1“If you return, Israel,” declares Yahweh, “to me you shall return; and if you remove your detestable things from my presence and do not wander,
2and you swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will bless themselves in him, and in him they will glory.”
3For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up for yourselves fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.
4Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and remove the foreskins of your heart, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.
5Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, “Blow the trumpet through the land!” Cry aloud and say, “Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities!”
6Raise a signal toward Zion! Take refuge, do not stand still! For I am bringing disaster from the north, and great destruction.
7A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone forth from his place to make your land a desolation; your cities will be laid waste, without inhabitant.
8For this, gird yourselves with sackcloth; mourn and wail, for the burning anger of Yahweh has not turned away from us.
9“And it will happen on that day,” declares Yahweh, “that the heart of the king will perish, and the heart of the officials; the priests will be appalled, and the prophets will be astonished.”
10Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace,’ while the sword reaches to the life.”
11At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: “A clear wind from the bare heights in the wilderness, on the way toward the daughter of my people — not to winnow and not to cleanse —
12a wind too full for these comes at my bidding; now I myself will pronounce judgments against them.
13Behold, he comes up like clouds, and his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!
14Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you?
15For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims trouble from the hill country of Ephraim.
16Report to the nations! Behold, proclaim concerning Jerusalem: “Besiegers are coming from a distant land; they raise their voice against the cities of Judah.”
17Like watchmen of a field they are against her all around, because she has rebelled against me, declares Yahweh.
18Your way and your deeds have brought these things upon you. This is your evil — how bitter it is, for it reaches to your heart.
19My bowels, my bowels! I writhe in anguish! The walls of my heart! My heart pounds within me; I cannot keep silent, for I have heard the sound of the trumpet, my soul, the alarm of war.
20Destruction upon destruction is proclaimed, for the whole land is devastated; suddenly my tents are destroyed, in a moment my curtains.
21How long must I see the signal, must I hear the sound of the trumpet?
22“For my people are foolish; they do not know me. They are stupid children, and they have no understanding. They are wise in doing evil, but to do good they do not know.”
23I looked at the earth, and behold, it was formless and void; and to the heavens, and their light was gone.
24I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills swayed to and fro.
25I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
26I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were torn down before Yahweh, before his burning anger.
27For thus says Yahweh: “The whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end.
28For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above will grow dark, because I have spoken, I have purposed; I will not relent, nor will I turn back from it.
29At the sound of horseman and archer every city takes to flight; they enter the thickets and climb up among the rocks; every city is abandoned, and no one dwells in them.
30And you, O devastated one, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain you make yourself beautiful. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.
31For I have heard a cry like a woman in labor, anguish like one bearing her first child—the cry of the Daughter of Zion, gasping for breath, spreading out her hands: “Woe is me now, for my life faints before the killers!”
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