1. If you will return, O Israel, says Jehovah, return to Me. And if you will turn away from your hateful idols out of My face and will not waver,
2. and you will swear, As Jehovah lives, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; even the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they will glory.
3. For so says Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow to the thorns.
4. Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskin of your heart, O men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, that My fury not go forth like fire and burn, so that no one can put it out; because of the evil of your doings.
5. Declare in Judah, and make it heard in Jerusalem, and say, Blow the ram's horn in the land. Cry, fulfill and say, Assemble yourselves and go into the fortified cities.
6. Lift up a banner toward Zion. Flee for safety and do not wait. For I will bring evil from the north and a great ruin.
7. The lion has come up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will fall into ruins without one living in them.
8. Clothe yourselves with sackcloth for this, wail and howl. For the fierce anger of Jehovah has not turned back from us.
9. And it will be on that day, says Jehovah, the king's heart and the heart of the rulers shall perish. And the priests shall be amazed; and the prophets shall be astounded.
10. Then I said, Ah, Lord Jehovah! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace, but the sword reaches to the soul.
11. At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare hills in the desert toward the daughter of My people, not to sift nor to cleanse!
12. A wind more full than these shall come for Me. Now I also will speak judgments against them.
13. Behold, he shall come up like clouds, and his chariots like a tempest. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are plundered!
14. O Jerusalem, cleanse your heart from evil so that you may be saved. Until when will your vain thoughts lodge within you?
15. For a voice announces from Dan, and proclaims evil from Mount Ephraim.
16. Tell it to the nations: Behold, proclaim against Jerusalem, Besiegers are coming from a distant land and will set their voice against the cities of Judah.
17. Like the ones watching a field, they are against her all around because she has rebelled against Me, says Jehovah.
18. Your way and your doings have done these things to you; this is your evil, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart.
19. My bowels! My bowels! I convulse in pain. O walls of my heart! My heart is restless within me. I cannot be silent, for I have heard, O my soul, the sound of the ram's horn, the alarm of war!
20. Ruin on ruin has been called; for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are laid waste, my curtains in a moment.
21. Until when must I see the banner and hear the sound of the ram's horn?
22. For My people are foolish. They do not know Me. They are stupid children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but they do not know to do good.
23. I looked on the earth, and, behold! It was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.
24. I looked on the mountains, and, behold! They quaked, and all the hills were shaken.
25. I looked, and, behold! There was no man, and all the birds of the skies had fled.
26. I looked, and, behold! The fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down before the face of Jehovah, before His glowing anger.
27. For so Jehovah has said, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
28. The earth shall mourn for this, and the heavens above shall grow black, because I have seen, I have purposed and I will not repent, nor will I turn back from it.
29. Every city shall flee from the noise of the horsemen and shooters of the bow. They shall go into thickets and go up in the rocks. Every city shall be forsaken, and not a man shall live in them.
30. And you, O stripped one, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you make large your eyes with paint, you beautify yourself in vain. Lovers despise you; they will seek your life.
31. For I have heard a voice as of a sick woman, the anguish as one bearing her first child, the voice of Zion's daughter gasping and spreading her hands, saying, Woe is to me now, for my soul faints because of murderers.