you from afar, O house of Israel, says Jehovah. It is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor understand what they say. 16 Their quiver is as an open grave; they are all mighty men. 17 And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread. They will devour your sons and your daughters. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig-trees. One shall beat down your fortified cities with the sword, those in which you trust.

18 But even in those days, says Jehovah, I will not make a complete end with you. 19 And it will be, when you shall say, Why does Jehovah our God do all these things to us? Then You shall answer them, Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours. 20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and cry it in Judah, saying,

21 Now hear this, O foolish people and without heart; who have eyes and see not; who have ears and hear not; 22 Do you not fear Me? says Jehovah. Will you not tremble at My presence, I who have placed the sand for the boundary of the sea by a never-ending decree, so that it cannot pass it? And though they toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail; though its waves roar, yet they cannot pass over it? 23 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and are gone. 24 And they do not say in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, who gives both the former and the latter rain in its season; He reserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest. 25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you. 26 For among My people are found wicked ones; they lie in wait, as one who sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men. 27 Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and grown rich. 28 They have become fat, they shine. Yes, they go past the deeds of the wicked; they do not judge the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may get rich; and they do not judge the right of the needy. 29 Shall I not visit for these things? says Jehovah. Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

30 An astounding and horrible thing has happened in the land. 31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so, and what will you do at the end of it?

1 O sons of Benjamin, take refuge out of the midst of Jerusalem. And blow the ram's horn in Tekoa, and set up a signal-fire over Beth-haccerem; for evil appears out of the north, and great ruin. 2 I will destroy the daughter of Zion, the beautiful and tender one. 3 The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch tents on her all around; they shall feed each one in his hand. 4 Prepare war against her; arise and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. 5 Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

6 For so has Jehovah of Hosts said, Cut down trees and cast a mound against Jerusalem! She is the city to be visited; there is nothing but oppression in her midst. 7 As a fountain keeps fresh her waters, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and spoil is heard in her; always before Me are grief and wounds. 8 O Jerusalem, you must be instructed, lest My soul depart from you; lest I make you desolate, a land without people.

9 So says Jehovah of Hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine; turn back your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.

10 To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are not circumcised, and they cannot listen. Behold, the Word of Jehovah is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it. 11 Therefore I am full of the fury of Jehovah; I am weary with holding in; I will pour it out on the children in the street, and on the circle of young men together. For even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with fullness of days. 12 And their houses shall be turned to others, together with their fields and wives; for I will stretch out My hand on the people of the land, says Jehovah.

13 For everyone from the least of them even to the greatest of them cuts off a profit; and from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. 14 They have also healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. 15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush; therefore they shall fall among those who fall. At the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, says Jehovah.

16 So says Jehovah, Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths where the good way is, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it. 17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Listen to the sound of the ram's horn. But they said, We will not listen.

18 Therefore hear, nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. 19 Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil on this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to My Words, nor to My Law, but have rejected it. 20 Why does frankincense come to Me from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not pleasing, nor your sacrifices sweet to Me. 21 Therefore so says Jehovah, Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish.

22 So says Jehovah, Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation shall be stirred from the sides of the earth. 23 They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, set in order like a man for war against you, O daughter of Zion.

24 We have heard the rumor of it; our hands become feeble; anguish has taken hold of us, and pain, like a woman in labor. 25 Do not go out into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear are on every side. 26 O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and wallow in ashes; make mourning for yourself, as for an only son, most bitter weeping; for the ravager shall suddenly come on us.

27 I have set you up an assayer, an examiner among My people, that you may know and try their way. 28 They are all grievous revolters, walking in slanders; they are bronze and iron; they are all corrupters. 29 The bellows are burned, the lead is melted by the fire; the refiner melts in vain; for the wicked are not plucked away. 30 Reprobate silver they call them, because Jehovah has rejected them.