VIN(i)
1 If you will return, O Israel, says the LORD, return to Me. And if you will put away your hateful idols out of My face and will not waver,
2 -- and thou shalt in truth, in justice, and in righteousness swear, [As] the LORD liveth! and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
3 For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, "Break up your unplowed ground, and don't sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and remove the foreskin of your heart, you men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem, or else my wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to put it out, because of your evil deeds."
5 Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say, Blow the trumpet in the land. Cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves and let us go into the fortified cities.
6 Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety, do not stay. For I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
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 inhabitant.
8 So, put on sackcloth, mourn and wail, because the burning anger of the LORD has not turned away from us."
9 "In that day," declares the LORD, "the king and the officials will lose their courage. The priests will be stunned. The prophets will be amazed and astonished."
10 Then I said, Ah, Sovereign LORD! 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 will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert is coming toward my people, and it's not for winnowing or cleansing.
12 a wind too strong for these will come for me, now also I speak judgments against them."
13 Look, he comes up like the clouds, and his chariots are like the whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles, woe to us, for we are devastated.
14 "O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart so that you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you?
15 For a voice is sounding from Dan, giving out evil from the hills of 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 "They surround Judah like men guarding a field, because Judah has rebelled against me," declares the LORD.
18 "Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart."
19 "My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the aching of my heart! My heart pounds within me; I cannot keep silent. For I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm for war.
20 Ruin on ruin is cried; for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are laid waste, my curtains in a moment.
21 How long will I see the battle standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.”
23 I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void, at the heavens, and there was no light there.
24 I looked on the mountains, and, lo, they quaked; and all the hills were shaken.
25 I see that there are no people, and every bird has flown away.
26 I looked, and the fruitful land had become a desert. All its towns were broken down because of the LORD, because of his burning anger.
27 the LORD says: "The whole earth will be ruined, although I will not entirely destroy it.
28 For this the earth will mourn and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it, I have purposed it and I have not relented, nor will I turn back from it.
29 At the sound of the horseman and the archer the entire city flees. Its residents go into the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned, and no one lives in them.
30 And what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, and adorn yourself with golden ornaments; though you adorn your eyes with paint, your beauty shall be in vain. Your lovers have rejected you, they seek your life.
31 I heard a cry like that of a woman in labor, anguish like one giving birth to her first born, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for air, stretching out her hand: "Woe is me! I'm about to faint in front of killers!"