Jeremiah:4-5

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* If thou wilt return , O Israel , saith the Lord , unto me must thou return ; and if thou wilt put away thy abominations out of my sight , then shalt thou not wander about . * And if thou wilt swear , As the Lord liveth , in truth , in justice , and in righteousness : then shall nations bless themselves in him , and in him shall they glorify themselves . * For thus hath said the Lord to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem , Plough up your fallow ground , that ye may not sow among thorns . * Circumcise yourselves to the Lord , and remove the obduracy of your heart , O ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem : lest my fury come forth like fire , and burn so that none can quench it , because of the evil of your doings . * Tell ye in Judah , and publish in Jerusalem , and say , Blow ye the cornet in the land : call out , gather together , and say , Assemble yourselves , and let us go into the fortified cities . * Set up the standard toward Zion ; save yourselves by flight , stay not ; for evil do I bring from the north , and a great destruction . * The lion is come up from his thicket , and the destroyer of nations hath commenced his march , he is gone forth from his place , to make thy land desolate ; and thy cities shall be laid waste , left without an inhabitant . * For this gird yourselves with sackcloths , lament and wail ; for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned away from us . * And it shall come to pass on that day , saith the Lord , that the heart of the king and the heart of the princes shall fail ; and the priests shall be astonished , and the prophets shall wonder . * Then said I , Ah , Lord Eternal ! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem , saying , Ye shall have peace ; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul . * At that time shall be announced to this people and to Jerusalem a dry wind from the mountain –peaks in the wilderness , on the road to the daughter of my people ; not to winnow , nor to cleanse , * A strong wind from these places shall come unto me : now also will I myself pronounce judgment against them . * Behold , like clouds shall he come up , and like a whirlwind shall be his chariots : swifter than eagles are his horses . "Woe unto us ! for we are wasted ." * Wash from wrong doing thy heart , O Jerusalem , in order that thou mayest be saved . How long wilt thou let lodge within thee the thoughts of thy wickedness ? * For a voice declareth from Dan , and publisheth unhappiness from the mountain of Ephraim . * Make ye mention of it to the nations ; behold , let it be heard against Jerusalem , that beleaguerers come from a far –off country , and send forth their voice against the cities of Judah . * As keepers of a field are they against her round about ; because against me hath she been rebellious , saith the Lord . * Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee : this is thy wickedness , which is so bitter , which so reacheth unto thy heart . * My bowels , my bowels ! I am shaken , at the very chambers of my heart ; my heart beateth tumultuously in me ; I cannot remain silent ; because the sound of the cornet hast thou heard , O my soul , the alarm of war . * Ruin upon ruin is called out ; for the whole land is wasted : suddenly are my tents wasted , and in a moment , my curtains . * How long shall I see the standard , hear the sound of the cornet ? * "Because my people is foolish , me have they not known ; sottish children are they , and they have not any understanding : wise are they to do evil , but how to do good they do not know ." * I look at the earth , and , lo , it is without form and void ; and toward the heavens , and their light is gone . * I look at the mountains , and , lo , they tremble , and all the hills are moved . * I look , and , lo , there is no man , and all the birds of the heavens are fled . * I look , and , lo , the fruitful country is a wilderness , and all its cities are laid waste at the presence of the Lord , because of the fierceness of his anger . * For thus hath said the Lord , Desolate shall be the whole land ; yet a full end will I not make . * For this shall mourn the earth , and black shall be the heavens above ; because I have spoken it , I have purposed it , and I will not repent , and I will not turn back from it . * From the noise of horsemen and those that shoot with the bow fleeth the whole city ; they go into thickets , and climb up upon the rocks : every city is forsaken , and not a man dwelleth therein . * And thou , O wasted one , what wilt thou do ? Though thou clothe thyself with scarlet , though thou adorn thyself with ornaments of gold , though thou encircle with paint thy eyes : in vain shalt thou make thyself beautiful ; the adulterers will despise thee , thy life will they seek . * For a voice as of a woman in travail have I heard , the anguish as of one that bringeth forth her first child , the voice of the daughter of Zion , that groaneth , that spreadeth out her hands , "Woe is me now ! for my soul succumbeth to the murderers ." * Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem , and see now , and notice , and search in its broad places , if ye can find one man , if there be one that executeth justice , that searcheth for truth : and I will pardon it . * And though they say , "As the Lord liveth !" surely they only swear to a falsehood . * O Lord , are not thy eyes to the truth ? thou didst strike them , but they felt it not ; thou didst make an end of them , they refused to accept correction : they made their faces harder than a rock , they refused to return . * Yet I myself thought , Oh these are but poor ; they are foolish ; for they knew not the way of the Lord , the ordinance of their God . * I had better go unto the great men , and let me speak with them ; for these surely know the way of the Lord , the ordinance of their God ; but these altogether have broken the yoke , burst the bands . * Therefore slayeth them the lion out of the forest , the wolf of the deserts wasteth them , the leopard lieth in wait against their cities : every one that cometh out thence shall be torn in pieces ; because many are their transgressions , very numerous are their backslidings . * How shall I for this pardon thee ? thy children have forsaken me , and sworn by those that are not gods : when I had fed them to the full , they then committed adultery , and assembled themselves by troops in the harlot ’s house . * As robust horses they rose by times in the morning : every one neighed after the wife of his neighbor . * Shall I not for these things inflict punishment ? saith the Lord : and shall on a nation such as this my soul not be avenged ? * Scale ye her walls , and destroy ; but make not a full end : remove her young shoots ; for they are not the Lord ’s . * For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me , saith the Lord . * They have denied the Lord , and said , "He existeth not ; nor will evil come over us ; and the sword and famine shall we not see . * And the prophets shall become wind , and the word is not in them :" thus shall it be done unto them . * Therefore thus hath said the Lord the God of hosts , Because ye speak this word , behold , I will make my words in thy mouth to be a fire , and this people wood , and it shall devour them . * Lo , I will bring over you a nation from afar , O house of Israel , saith the Lord : it is a mighty nation , it is a most ancient nation , a nation whose language thou wilt not know , and thou wilt not understand what they speak . * Their quiver is as an open sepulchre : they are all mighty men . * And they shall consume thy harvest , and thy bread ; they shall consume thy sons and thy daughters ; they shall consume thy flocks and thy herds ; they shall consume thy vines and thy fig –trees ; they shall depopulate thy fortified cities , those wherein thou trustedst , with the sword . * Nevertheless even in those days , saith the Lord , will I not make a full end of you . * And it shall come to pass , when ye will say , For what reason hath the Lord our God done all these things unto us ? that thou shalt say unto them , In the same manner as ye have forsaken me , and served strange gods in your land , so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours . * Announce this in the house of Jacob , and publish it in Judah , saying , * Do now hear this , O sottish people , who have no heart ; who have eyes , and see not ; who have ears , and hear not ; * Will ye not fear me ? saith the Lord ; will ye not tremble at my presence , who have placed the sand as a bound for the sea by an everlasting law , which it can never pass over ? and though the waves thereof be upheaved , yet can they not prevail ; though they roar , yet can they not pass over it . * But this people hath a stubborn and a rebellious heart : they have departed and have gone their way . * And they have not said in their heart , Let us now fear the Lord our God , that giveth rain , the early and the latter rain , in its season : the appointed weeks of the harvest doth he ever preserve for us . * Your iniquities have turned away these things , and your sins have withholden what is good from you . * For there are found among my people wicked men : they lie in wait , as he that layeth snares ; they set a trap , they catch men . * As a coop is full of birds , so are their houses full of deceit : therefore are they become great , and grown rich . * They are grown fat , they are stout ; yea , they surpass even the deeds of the wicked : they pronounce no sentence , the sentence of the fatherless , that they might prosper ; and the cause of the needy do they not judge . * shall I not for these things inflict punishment ? saith the Lord : or shall on a nation such as this my soul not be avenged ? * An astonishing and horrible thing is committed in the land ; * The prophets prophesy falsely , and the priests bear rule by their means ; and my people love to have it so ; but what will ye do in the end thereof ? * Assemble , O ye children of Benjamin , to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem , and in Tekoa , blow the cornet , and on Beth –hakkerem set up a fire signal ; for evil is seen out of the north , and great havoc .

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