8“Then I saw that qfor all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had rput her away and given her a certificate of divorce; syet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.
9“So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she tdefiled the land and committed adultery with ustones and trees.
10“And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me vwith her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the LORD.
11Then the LORD said to me, w“Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
12“Go and proclaim these words toward xthe north, and say:
‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD;
‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you.
For I am ymerciful,’ says the LORD;
‘I will not remain angry forever.
13z Only acknowledge your iniquity,
That you have transgressed against the LORD your God,
And have ascattered your 2charms
To balien deities cunder every green tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the LORD.
14“Return, O backsliding children,” says the LORD; d“for I am married to you. I will take you, eone from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to fZion.
15“And I will give you gshepherds according to My heart, who will hfeed you with knowledge and understanding.
16“Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and iincreased in the land in those days,” says the LORD, “that they will say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ jIt shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore.
17“At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, kto the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. No more shall they lfollow3 the dictates of their evil hearts.
18“In those days mthe house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of nthe north to othe land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.
19“But I said:
‘How can I put you among the children
And give you pa pleasant land,
A beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?’
“And I said:
‘You shall call Me, q“My Father,”
And not turn away from Me.’
20Surely, as a wife treacherously departs from her 4husband,
So rhave you dealt treacherously with Me,
O house of Israel,” says the LORD.
21A voice was heard on sthe desolate heights,
Weeping and supplications of the children of Israel.
For they have perverted their way;
They have forgotten the LORD their God.
22“Return, you backsliding children,
And I will theal your backslidings.”
“Indeed we do come to You,
For You are the LORD our God.
23u Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills,
And from the multitude of mountains;
v Truly, in the LORD our God
Is the salvation of Israel.
24w For shame has devoured
The labor of our fathers from our youth—
Their flocks and their herds,
Their sons and their daughters.
25We lie down in our shame,
And our 5reproach covers us.
x For we have sinned against the LORD our God,
We and our fathers,
From our youth even to this day,
And yhave not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
Jeremiah 4
Jeremiah Laments over Judah
1“If you will return, O Israel,” says the LORD,
a“Return to Me;
And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight,
Then you shall not be moved.
2b And you shall swear, ‘The LORD lives,’
c In truth, in 1judgment, and in righteousness;
d The nations shall bless themselves in Him,
And in Him they shall eglory.”
3For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
f“Break up your 2fallow ground,
And gdo not sow among thorns.
4h Circumcise yourselves to the LORD,
And take away the foreskins of your hearts,
You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Lest My fury come forth like fire,
And burn so that no one can quench it,
Because of the evil of your doings.”
An Imminent Invasion
5Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say:
i“Blow the trumpet in the land;
Cry, ‘Gather together,’
And say, j‘Assemble yourselves,
And let us go into the fortified cities.’
6Set up the 3standard toward Zion.
Take refuge! Do not delay!
For I will bring disaster from the knorth,
And great destruction.”
7l The lion has come up from his thicket,
And mthe destroyer of nations is on his way.
He has gone forth from his place
n To make your land desolate.
Your cities will be laid waste,
Without inhabitant.
8For this, oclothe yourself with sackcloth,
Lament and wail.
For the fierce anger of the LORD
Has not turned back from us.
9“And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the LORD,
“That the heart of the king shall perish,
And the heart of the princes;
The priests shall be astonished,
And the prophets shall wonder.”
10Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD!
p Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem,
q Saying, ‘You shall have peace,’
Whereas the sword reaches to the 4heart.”
11At that time it will be said
To this people and to Jerusalem,
r“A dry wind of the desolate heights blows in the wilderness
Toward the daughter of My people—
Not to fan or to cleanse—
12A wind too strong for these will come for Me;
Now sI will also speak judgment against them.”
13“Behold, he shall come up like clouds,
And this chariots like a whirlwind.
u His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for we are plundered!”
14O Jerusalem, vwash your heart from wickedness,
That you may be saved.
How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
15For a voice declares wfrom Dan
And proclaims 5affliction from Mount Ephraim:
16“Make mention to the nations,
Yes, proclaim against Jerusalem,
That watchers come from a xfar country
And raise their voice against the cities of Judah.
17y Like keepers of a field they are against her all around,
Because she has been rebellious against Me,” says the LORD.
18“Yourz ways and your doings
Have procured these things for you.
This is your wickedness,
Because it is bitter,
Because it reaches to your heart.”
Sorrow for the Doomed Nation
19O my asoul, my soul!
I am pained in my very heart!
My heart makes a noise in me;
I cannot hold my peace,
Because you have heard, O my soul,
The sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.
20b Destruction upon destruction is cried,
For the whole land is plundered.
Suddenly cmy tents
are plundered,
And my curtains in a moment.
21How long will I see the 6standard,
And hear the sound of the trumpet?
22“For My people are foolish,
They have not known Me.
They are 7silly children,
And they have no understanding.
d They are wise to do evil,
But to do good they have no knowledge.”
23e I beheld the earth, and indeed it was fwithout form, and void;
And the heavens, they had no light.
24g I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled,
And all the hills moved back and forth.
25I beheld, and indeed there was no man,
And hall the birds of the heavens had fled.
26I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a iwilderness,
And all its cities were broken down
At the presence of the LORD,
By His fierce anger.
27For thus says the LORD:
“The whole land shall be desolate;
j Yet I will not make a full end.
28For this kshall the earth mourn,
And lthe heavens above be black,
Because I have spoken.
I have mpurposed and nwill not relent,
Nor will I turn back from it.
29The whole city shall flee from the noise of the horsemen and bowmen.
