4:1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return to me:
and if thou wilt put away thy abominations out of my sight,
then shalt thou not remove.
4:2 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.
4:3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,
Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
4:4 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.
4:5 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 fortified cities.
4:6 Set up the standard towards Zion: retire, stay not: for I
will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
4:7 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; thy cities shall be laid waste, without
an inhabitant.
4:8 For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl for the
fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
4:9 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.
4:10 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly
deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have
peace; whereas the sword reacheth to the soul.
4:11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to
Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness
towards the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
4:12 [Even] a full wind from those [places] shall come to me:
now also will I give sentence against them.
4:13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots [shall
be] as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to
us! for we are laid waste.
4:14 O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou
mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within
thee?
4:15 For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction
from mount Ephraim.
4:16 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.
4:17 As keepers of a field they are against her on all sides;
because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.
4:18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these [things] to
thee; this [is] thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because
it reacheth to thy heart.
4:19 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.
4:20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land
is laid waste; suddenly are my tents ruined, [and] my curtains
in a moment.
4:21 How long shall I see the standard, [and] hear the sound of
the trumpet?
4:22 For my people [are] foolish, they have not known me; they
[are] sottish children, and they have no understanding: they
[are] wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
4:23 I beheld the earth, and lo, [it was] without form, and
void; and the heavens, and they [had] no light.
4:24 I beheld the mountains, and lo, they trembled, and all the
hills moved lightly.
4:25 I beheld, and lo, [there was] no man, and all the fowls of
the heavens had fled.
4:26 I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place [was] a wilderness,
and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the
LORD, [and] by his fierce anger.
4:27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be
desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
4:28 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.
4:29 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.
4:30 And [when] thou [art] laid waste, what wilt thou do? Though
thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee
with ornaments of gold, though thou rendest thy face with
painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair: [thy] lovers
will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
4:31 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.
|