If you return, O Yisra'el, return to Me, says יהוה. If you remove your detestable things from before Me, then you will not wander.

And you will swear, 'As יהוה lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. And the nations will bless themselves in Him, and in Him they will boast.

For thus says יהוה to the man of Yehudah and to Yerushalayim: Plow for yourselves a plowed field, and do not sow among thorns.

Circumcise yourselves to יהוה, and remove the foreskins of your heart, O man of Yehudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim. Lest My anger go forth like fire, and burn, and there be no one to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.

Declare in Yehudah and proclaim in Yerushalayim. And say, Blow a trumpet in the land! Call out, Gather! And say, Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities.

Raise a banner toward Tsiyon! Flee for safety! Do not stand still! For I am bringing evil from the north, and great destruction.

A lion has come up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has gone forth from his place to make your land a desolation. Your cities will be ruined, with no inhabitant.

For this, gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament, and wail. For the fierce anger of יהוה has not turned back from us.

And it will happen on that day, says יהוה, that the heart of the king and the heart of the officials will perish. And the priests will be astonished, and the prophets will wonder.

And I said, Alas, Adonai Elohim! Indeed, have You completely deceived this people and Yerushalayim, saying, 'There will be peace for you,' when the sword reaches the very life!

At that time it will be said to this people and to Yerushalayim: A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness, on the way of the daughter of My people. Not to winnow, and not to cleanse.

A wind fuller than these will come for Me. Now also I will speak judgments against them.

Behold, like clouds He will ascend, and like a whirlwind His chariots. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are devastated!

Wash your heart from evil, O Yerushalayim, so that you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you?

For a voice declares from Dan, and announces disaster from the hill country of Efrayim.

Remind the nations; behold, proclaim against Yerushalayim: Watchmen are coming from a distant land, and they are raising their voices against the cities of Yehudah.

Like keepers of a field they are against her all around, because she has provoked Me, says יהוה.

Your way and your deeds have brought these things upon you. This is your bitterness, because it is bitter, because it has reached your heart.

My insides, my insides! I am in anguish! The walls of my heart are groaning within me! I cannot be silent, because you have heard the sound of the trumpet, O my soul, the alarm of war.

Destruction upon destruction is proclaimed, for the whole land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are devastated, my curtains in an instant.

How long will I see the banner and hear the sound of the trumpet?

For My people are foolish; they do not know Me. They are foolish children; they have no understanding. They are skillful at doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

I looked at the land, and behold, it was formless and void. And at the heavens, and there was no light.

I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were shaking, and all the hills were trembling.

I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled.

I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down before יהוה, before the fierceness of His anger.

For thus says יהוה: The whole land will be a desolation, but I will not make a complete end.

For this, the land will mourn, and the heavens above will darken, because I have spoken, I have planned, and I will not change My mind, nor will I turn back from it.

At the sound of the horseman and archer, every city flees. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned, and no man dwells in them.

And you, devastated one, what will you do? Though you dress in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with kohl, you beautify yourself in vain. Lovers despise you; they seek your life.

For I heard a voice like a woman in labor, distress like one giving birth for the first time. The voice of the daughter of Tsiyon, gasping, spreading her hands. 'Alas for me! For I am faint from the killers.'