They shall go into thickets and climb up on the rocks.
Every city shall be forsaken,
And not a man shall dwell in it.
30“And when you are plundered,
What will you do?
Though you clothe yourself with crimson,
Though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
o Though you enlarge your eyes with paint,
In vain you will make yourself fair;
p Your lovers will despise you;
They will seek your life.
31“For I have heard a voice as of a woman in 8labor,
The anguish as of her who brings forth her first child,
The voice of the daughter of Zion bewailing herself;
She qspreads her hands, saying,
‘Woe is me now, for my soul is 9weary
Because of murderers!’
Jeremiah 5
The Justice of God’s Judgment
1“Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem;
See now and know;
And seek in her open places
a If you can find a man,
b If there is anyone who executes 1judgment,
Who seeks the truth,
c And I will pardon her.
2d Though they say, ‘As ethe LORD lives,’
Surely they fswear falsely.”
3O LORD, are not gYour eyes on the truth?
You have hstricken them,
But they have not grieved;
You have consumed them,
But ithey have refused to receive correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to return.
4Therefore I said, “Surely these are poor.
They are foolish;
For jthey do not know the way of the LORD,
The judgment of their God.
5I will go to the great men and speak to them,
For kthey have known the way of the LORD,
The judgment of their God.”
But these have altogether lbroken the yoke
And burst the bonds.
6Therefore ma lion from the forest shall slay them,
n A wolf of the deserts shall destroy them;
o A leopard will watch over their cities.
Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces,
Because their transgressions are many;
Their backslidings have increased.
7“How shall I pardon you for this?
Your children have forsaken Me
And psworn by those qthat are not gods.
r When I had fed them to the full,
Then they committed adultery
And assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8s They were like well-fed lusty stallions;
Every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the LORD.
“And shall I not tavenge Myself on such a nation as this?
10“Go up on her walls and destroy,
But do not 2make a ucomplete end.
Take away her branches,
For they are not the LORD’s.
11For vthe house of Israel and the house of Judah
Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” says the LORD.
12w They have lied about the LORD,
And said, x“It is not He.
y Neither will 3evil come upon us,
Nor shall we see sword or famine.
13And the prophets become wind,
For the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them.”
14Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts:
“Because you speak this word,
z Behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire,
And this people wood,
And it shall devour them.
15Behold, I will bring a anation against you bfrom afar,
O house of Israel,” says the LORD.
“It is a mighty nation,
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose language you do not know,
Nor can you understand what they say.
16Their quiver is like an open tomb;
They are all mighty men.
17And they shall eat up your charvest and your bread,
Which your sons and daughters should eat.
They shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
They shall destroy your fortified cities,
In which you trust, with the sword.
18“Nevertheless in those days,” says the LORD, “I dwill not 4make a complete end of you.
19“And it will be when you say, e‘Why does the LORD our God do all these things to us?’ then you shall answer them, ‘Just as you have fforsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so gyou shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours.’
20“Declare this in the house of Jacob
And proclaim it in Judah, saying,
21‘Hear this now, O hfoolish people,
Without 5understanding,
Who have eyes and see not,
And who have ears and hear not:
22i Do you not fear Me?’ says the LORD.
‘Will you not tremble at My presence,
Who have placed the sand as the jbound of the sea,
By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it?
And though its waves toss to and fro,
Yet they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.
23But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart;
They have revolted and departed.
24They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the LORD our God,
k Who gives rain, both the lformer and the latter, in its season.
m He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”
25n Your iniquities have turned these things away,
And your sins have withheld good from you.
26‘For among My people are found wicked men;
They olie in wait as one who sets snares;
They set a trap;
They catch men.
27As a cage is full of birds,
So their houses are full of deceit.
Therefore they have become great and grown rich.
28They have grown pfat, they are sleek;
Yes, they 6surpass the deeds of the wicked;
They do not plead qthe cause,
&
nbsp; The cause of the fatherless;
r Yet they prosper,
And the right of the needy they do not defend.
29s Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says the LORD.
‘Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?’
30“An astonishing and thorrible thing
Has been committed in the land:
31The prophets prophesy ufalsely,
And the priests rule by their own power;
And My people vlove to have it so.
But what will you do in the end?
Jeremiah 6
Impending Destruction from the North
1“O you children of Benjamin,
Gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
And set up a signal-fire in aBeth Haccerem;
b For disaster appears out of the north,
And great destruction.
2I have likened the daughter of Zion
To a lovely and delicate woman.
3The cshepherds with their flocks shall come to her.
They shall pitch their tents against her all around.
Each one shall pasture in his own place.”
4“Prepared war against her;
Arise, and let us go up eat noon.
Woe to us, for the day goes away,
For the shadows of the evening are lengthening.
5Arise, and let us go by night,
And let us destroy her palaces.”
6For thus has the LORD of hosts said:
“Cut down trees,
And build a mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished.
She is full of oppression in her midst.
7f As a fountain 1wells up with water,
So she wells up with her wickedness.
g Violence and plundering are heard in her.
Before Me continually are 2grief and wounds.
8Be instructed, O Jerusalem,
Lest hMy soul depart from you;
Lest I make you desolate,
A land not inhabited.”
9Thus says the LORD of hosts:
“They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel;
As a grape-gatherer, put your hand back into the branches.”
10To whom shall I speak and give warning,
That they may hear?
Indeed their iear is uncircumcised,
And they cannot give heed.
Behold, jthe word of the LORD is a reproach to them;
They have no delight in it.
11Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD.
k I am weary of holding it in.
“I will pour it out lon the children outside,
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 352