The Book of JEREMIAH - Chapter Four

1

If you, Israel, will return, 

    then return to me,’

declares the Lord.

‘If you put your detestable idols out of my sight

    and no longer go astray,

2 

and if in a truthful, just and righteous way

    you swear, “As surely as the Lord lives,”

then the nations will invoke blessings by him

    and in him they will boast.’

3

 This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:

‘Break up your unploughed ground

    and do not sow among thorns.

4 

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,

    circumcise your hearts,

    you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,

or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire

    because of the evil you have done –

    burn with no one to quench it.

——————

5 

‘Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say:

    “Sound the trumpet throughout the land!”

Cry aloud and say:

    “Gather together!

    Let us flee to the fortified cities!”

6 

Raise the signal to go to Zion!

    Flee for safety without delay!

For I am bringing disaster from the north,

    even terrible destruction.’

7 

A lion has come out of his lair;

    a destroyer of nations has set out.

He has left his place

    to lay waste your land.

Your towns will lie in ruins

    without inhabitant.

8 

So put on sackcloth,

    lament and wail,

for the fierce anger of the Lord

    has not turned away from us.

9 

‘In that day,’ declares the Lord,

    ‘the king and the officials will lose heart,

the priests will be horrified,

    and the prophets will be appalled.’

10

 Then I said, ‘Alas, Sovereign Lord! 

How completely you have deceived this people 

and Jerusalem by saying,

 “You will have peace,” when the sword is at our throats!’

11

 At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told,

 ‘A scorching wind from the barren heights 

in the desert blows towards my people, 

but not to winnow or cleanse;

 12

 a wind too strong for that comes from me. 

Now I pronounce my judgments against them.’

13 

Look! He advances like the clouds,

    his chariots come like a whirlwind,

his horses are swifter than eagles.

    Woe to us! We are ruined!

14 

Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved.

    How long will you harbour wicked thoughts?

15 

A voice is announcing from Dan,

    proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.

16 

‘Tell this to the nations,

    proclaim concerning Jerusalem:

“A besieging army is coming from a distant land,

    raising a war cry against the cities of Judah.

17 

They surround her like men guarding a field,

    because she has rebelled against me,”’

declares the Lord.

18 

‘Your own conduct and actions

    have brought this on you.

This is your punishment.

    How bitter it is!

    How it pierces to the heart!’

19 

Oh, my anguish, my anguish!

    I writhe in pain.

Oh, the agony of my heart!

    My heart pounds within me,

    I cannot keep silent.

For I have heard the sound of the trumpet;

    I have heard the battle cry.

20 

Disaster follows disaster;

    the whole land lies in ruins.

In an instant my tents are destroyed,

    my shelter in a moment.

21 

How long must I see the battle standard

    and hear the sound of the trumpet?

22 

‘My people are fools;

    they do not know me.

They are senseless children;

    they have no understanding.

They are skilled in doing evil;

    they know not how to do good.’

23 

I looked at the earth,

    and it was formless and empty;

and at the heavens,

    and their light was gone.

24 

I looked at the mountains,

    and they were quaking;

    all the hills were swaying.

25 

I looked, and there were no people;

    every bird in the sky had flown away.

26 

I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert;

    all its towns lay in ruins

    before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

27 

This is what the Lord says:

‘The whole land will be ruined,

    though I will not destroy it completely.

28 

Therefore the earth will mourn

    and the heavens above grow dark,

because I have spoken and will not relent,

    I have decided and will not turn back.’

29 

At the sound of horsemen and archers

    every town takes to flight.

Some go into the thickets;

    some climb up among the rocks.

All the towns are deserted;

    no one lives in them.

30 

What are you doing, you devastated one?

    Why dress yourself in scarlet

    and put on jewels of gold?

Why highlight your eyes with makeup?

    You adorn yourself in vain.

Your lovers despise you;

    they want to kill you.

31 

I hear a cry as of a woman in labour,

    a groan as of one bearing her first child –

the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,

    stretching out her hands and saying,

‘Alas! I am fainting;

    my life is given over to murderers.’

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READINGS

The Book of JEREMIAH 

Chapter Four

Read by Sir David Suchet

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OVERVIEW 

The Book of JEREMIAH

 - Overview -

The Bible Project 

Jeremiah "The Bible in 5" 

Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

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STUDY - LINKS

The Book of JEREMIAH 

David Pawson

Part 1

Part 2 

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The Book of JEREMIAH - Chapter Three

1 

‘If a man divorces his wife

    and she leaves him and marries another man,

should he return to her again?

    Would not the land be completely defiled?

But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers –

    would you now return to me?’

declares the Lord.

2 

‘Look up to the barren heights and see.

    Is there any place where you have not been ravished?

By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers,

    sat like a nomad in the desert.

You have defiled the land

    with your prostitution and wickedness.

3 

Therefore the showers have been withheld,

    and no spring rains have fallen.

Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;

    you refuse to blush with shame.

4 

Have you not just called to me:

    “My Father, my friend from my youth,

5 

will you always be angry?

    Will your wrath continue for ever?”

This is how you talk,

    but you do all the evil you can.’

——————

6 During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, ‘Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8 I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. 9 Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. 10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretence,’ declares the Lord.

11 The Lord said to me, ‘Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. 12 Go, proclaim this message towards the north:

‘“Return, faithless Israel,” declares the Lord,

    “I will frown on you no longer,

for I am faithful,” declares the Lord,

    “I will not be angry for ever.

13 

Only acknowledge your guilt –

    you have rebelled against the Lord your God,

you have scattered your favours to foreign gods

    under every spreading tree,

    and have not obeyed me,”’

declares the Lord.

14 ‘Return, faithless people,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I am your husband. I will choose you – one from a town and two from a clan – and bring you to Zion. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16 In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘people will no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honour the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18 In those days the people of Judah will join the people of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.

19 ‘I myself said,

‘“How gladly would I treat you like my children

    and give you a pleasant land,

    the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.”

I thought you would call me “Father”

    and not turn away from following me.

20 

But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,

    so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,’

declares the Lord.

21 

A cry is heard on the barren heights,

    the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel,

because they have perverted their ways

    and have forgotten the Lord their God.

22 

‘Return, faithless people;

    I will cure you of backsliding.’

‘Yes, we will come to you,

    for you are the Lord our God.

23 

Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills

    and mountains is a deception;

surely in the Lord our God

    is the salvation of Israel.

24 

From our youth shameful gods have consumed

    the fruits of our ancestors’ labour –

their flocks and herds,

    their sons and daughters.

25 

Let us lie down in our shame,

    and let our disgrace cover us.

We have sinned against the Lord our God,

    both we and our ancestors;

from our youth till this day

    we have not obeyed the Lord our God.’

-=-=-=-=-=-=

READINGS

The Book of JEREMIAH 

Chapter Three

Read by Sir David Suchet

-=-=-=-=-=-

OVERVIEW 

The Book of JEREMIAH

 - Overview -

The Bible Project 

Jeremiah "The Bible in 5" 

Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

-=-=-=-=-=-

STUDY - LINKS

The Book of JEREMIAH 

David Pawson

Part 1

Part 2 

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