October
23rd Jeremiah 4 Return to The Lord
1: If thou wilt return, O Israel,
saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations
out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. 2: And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment,
and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him
shall they glory. 3: For thus
saith the LORD to the men of Judah
and Jerusalem,
Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. 4: Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the
foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah
and inhabitants of Jerusalem:
lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of
the evil of your doings. 5:
Declare ye in Judah, and
publish in Jerusalem;
and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say,
Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities. 6: Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for
I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. 7: The lion is come up from his
thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from
his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste,
without an inhabitant. 8: For
this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD
is not turned back from us. 9:
And it shall come to pass at 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 wonder. 10: Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived
this people and Jerusalem,
saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul. 11: At that time shall it be said to
this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness
toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse, 12: Even a full wind from those
places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them. 13: Behold, he shall come up as
clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than
eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled. 14:
O Jerusalem,
wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy
vain thoughts lodge within thee? 15:
For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.
16: 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.
17: As keepers of a field, are
they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me,
saith the LORD. 18: Thy way and
thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness,
because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart. 19: My bowels, my bowels! I am pained
at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace,
because thou hast heard, my soul, the
sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 20:
Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly
are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. 21: How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the
trumpet? 22: For my people is
foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none
understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
23: I beheld the earth, and,
lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 24: I beheld the mountains, and, lo,
they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. 25: I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of
the heavens were fled. 26: I
beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities
thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. 27: For thus hath the LORD said, The
whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. 28: For this shall the earth mourn,
and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it,
and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. 29: The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and
bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city
shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein. 30: And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou
clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold,
though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself
fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life. 31: For I have heard a voice as of a
woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first
child, the voice of the daughter of Zion,
that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my
soul is wearied because of murderers.
Jeremiah
5 The Sins of Jerusalem & Judah
1: Run ye to and fro through the
streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places
thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that
seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. 2:
And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely. 3: O LORD, are not thine eyes upon
the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast
consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made
their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. 4: Therefore I said, Surely these are
poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment
of their God. 5: I will get me
unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of
the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the
yoke, and burst the bonds. 6:
Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings
shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth
out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and
their backslidings are increased. 7:
How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by
them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed
adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. 8: They were as fed horses in the
morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife. 9: Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall
not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 10: Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full
end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD's. 11: For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have
dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD. 12: They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither
shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: 13: And the prophets shall become
wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them. 14: Wherefore thus saith the LORD God
of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth
fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 15: Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith
the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose
language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. 16: Their quiver is as an open
sepulchre, they are all mighty men. 17:
And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy
daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall
eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities,
wherein thou trustedst, with the sword. 18:
Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with
you. 19: And it shall come to
pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto
us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served
strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not
yours. 20: Declare this in the
house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 21: Hear now this, O foolish people,
and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and
hear not: 22: Fear ye not me?
saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand
for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and
though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they
roar, yet can they not pass over it? 23:
But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and
gone. 24: Neither say they in
their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the
former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks
of the harvest. 25: Your
iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good
things from you. 26: For among
my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they
set a trap, they catch men. 27:
As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they
are become great, and waxen rich. 28:
They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked:
they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and
the right of the needy do they not judge. 29: Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall
not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30: A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; 31: The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and
what will ye do in the end thereof?
In Ch 4 Jeremiah calls on Judah in the name of the Lord to
make a full repentance in returning to the Lord in heart and in practical
action. The Lord calls on Judah
to dig deep in the land that has been left idle and circumcise their minds. The
Lord is going to bring judgment from the north and a great destruction. Men are
to clothe themselves in sack cloth and cry to the Lord. The Lord calls on Jerusalem to wash their
minds. He foretells total destruction and a land spoiled by the enemy. The
mountains will shake and at the presence of the Lord cities will crumble. Yet
the Lord will not completely destroy everything. In their foolishness that will
seek to decorate themselves but will be murdered by those who are their lovers.
In Ch 5 Jeremiah talks about the inability to find one righteous man in Jerusalem, one who speaks
the truth. They say ‘The Lord liveth’ but it is just words - having no meaning.
They do not know the Lord. The Lord will bring righteous judgment on a nation
that is full of adultery and who lie against the Lord and whose prophets they
refuse to hear. The Lord will bring a nation from afar whose language they do
not understand. Who are strong and have mighty men. They will eat harvest, the
flocks, the vines and the figs. The nation is foolish, they have eyes but do
not see, ears but do not hear.
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