1 "If you will turn back, O Israel," declares the LORD, "turn back to me; and if you remove your vile things from before my face and no longer stray,
2 and if you swear, 'As the LORD lives,' in truth, in justice and in righteousness, then nations will bless themselves by him, and in him they will boast."
3 For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: "Break up for yourselves the fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.
4 Be circumcised to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your heart, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that my wrath does not go forth like fire and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds."
5 Make it known in Judah, and let it be heard in Jerusalem; say, "Sound the horn throughout the land; cry out with a full voice and say, 'Gather together, and let us go into the fortified cities.'
6 Lift up a banner toward Zion; take refuge, do not stand still; for I am bringing evil from the north, and a great shattering.
7 A lion has come up from his thicket; a destroyer of nations is on the move; he has left his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins with no one living in them.
8 Because of this, wrap yourselves in sackcloth, mourn and howl, for the burning anger of the LORD has not turned back from us."
9 "In that day," declares the LORD, "the heart of the king and the heart of the officials will perish; the priests will be stunned and the prophets dumbfounded."
10 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'Peace will be yours,' while the sword is touching the throat."
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A searing wind off the bare heights in the desert, on the way to the daughter of my people, not for winnowing and not for cleansing,
12 a wind too full for that comes at my bidding. Now I too will speak my sentences against them."
13 See, like clouds he comes up, his chariots like the storm wind; swifter than eagles are his horses. Woe to us, we are devastated!
14 Wash your heart clean of evil, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will your thoughts of iniquity lodge within you?
15 For a voice reports from Dan and announces disaster from the hill country of Ephraim:
16 "Tell it to the nations, look! Announce it against Jerusalem: watchers are coming from a distant land; they shout their voice against the cities of Judah.
17 Like guards of a field they surround her, because she rebelled against me," declares the LORD.
18 "Your conduct and your deeds have done these things to you. This is your evil; yes, it is bitter; yes, it reaches to your heart."
19 My bowels, my bowels! I writhe! O walls of my heart! My heart is in turmoil within me; I cannot be silent, for you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the horn, the shout of battle.
20 Disaster on disaster is announced, for the whole land is devastated; in an instant my tents are devastated, my curtains in a moment.
21 How long must I see the banner, must I hear the sound of the horn?
22 "For my people are fools; me they do not know. Stupid children are they, without understanding. Skilled they are at doing evil, but how to do good they do not know."
23 I looked at the earth, and there it was, formless and void; and to the heavens, and their light was not there.
24 I looked at the mountains, and see, they were trembling, and all the hills swayed back and forth.
25 I looked, and see, there was no human being, and every bird of the heavens had fled.
26 I looked, and see, the garden land was a desert, and all its cities were torn down before the LORD, before the heat of his anger.
27 For thus says the LORD: "All the land will become a waste, yet I will not make a complete end.
28 Because of this the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow black; for I have spoken, I have planned it, I have not relented, and I will not turn back from it."
29 At the noise of horsemen and bowmen the whole city flees; they go into the thickets and up among the crags; every city is abandoned, and no one lives in them.
30 And you, devastated one, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself in crimson, though you deck yourself with gold ornaments, though you widen your eyes with paint, you beautify yourself for nothing. Your lovers spurn you; they seek your life.
31 For I hear a sound like a woman in labor, distress like one bearing her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion gasping, spreading out her hands: "Woe is me, for my soul is fainting before killers!"