Break Up the Unplowed Ground
The alarm sounds: an army is coming down from the north and Judah is told to run for the walled cities. Jeremiah sees the land emptied back to formless waste and cannot stop shaking. Judgment is real, but the Father says the ruin will not be total.
4 1"If you will return, Israel," declares our Father, "then return to me. If you put away your detestable things from my presence and do not waver, 2and if you swear, 'As our Father lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will bless themselves in him, and in him they will glory."
3For this is what our Father says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among thorns. 4Circumcise yourselves to our Father; remove the foreskin of your hearts, people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem—or my wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.
Disaster Comes From the North
5"Declare it in Judah, proclaim it in Jerusalem, and say: 'Blow the trumpet throughout the land!' Cry out and say: 'Gather together, and let us flee to the fortified cities!' 6Raise a signal toward Zion! Flee for safety, do not delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, a great destruction."
7A lion has come up from his thicket; a destroyer of nations is on the move. He has left his place to make your land a wasteland; your cities will fall to ruins, with no one left living in them. 8So put on mourning clothes, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of our Father has not turned away from us.
9"In that day," declares our Father, "the king and his officials will lose their courage; the priests will be appalled, and the prophets astounded."
10Then I said, "Ah, Sovereign Father! You completely deceived this people and Jerusalem: 'Peace will be yours'—while the sword reaches our throat."
11"Then this people and Jerusalem will be told: A scorching wind from bare desert heights blows toward my people's daughter—not to winnow, not to sift. 12A wind too strong for this comes at my command. Now I pronounce my judgments against them."
13Look! The enemy advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. How terrible for us—we are ruined! 14Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart, that you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts stay within you? 15For a voice declares it from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.
16Warn the nations, announce it to Jerusalem: "Besiegers are coming from a distant land; they raise their war cry against the cities of Judah. 17They surround her like watchmen guarding a field, because she has rebelled against me," declares our Father. 18Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and how bitter it is, for it pierces to your very heart.
The Prophet Weeps for His People
19My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart pounds within me; I cannot keep silent, for I have heard the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 20Disaster upon disaster is announced, for the whole land is laid waste. In an instant my tents are destroyed, my tent coverings in a moment. 21How long must I see the battle flag and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22"For my people are foolish; they do not know me. They are senseless children, with no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they do not know how to do good."
23I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone. 24I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. 25I looked, and there was no one at all; every bird of the sky had fled. 26I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its cities lay in ruins before our Father, before his fierce anger.
27For this is what our Father says: The whole land will be desolate, yet I will not completely destroy it. 28Because of this the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, for I have spoken, I have decided; I will not relent, and I will not turn back from it.
29At the noise of horsemen and archers every town flees. They flee into the thickets and climb up among the rocks; every town is abandoned, with no one living in them. 30And you, devastated one, what are you doing, dressing yourself in scarlet, adorning yourself with ornaments of gold, painting your eyes? You make yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers despise you; they want to kill you. 31For I heard a cry like a woman in labor, anguish like one bearing her first child—the cry of the daughter of Zion, gasping for breath, stretching out her hands: "How terrible for me! I am dying before the killers." a a v31 The 'daughter of Zion' is a poetic name for Jerusalem.
