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¹If you return, Israel — this is the LORD’s declaration — you will return to me, if you remove your abhorrent idols from my presence and do not waver,

²then you can swear, “As the LORD lives,” in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by him and will pride themselves in him.

³For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: Break up the unplowed ground; do not sow among the thorns.

⁴Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. Otherwise, my wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it because of your evil deeds.

⁵Declare in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land. Cry out loudly and say: Assemble yourselves, and let’s flee to the fortified cities.

⁶Lift up a signal flag toward Zion. Run for cover! Don’t stand still! For I am bringing disaster from the north — a crushing blow.

⁷A lion has gone up from his thicket; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to make your land a waste. Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.

⁸Because of this, put on sackcloth; mourn and wail, for the LORD’s burning anger has not turned away from us.

⁹“On that day” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “the king and the officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be scared speechless.”

¹⁰I said, “Oh no, Lord GOD, you have certainly deceived this people and Jerusalem, by announcing, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”

¹¹“At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, ‘A searing wind blows from the barren heights in the wilderness on the way to my dear people. It comes not to winnow or to sift;

¹²a wind too strong for this comes at my call. Now I will also pronounce judgments against them.’”

¹³Look, he advances like clouds; his chariots are like a storm. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!

¹⁴Wash the evil from your heart, Jerusalem, so that you will be delivered. How long will you harbor malicious thoughts?

¹⁵For a voice announces from Dan, proclaiming malice from Mount Ephraim.

¹⁶Warn the nations: Look! Proclaim to Jerusalem: Those who besiege are coming from a distant land; they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.

¹⁷They have her surrounded like those who guard a field, because she has rebelled against me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁸Your way and your actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. It is very bitter, because it has reached your heart!

¹⁹My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in agony! Oh, the pain in my heart! My heart pounds; I cannot be silent. For you, my soul, have heard the sound of the ram’s horn — the shout of battle.

²⁰Disaster after disaster is reported because the whole land is destroyed. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my tent curtains, in a moment.

²¹How long must I see the signal flag and hear the sound of the ram’s horn?

²²“For my people are fools; they do not know me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing what is evil, but they do not know how to do what is good.”

²³I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty. I looked to the heavens, and their light was gone.

²⁴I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills shook.

²⁵I looked, and there was no human being, and all the birds of the sky had fled.

²⁶I looked, and the fertile field was a wilderness. All its cities were torn down because of the LORD and his burning anger.

²⁷For this is what the LORD says: The whole land will be a desolation, but I will not finish it off.

²⁸Because of this, the earth will mourn; the skies above will grow dark. I have spoken; I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back from it.

²⁹Every city flees at the sound of the horseman and the archer. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned; no inhabitant is left.

³⁰And you, devastated one, what are you doing that you dress yourself in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, that you enhance your eyes with makeup? You beautify yourself for nothing. Your lovers reject you; they intend to take your life.

³¹I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child. The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands: “Woe is me, for my life is weary because of the murderers!”

¹Roam through the streets of Jerusalem. Investigate; search in her squares. If you find one person, any who acts justly, who pursues faithfulness, then I will forgive her.

²When they say, “As the LORD lives,” they are swearing falsely.

³LORD, don’t your eyes look for faithfulness? You have struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They made their faces harder than rock, and they refused to return.

⁴Then I thought: They are just the poor; they have been foolish. For they don’t understand the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.

⁵I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God. However, these also had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.

⁶Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down. A wolf from arid plains will ravage them. A leopard stalks their cities. Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces because their rebellious acts are many, their unfaithful deeds numerous.

⁷Why should I forgive you? Your children have abandoned me and sworn by those who are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery; they gashed themselves at the prostitute’s house.

⁸They are well-fed, eager stallions, each neighing after someone else’s wife.

⁹Should I not punish them for these things? This is the LORD’s declaration. Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?

¹⁰Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them, but do not finish them off. Prune away her shoots, for they do not belong to the LORD.

¹¹They, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, have dealt very treacherously with me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹²They have contradicted the LORD and insisted, “It won’t happen. Harm won’t come to us; we won’t see sword or famine.”

¹³The prophets become only wind, for the LORD’s word is not in them. This will in fact happen to them.

¹⁴Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD of Armies says: Because you have spoken this word, I am going to make my words become fire in your mouth. These people are the wood, and the fire will consume them.

¹⁵I am about to bring a nation from far away against you, house of Israel. This is the LORD’s declaration. It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.

¹⁶Their quiver is like an open grave; they are all warriors.

¹⁷They will consume your harvest and your food. They will consume your sons and your daughters. They will consume your flocks and your herds. They will consume your vines and your fig trees. With the sword they will destroy your fortified cities in which you trust.

¹⁸“But even in those days” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “I will not finish you off.

¹⁹When people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us? ’ You will respond to them, ‘Just as you abandoned me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

²⁰“Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying:

²¹Hear this, you foolish and senseless people. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They have ears, but they don’t hear.

²²Do you not fear me? This is the LORD’s declaration. Do you not tremble before me, the one who set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an enduring barrier that it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot pass over it.

²³But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and have gone away.

²⁴They have not said to themselves, ‘Let’s fear the LORD our God, who gives the seasonal rains, both autumn and spring, who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.’

²⁵Your guilty acts have diverted these things from you. Your sins have withheld my bounty from you,

²⁶for wicked men live among my people. They watch like hunters lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.

²⁷Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have grown powerful and rich.

²⁸They have become fat and sleek. They have also excelled in evil matters. They have not taken up cases, such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper, and they have not defended the rights of the needy.

²⁹Should I not punish them for these things? This is the LORD’s declaration. Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?

³⁰An appalling, horrible thing has taken place in the land.

³¹The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it like this. But what will you do at the end of it?