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The Prophecy
of Jeremias 4
If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return
to me: if thou wilt take away thy stumblingblocks out
of my sight, thou shalt not be moved.
And thou shalt swear: As the Lord liveth, in truth,
and in judgement, and in justice: and the Gentiles shall
bless him, and shall praise him.
For thus saith the Lord to the men of Juda and Jerusalem:
Break up anew your fallow ground, and sow not upon thorns:
Be circumcised to the Lord, and take away the foreskins
of your hearts, ye men of Juda, and ye inhabitants of
Jerusalem: lest my indignation come forth like fire,
and burn, and there be none that can quench it: because
of the wickedness of your thoughts.
Declare ye in Juda, and make it heard in Jerusalem:
speak, and sound with the trumpet in the land: cry aloud,
and say: Assemble yourselves, and let us go into strong
cities.
Set up the standard in Sion. Strengthen yourselves,
stay not: for I bring evil from the north, and great
destruction.
The lion is come up out of his den, and the robber of
nations hath roused himself: he is come forth out of
his place, to make thy land desolate: thy cities shall
be laid waste, remaining without an inhabitant.
For this gird yourselves with haircloth, lament and
howl: for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned
away from us.
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord:
That the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart
of the princes: and the priests shall be astonished,
and the prophets shall be amazed
And I said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, hast thou
then deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying: You
shall have peace: and behold the sword reacheth even
to the soul?
At that time it shall be said to this people, and to
Jerusalem: A burning wind is in the ways that are in
the desert of the way of the daughter of my people,
not to fan, nor to cleanse.
A full wind from these places shall come to me: and
now I will speak my judgments with them.
Behold he shall come up as a cloud, and his chariots
as a tempest: his horses are swifter than eagles: woe
unto us, for we are laid waste.
Wash thy heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou
mayst be saved: how long shall hurtful thoughts abide
in thee?
For a voice of one declaring from Dan, and giving notice
of the idol from mount Ephraim.
Say ye to the nations: Behold it is heard in Jerusalem,
that guards are coming from a far country, and give
out their voice against the cities of Juda.
They are set round about her, as keepers of fields:
because she hath provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord.
They ways, and thy devices have brought these things
upon thee: this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter,
because it hath touched thy heart.
My bowels, my bowels are in pain, the senses of my heart
are troubled within me, I will not hold my peace, for
my soul hath heard the sound of the trumpet, the cry
of battle.
Destruction upon destruction is called for, and all
the earth is laid waste: my tents are destroyed on a
sudden, and my pavilions in a moment.
How long shall I see men fleeing away, how long shall
I hear the sound of the trumpet?
For my foolish people have not known me: they are foolish
and senseless children: they are wise to do evil, but
to do good they have no knowledge.
I beheld the earth, and lo it was void, and nothing:
and the heavens, and there was no light in them.
I looked upon the mountains, and behold they trembled:
and all the hills were troubled.
I beheld, and lo there was no man: and all the birds
of the air were gone.
I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all
its cities were destroyed at the presence of the Lord,
and at the presence of the wrath of his indignation.
For thus saith the Lord: All the land shall be desolate,
but yet I will not utterly destroy.
The earth shall mourn, and the heavens shall lament
from above: because I have spoken, I have purposed,
and I have not repented, neither am I turned away from
it.
At the voice of the horsemen, and the archers, all the
city is fled away; they have entered into thickets and
have climbed up the rocks: all the cities are forsaken,
and there dwelleth not a man in them.
But when thou art spoiled what wilt thou do? though
thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, and paintest
thy eyes with stibic stone, thou shalt dress thyself
out in vain: thy lovers have despised thee, they will
seek thy life.
For I have heard the voice as of a woman in travail,
anguishes as of a woman in labor of a child. The voice
of the daughter of Sion, dying away, spreading her hands:
Woe is me, for my soul hath fainted because of them
that are slain. |
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