Aug 16 - Jeremiah 4-5
Jeremiah
1If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.2And 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.3For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.4Circumcise 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.5Declare 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.6Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.7The 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.8For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.9And 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.10Then 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.11At 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,12Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.13Behold, 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.14O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?15For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.16Make 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.17As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.18Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.19My 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.20Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.21How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?22For 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.23I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.24I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.25I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.26I 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.27For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.28For 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.29The 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.30And 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.31For 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.
1Run 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.2And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.3O 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.4Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.5I 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.6Wherefore 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.7How shall I pardon thee for this? 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.8They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.9Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?10Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD'S.11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.12They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:13And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.14Wherefore 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.15Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, 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.16Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.17And 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: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.18Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.19And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore 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.20Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,21Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:22Fear 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?23But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.24Neither 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.25Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.26For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.27As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.28They 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.29Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?30A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;31The 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?