 1 If you will return, O Israel, says the Lord, return to me. If you will put away your abominations out of your sight, then you shall not be moved. 2 You shall swear, The Lord lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in Him and in Him they shall glory. 3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground and do not sow among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and take away the foreskins of your heart, men of Judah and people 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. 5 Declare in Judah and let it be heard in Jerusalem. Say, Blow the trumpet in the land. Cry out. Gather together and say, Assemble yourselves and let us go into the fortified+ cities. 6 Set up the standard toward Zion. Flee+ and do not stay. For I will bring evil from the north and great destruction. 7 The lion has come up from his thicket and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way. He has left his place to make your land desolate. Your cities will be destroyed+ with no inhabitants. 8 Put on sackcloth for this, wail and howl. For the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us. 9 In that day, says the Lord, The king's heart will perish and the heart of the rulers. The priests will be amazed and the prophets will be astounded. 10 Then I said, Lord God, surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem saying, You will have peace. But the sword reaches to the soul. 11 At that time, it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind from the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to sift nor to cleanse. 12 A wind more full than these will come for me. Now I will utter judgments against them. 13 He will come up like clouds and his chariots like a tempest. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are plundered. 14 O Jerusalem, cleanse your heart from evil so that you may be saved. How long will your vain thoughts lodge within you? 15 For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims affliction from mount Ephraim. 16 Tell it to the nations: Proclaim against Jerusalem. Besiegers are going to come from a distant land. They will set their voice against the cities of Judah. 17 Like watchmen of a field, they are against her all around. Because she rebelled against me, says the Lord. 18 your way and your doings have brought these things on you. This is your evil, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart. 19 My bowels, my bowels. I convulse in pain. O walls of my heart. My heart is restless within me. I cannot be silent because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the ram's horn, the alarm of war. 20 Disaster upon disaster is reported. The whole land is destroyed+. Suddenly my tents and my curtains are destroyed+ in a moment. 21 How long shall I see the banner and hear the sound of the ram's horn? 22 My people are foolish. They have not known me. They are stupid+ sons and have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. 23 I looked on the earth and it was without form and void. The heavens had no light. 24 I looked on the mountains and they quaked. All the hills were shaken. 25 I looked and there was no man. All the birds of the heavens had fled. 26 I looked and the fruitful place was a wilderness. All its cities were broken down before the face of the Lord, before His fierce anger. 27 For so the Lord has said, The whole land shall be desolate, yet I will not make a full end. 28 The earth shall mourn for this, and the heavens above shall be black, because I have spoken, I have purposed, and will not repent, nor will I turn back from it. 29 Every city shall flee from the sound of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up among the rocks. All the city is abandoned, and not a man shall live in them. 30 You, O desolate one, what will you do? Though you dress with crimson, though you put on ornaments of gold, though you make your eyes large with paint, you shall make yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers will despise you. They will seek your life. 31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as one bearing her first child, the voice of Zion's daughter, gasping and spreading her hands, saying, Woe to me now. For my soul faints because of murderers.
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