Bible Browser

²¹ A voice on the bare heights^* is heard,
   the plaintive weeping of Israel’s children,
because they have perverted their way,
   they have forgotten the Lord their God:
²² Return, O faithless children,
   I will heal your faithlessness.

‘Here we come to you;
   for you are the Lord our God.
²³ Truly the hills are^* a delusion,
   the orgies on the mountains.
Truly in the Lord our God
   is the salvation of Israel.

24 ‘But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our ancestors had laboured, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ²⁵Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonour cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our ancestors, from our youth even to this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.’

4If you return, O Israel,

says the Lord,
   if you return to me,
if you remove your abominations from my presence,
   and do not waver,
² and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives!’
   in truth, in justice, and in uprightness,
then nations shall be blessed^* by him,
   and by him they shall boast.

3 For thus says the Lord to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
Break up your fallow ground,
   and do not sow among thorns.
⁴ Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
   remove the foreskin of your hearts,
   O people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
or else my wrath will go forth like fire,
   and burn with no one to quench it,
   because of the evil of your doings.

Invasion and Desolation of Judah Threatened

5 Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say:
Blow the trumpet through the land;
   shout aloud^* and say,
‘Gather together, and let us go
   into the fortified cities!’
⁶ Raise a standard towards Zion,
   flee for safety, do not delay,
for I am bringing evil from the north,
   and a great destruction.
⁷ A lion has gone up from its thicket,
   a destroyer of nations has set out;
   he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
   your cities will be ruins
   without inhabitant.
⁸ Because of this put on sackcloth,
   lament and wail:
‘The fierce anger of the Lord
   has not turned away from us.’

⁹On that day, says the Lord, courage shall fail the king and the officials; the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded. ¹⁰Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God, how utterly you have deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, “It shall be well with you”, even while the sword is at the throat!’

11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights^* in the desert towards my poor people, not to winnow or cleanse— ¹²a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgement against them.
¹³ Look! He comes up like clouds,
   his chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are swifter than eagles—
   woe to us, for we are ruined!
¹⁴ O Jerusalem, wash your heart clean of wickedness
   so that you may be saved.
How long shall your evil schemes
   lodge within you?
¹⁵ For a voice declares from Dan
   and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim.
¹⁶ Tell the nations, ‘Here they are!’
   Proclaim against Jerusalem,
‘Besiegers come from a distant land;
   they shout against the cities of Judah.
¹⁷ They have closed in around her like watchers of a field,
   because she has rebelled against me,

says the Lord.
¹⁸ Your ways and your doings
   have brought this upon you.
This is your doom; how bitter it is!
   It has reached your very heart.’

Sorrow for a Doomed Nation

¹⁹ My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
   Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
   I cannot keep silent;
for I^* hear the sound of the trumpet,
   the alarm of war.
²⁰ Disaster overtakes disaster,
   the whole land is laid waste.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
   my curtains in a moment.
²¹ How long must I see the standard,
   and hear the sound of the trumpet?
²² ‘For my people are foolish,
   they do not know me;
they are stupid children,
   they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil,
   but do not know how to do good.’