1  “If you ^yreturn, O Israel,

declares the Lord,

to me you should return.

If you remove your detestable things from my presence,

and do not waver,

2  and if you ^zswear, ‘As the Lord lives,’

in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,

then nations shall ^abless themselves in him,

and in him shall they ^bglory.”

^c“Break up your fallow ground,

and sow not among thorns.

4  Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;

^dremove the foreskin of your hearts,

O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;

^elest my wrath go forth like fire,

and burn with none to quench it,

because of the evil of your deeds.”

^f“Blow the trumpet through the land;

cry aloud and say,

‘Assemble, and ^glet us go

into the fortified cities!’

6  Raise a standard toward Zion,

flee for safety, stay not,

for I bring disaster from the ^hnorth,

and great destruction.

7  A ⁱlion has gone up from his thicket,

a destroyer of nations has set out;

he has gone out from his place

^jto make your land a waste;

your cities will be ruins

without inhabitant.

8  For this ^kput on sackcloth,

lament and wail,

for the fierce anger of the Lord

has not turned back from us.”

13  Behold, he comes up like clouds;

his chariots ^plike the whirlwind;

his ^qhorses are swifter than eagles—

woe to us, for we are ruined!

14  O Jerusalem, ^rwash your heart from evil,

that you may be saved.

How long shall your wicked thoughts

lodge within you?

15  For a voice declares from Dan

and proclaims trouble from Mount Ephraim.

16  Warn the nations that he is coming;

announce to Jerusalem,

“Besiegers come ^sfrom a distant land;

they shout against the cities of Judah.

17  Like keepers of a field are they against her all around,

because she has rebelled against me,

declares the Lord.

18  ^tYour ways and your deeds

have brought this upon you.

This is your doom, and it is ^ubitter;

it has reached your very heart.”

19  My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!

Oh the walls of my heart!

My heart is beating wildly;

I cannot keep silent,

for I hear the sound of the trumpet,

the alarm of war.

20  Crash follows hard on crash;

the whole land is laid waste.

Suddenly my tents are laid waste,

my curtains in a moment.

21  How long must I see the standard

and hear the sound of the trumpet?

22  “For my people are foolish;

they ^vknow me not;

they are stupid children;

they have no understanding.

They are ‘wise’—in doing evil!

But how to do good they know not.”

23  I looked on the earth, and behold, it was ^wwithout form and void;

and to the heavens, and they had no light.

24  I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,

and all the hills moved to and fro.

25  I looked, and behold, there was no man,

and all the ^xbirds of the air had fled.

26  I looked, and behold, the ^yfruitful land was a desert,

and all its cities were laid in ruins

before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

28  “For this the earth shall ^amourn,

and the heavens above be dark;

for I have spoken; I have purposed;

I have not relented, ^bnor will I turn back.”

29  At the noise of horseman and archer

every city takes to flight;

they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;

all the cities are forsaken,

and no man dwells in them.

30  And you, O desolate one,

what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,

that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,

that you ^cenlarge your eyes with paint?

In vain you beautify yourself.

Your lovers despise you;

they seek your life.

31  For I heard a cry ^das of a woman in labor,

anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,

the cry of the ^edaughter of Zion gasping for breath,

stretching out her hands,

“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”