If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith Jehovah, if thou wilt return unto me, and {Or, if thou wilt put…and will not wander, and wilt swear…then shall the nations &c. or, then shalt thou swear…and the nations &c.}if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight; then shalt thou not be removed;
and thou shalt swear, As Jehovah liveth, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
For thus saith Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.
Set up a standard toward Zion: flee for safety, stay not; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make thy land desolate, that thy cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.
For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us.
And it shall come to pass at that day, saith Jehovah, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the life.
At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse;
{Or, a wind too strong for this}a full wind from these shall come for me: now will I also utter judgments against them.
Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are ruined.
O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thine evil thoughts lodge within thee?
For {Or, there is a voice of one that declareth &c.}a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth evil from the hills of Ephraim.
Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
As keepers of a field are they against her round about, because she hath been rebellious against me, saith Jehovah.
Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness; {Or, surely}for it is bitter, {Or, surely}for it reacheth unto thy heart.
My anguish, my anguish! {Another reading is, I will wait patiently}I am pained at {Hebrew: the walls of my heart.}my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; because {Or, as otherwised read, my soul heareth}thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment.
How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are sottish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills {Or, moved lightly}moved to and fro.
I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
I beheld, and, lo, {Or, Carmel}the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of Jehovah, and before his fierce anger.
For thus saith Jehovah, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end.
For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.
Every city fleeth for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they go into the thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwelleth therein.
And thou, when thou art made desolate, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou {Hebrew: rendest.}enlargest thine eyes with paint, in vain dost thou make thyself fair; thy lovers despise thee, they seek thy life.
For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers.
Querverweise zu Jeremia 4,9 Jer 4,9
And it came to pass that, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, through the gate betwixt the two walls; and he went out toward the Arabah.
the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule {Or, at their hands}by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he {Hebrew: spake judgements with him. See chapter 12:1 (marg.).}gave judgment upon him.
For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; now the Chaldeans were against the city round about); and they went toward the Arabah.
They have healed also the {Or, breach}hurt of {Another reading is, the daughter of my people, as in chapter 8:11, 21}my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
Where now are your prophets that prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?
And it came to pass about ten days after, that Jehovah smote Nabal, so that he died.
{Or, Be ye amazed}Tarry ye and wonder; {Or, blind yourselves and be blind}take your pleasure and be blind: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about); and the king went by the way of the Arabah.
For Jehovah hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed {Or, your eyes; the prophets, and &c.}your eyes, the prophets; and your heads, the seers, hath he covered.
My heart is smitten like grass, and withered;For I forget to eat my bread.
And my hand shall be against the prophets that see false visions, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the {Or, secret}council of my people, neither shall they be written in the {Or, register}writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.
Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and when one buildeth up {Or, a slight wall}a wall, behold, they daub it with {Or, whitewash So in verse 11, 14, 15.}untempered mortar:
say unto them that daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my wrath; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it.
So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be uncovered; and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar; and I will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;
to wit, the prophets of Israel that prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and that see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord Jehovah.
And the spirit of Egypt shall {Hebrew: be emptied.}fail in the midst of it; and I will {Hebrew: swallow up.}destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek unto the idols, and to the {Or, whisperers}charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
{Habakkuk 1:5}Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and {Or, vanish away James 4:14.}perish;For I work a work in your days,A work which ye shall in no wise believe, if one declare it unto you.
The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the counsel of the wisest counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
Where then are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now; and let them know what Jehovah of hosts hath purposed concerning Egypt.
In that day shall the Egyptians be like unto women; and they shall tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of Jehovah of hosts, which he shaketh over them.
Therefore are my loins filled with anguish; pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am {Hebrew: bent.}pained so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
My heart {Hebrew: wandereth.}fluttereth, horror hath affrighted me; the twilight that I desired hath been turned into trembling unto me.
All thy rulers fled away together, they were bound {Or, without the bow}by the archers; all that were found of thee were bound together; {Or, that had fled from far}they fled afar off.
Therefore said I, Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; {Or, hasten}labor not to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
For it is a day of discomfiture, and of treading down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, in the valley of vision; a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the {Or, mountain}mountains.