Jeremiah:4-5
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If thou wilt return ,
O Israel Yisra #
el #,
saith the LORD ,
return unto me :
and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight ,
then shalt thou not remove .
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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 .
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For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem ,
Break up your fallow ground ,
and sow not among thorns .
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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 ma #
alal #.
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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 defenced cities .
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Set up the standard toward Zion :
retire ,
stay not :
for I will bring evil from the north ,
and a great destruction .
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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 ;
and thy cities shall be laid waste ,
without an inhabitant .
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For this gird you with sackcloth ,
lament and howl :
for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us .
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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 .
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Then said I ,
Ah ,
Lord GOD !
surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem ,
saying ,
Ye shall have peace ;
whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul .
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At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem ,
A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people ,
not to fan ,
nor to cleanse ,
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Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me :
now also will I give sentence against them .
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Behold ,
he shall come up as clouds ,
and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind :
his horses are swifter than eagles .
Woe unto us !
for we are spoiled .
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O Jerusalem ,
wash thine heart from wickedness ,
that thou mayest be saved .
How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee ?
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For a voice declareth from Dan ,
and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim .
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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 .
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As keepers of a field ,
are they against her round about ;
because she hath been rebellious against me ,
saith the LORD .
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Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee ;
this is thy wickedness ,
because it is bitter ,
because it reacheth unto thine heart .
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My bowels me #
ah #,
my bowels me #
ah #!
I am pained (
8675 )
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 .
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Destruction upon destruction is cried ;
for the whole land is spoiled :
suddenly are my tents spoiled ,
and my curtains in a moment .
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How long shall I see the standard ,
and hear the sound of the trumpet ?
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For my people is foolish ,
they have not known me ;
they are sottish children ,
and they have none understanding :
they are wise to do evil ,
but to do good they have no knowledge .
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I beheld the earth ,
and ,
lo ,
it was without form ,
and void ;
and the heavens ,
and they had no light .
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I beheld the mountains ,
and ,
lo ,
they trembled ,
and all the hills moved lightly .
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I beheld ,
and ,
lo ,
there was no man ,
and all the birds of the heavens were fled .
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I beheld ,
and ,
lo ,
the fruitful place was a wilderness ,
and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD ,
and by his fierce anger .
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For thus hath the LORD said ,
The whole land shall be desolate ;
yet will I not make a full end .
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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 .
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The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen qesheth #;
they shall go into thickets ,
and climb up upon the rocks :
every city shall be forsaken ,
and not a man dwell therein .
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And when thou art spoiled ,
what wilt thou do ?
Though thou clothest thyself with crimson ,
though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold ,
though thou rentest thy face with painting ,
in vain shalt thou make thyself fair ;
thy lovers will despise thee ,
they will seek thy life .
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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 .
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Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem ,
and see now ,
and know ,
and seek in the broad places thereof ,
if ye can find a man ,
if there be any that executeth judgment ,
that seeketh the truth ;
and I will pardon it .
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And though they say ,
The LORD liveth ;
surely they swear falsely .
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O LORD ,
are not thine eyes upon the truth ?
thou hast stricken them ,
but they have not grieved ;
thou hast consumed them ,
but they have refused to receive correction :
they have made their faces harder than a rock ;
they have refused to return .
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Therefore I said ,
Surely these are poor ;
they are foolish :
for they know not the way of the LORD ,
nor the judgment of their God .
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I will get me unto the great men ,
and will speak unto them ;
for they have known the way of the LORD ,
and the judgment of their God :
but these have altogether broken the yoke ,
and burst the bonds .
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Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them ,
and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them ,
a leopard shall watch over their cities :
every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces :
because their transgressions are many ,
and their backslidings are increased .
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How shall I pardon thee for this zo #
th #?
thy children have forsaken me ,
and sworn by them that are no gods :
when I had fed them to the full ,
they then committed adultery ,
and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots houses .
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They were as fed horses in the morning :
every one neighed after his neighbours wife .
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Shall I not visit for these things ?
saith the LORD :
and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this ?
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Go ye up upon her walls ,
and destroy ;
but make not a full end :
take away her battlements ;
for they are not the LORDS .
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For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me ,
saith the LORD .
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They have belied the LORD ,
and said ,
It is not he ;
neither shall evil come upon us ;
neither shall we see sword nor famine ra #
ab #:
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And the prophets shall become wind ,
and the word is not in them :
thus shall it be done unto them .
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Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts ,
Because ye speak this word ,
behold ,
I will make my words in thy mouth fire ,
and this people wood ,
and it shall devour them .
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Lo ,
I will bring a nation upon you from far ,
O house of Israel Yisra #
el #,
saith the LORD :
it is a mighty nation ,
it is an ancient nation ,
a nation whose language thou knowest not ,
neither understandest what they say .
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Their quiver is as an open sepulchre ,
they are all mighty men .
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And they shall eat up thine harvest ,
and thy bread ,
which thy sons and thy daughters should eat :
they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds :
they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees t @#
en #:
they shall impoverish thy fenced cities ,
wherein thou trustedst ,
with the sword .
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Nevertheless in those days ,
saith the LORD ,
I will not make a full end with you .
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And it shall come to pass ,
when ye shall say ,
Wherefore tachath #
doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us ?
then shalt thou answer them ,
Like as ye have forsaken me ,
and served strange gods in your land ,
so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours .
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Declare this in the house of Jacob Ya #
aqob #,
and publish it in Judah ,
saying ,
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Hear now this ,
O foolish people ,
and without understanding ;
which have eyes ,
and see not ;
which have ears ,
and hear not :
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Fear ye not me ?
saith the LORD :
will ye not tremble at my presence ,
which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree ,
that it cannot pass it :
and though the waves thereof toss themselves ,
yet can they not prevail ;
though they roar ,
yet can they not pass over it ?
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But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart ;
they are revolted and gone .
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Neither say they in their heart ,
Let us now fear the LORD our God ,
that giveth rain ,
both the former and the latter ,
in his season :
he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest .
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Your iniquities have turned away these things ,
and your sins have withholden good things from you .
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For among my people are found wicked men :
they lay wait ,
as he that setteth snares ;
they set a trap ,
they catch men .
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As a cage is full of birds ,
so are their houses full of deceit :
therefore they are become great ,
and waxen rich .
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They are waxen fat ,
they shine :
yea ,
they overpass the deeds of the wicked :
they judge not the cause ,
the cause of the fatherless ,
yet they prosper ;
and the right of the needy do they not judge .
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Shall I not visit for these things ?
saith the LORD :
shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this ?
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A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land ;
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The prophets prophesy falsely ,
and the priests bear rule by their means ;
and my people love to have it so :
and what will ye do in the end thereof ?
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O ye children of Benjamin ,
gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem ,
and blow the trumpet in Tekoa ,
and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem Beyth hak-Kerem #:
for evil appeareth out of the north ,
and great destruction .