Yahweh Calls Israel to Return to Him
“If you will areturn, O Israel,” declares Yahweh,
“Then you should return to Me.
And bif you will put away your detested things from My presence
And will not waver
2 And you will aswear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’
bIn truth, in justice, and in righteousness;
Then the cnations will be blessed in Him,
And din Him they will boast.”
3 For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem,
“aBreak up your fallow ground,
And bdo not sow among thorns.
4 aCircumcise yourselves to Yahweh
And remove the foreskins of your heart,
Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Lest My bwrath go forth like fire
And burn with cnone to quench it
Because of the evil of your deeds.”
Evil from the North
5 Declare in Judah and make it heard in Jerusalem and say,
“aBlow the trumpet in the land;
Call out, make your voice full, and say,
‘bGather yourselves, and let us go
Into the fortified cities.’
6 Lift up a astandard toward Zion!
Seek safety, do not stand still,
For I am bringing bevil from the north,
And great destruction.
7 A alion has gone up from his thicket,
And a bdestroyer of nations has set out;
He has gone out from his place
To cmake your land a desolation.
Your cities will be turned into ruins
Without inhabitant.
8 For this, aI gird myself with sackcloth,
Lament and wail;
For the bburning anger of Yahweh
Has not turned back from us.”
9 “It will be in that day,” declares Yahweh, “that the aheart of the king and the heart of the princes will perish; and the priests will be appalled, and the bprophets will be astonished.”
10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely You have utterly adeceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘bYou will have peace’; whereas a sword touches the throat.”
11 In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A ascorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness along the way of the daughter of My people—not to winnow and not to cleanse, 12 a wind too full for these things—will come for My purpose; now I will also speak judgments against them.
13 Behold, he agoes up like clouds,
And his bchariots like the whirlwind;
His horses are cswifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for dwe are devastated!”
14 Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem,
That you may be saved.
How long will your awicked thoughts
Lodge within you?
15 For a voice declares from aDan,
And makes wickedness heard from Mount Ephraim.
16 “Make mention of it to the nations, saying, ‘Behold!’
Make it heard over Jerusalem,
‘Besiegers come from a afar country,
And bgive forth their voices against the cities of Judah.
17 Like watchmen of a field they are aagainst her round about
Because she has brebelled against Me,’ declares Yahweh.
18 Your aways and your deeds
Have done these things to you.
This is your evil. How bbitter!
How it has touched your heart!”
Anguish over Judah’s Desolation
19 aMy soul, my soul! I am in anguish! Oh, my heart!
My bheart is pounding in me;
I cannot be silent
Because you have heard, O my soul,
The csound of the trumpet,
The shout of war.
20 aDestruction upon destruction is called out,
For the bwhole land is devastated;
Suddenly my ctents are devastated,
My curtains in an instant.
21 How long must I see the standard
And hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “aFor My people are ignorant fools,
They know Me not;
They are simpleminded children
And have no understanding.
They are wise to bdo evil,
But to do good they do not know.”
23 I saw on the earth, and behold, it was aformless and void;
And to the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I saw on the mountains, and behold, they were aquaking,
And all the hills moved to and fro.
25 I saw, and behold, there was no man,
And all the abirds of the sky had fled.
26 I saw, and behold, the afruitful orchard was a wilderness,
And all its cities were torn down
Before Yahweh, before His burning anger.
27 For thus says Yahweh,
“The awhole land shall be a desolation,
Yet I will bnot execute a complete destruction.
28 For this the aearth shall mourn
And the bheavens above be dark
Because I have cspoken; I have purposed,
And I will not relent, nor will I turn from it.”
29 At the sound of the horseman and bowman aevery city flees;
They bgo into the thickets and climb up among the rocks;
cEvery city is forsaken,
And no man inhabits them.
30 And you, O devastated one, awhat will you do?
Although you dress in scarlet,
Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold,
Although you benlarge your eyes with paint,
In vain you make yourself beautiful.
Your clovers despise you;
They seek your life.
31 For I heard a sound as of a woman in labor pains,
The distress as of one giving birth to her first child,
The sound of the daughter of Zion agasping for breath,
bStretching out her hands, saying,
“Ah, woe is me, for my soul faints before murderers.”