1
“If you return, Yisra’el,” declares Yahuah, “return to Me. And if you remove your abominations from before My face, you shall not wander.
2
And you shall swear, ‘Yahuah lives,’ in truth, in Judgment, and in Righteousness. Then the nations shall favor themselves in Him, and in Him they shall boast.”
3
For thus says Yahuah to the ish of Yehudah and to Yerushalayim: “Break up for yourselves the untilled ground, and do not sow among thorns.
4
Circumcise yourselves to Yahuah; remove the foreskins of your hearts, ish of Yehudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim, lest My fury go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
5
Declare in Yehudah and cause it to be heard in Yerushalayim. Say, “Blow the shofar in the land.” Call with a full voice and say, “Gather yourselves, and let us enter the fortified cities.”
6
Lift a banner toward Tziyon. Seek refuge; do not stand still. For I am bringing evil from the north and a great fracture.
7
The lion has risen from his thicket; the destroyer of nations has set out. He has gone forth from his place to make your land a desolation. Your cities shall fall into ruin, without inhabitant.
8
Because of this, bind on sackcloth; lament and wail. For the burning fury of Yahuah has not turned back from us.
9
“And it shall be in that day,” declares Yahuah, “the heart of the sovereign shall perish, and the heart of the rulers; the Kohenim shall be astonished, and the prophets shall be amazed.”
10
Then I said, “Ah, Adonai Yahuah! Surely deceiving, You have deceived this people and Yerushalayim, saying, ‘Shalom shall be yours,’ though the sword reaches to the being.”
11
At that time it shall be said to this people and to Yerushalayim: “A dry wind from the bare heights in the wilderness comes toward the daughter of My people— not to winnow and not to cleanse.
12
A wind too full for these comes to Me. Now I also shall speak Judgments against them.”
13
See, he rises like clouds, and his chariots are like a storm wind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!
14
Wash your heart from evil, Yerushalayim, so that you may be saved. How long shall your troubling thoughts lodge within you?
15
For a voice declares from Dan and causes trouble to be heard from Mount Ephrayim.
16
“Cause the nations to remember; see, cause it to be heard against Yerushalayim: watchers are coming from a distant land, and they give their voice against the cities of Yehudah.
17
Like guards of a field they are against her all around, because she rebelled against Me,” declares Yahuah.
18
“Your Way and your deeds have done these to you. This is your evil. Surely it is bitter; surely it reaches to your heart.”
19
My inward parts, my inward parts! I writhe in the walls of my heart. My heart roars within me; I cannot remain silent. For you have heard, my being, the voice of the shofar, the sound of battle.
20
Fracture upon fracture is called, for all the land is ruined. Suddenly my tents are ruined, my curtains in a moment.
21
How long shall I see the banner and hear the voice of the shofar?
22
“For My people are foolish; they do not know Me. They are senseless sons and have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but they do not know how to do good.”
23
I saw the earth, and see—formless and empty; and the heavens, and their light was not.
24
I saw the mountains, and see—they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
25
I saw, and see—there was no Adam, and every bird of the heavens had fled.
26
I saw, and see—the orchard was a wilderness, and all its cities were pulled down before the face of Yahuah, before the face of His burning fury.
27
For thus says Yahuah: “All the land shall become desolate, yet I shall not make a complete end.
28
Because of this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above shall grow dark, because I have spoken; I have purposed. I shall not relent, nor shall I turn back from it.”
29
From the voice of horseman and bowman every city flees. They enter the thickets and ascend the rocks. Every city is forsaken, and no ish dwells in them.
30
And you, devastated one, what shall 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 reject you; they seek your being.
31
For I heard a voice like one laboring in birth, distress like one bringing forth her first son— the voice of the daughter of Tziyon gasping, spreading out her palms: “Woe to me now, for my being faints before killers!”