Disaster from the North

Jeremiah 4

5 Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
h "Blow the trumpet through the land;
cry aloud and say,
i 'Assemble, and let us go
into the fortified cities!'
 6 j Raise a standard toward Zion,
flee for safety, stay not,
for I bring disaster from k the north,
l and great destruction.
 7 m A lion has gone up from his thicket,
a destroyer of nations has set out;
he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
your cities will be ruins
n without inhabitant.
 8 For this o put on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for p the fierce anger of the Lord
has not turned back from us."

9 "In that day, declares the Lord, q courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded." 10 Then I said, "Ah, Lord God, r surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'It shall be well with you,' whereas the sword has reached their very life."

11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A hot wind from s the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, 12 a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who t speak in judgment upon them."

13 Behold, he comes up like clouds;
u his chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are v swifter than eagles -
woe to us, w for we are ruined!
 14 O Jerusalem, x wash your heart from evil,
that you may be saved.
How long shall your wicked thoughts
lodge within you?
 15 For a voice y declares from Dan
and proclaims trouble from z Mount Ephraim.
 16 Warn the nations that he is coming;
announce to Jerusalem,
"Besiegers come a from a distant land;
they shout against the cities of Judah.
 17 Like keepers of a field b are they against her all around,
because she has rebelled against me,
declares the Lord.
 18 Your ways and your deeds
have brought this upon you.
This is your doom, and c it is bitter;
it has reached your very heart."

  1. Cross References
    Jeremiah 6:1
    Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms out of the north, and great destruction.
    Hosea 5:8
    Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven; we follow you, O Benjamin!
    Joel 2:1
    Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near.
  2. Cross References
    Jeremiah 8:14
    Why do we sit still? Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities and perish there, for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish and has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord.
  3. Cross References
    Jeremiah 50:2
    "Declare among the nations and proclaim, set up a banner and proclaim, conceal it not, and say: 'Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed. Her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.'
    Jeremiah 51:12
    Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon; make the watch strong; set up watchmen; prepare the ambushes; for the Lord has both planned and done what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
    Jeremiah 51:27
    Set up a standard on the earth; blow the trumpet among the nations; prepare the nations for war against her; summon against her the kingdoms, Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like bristling locusts.
  4. Cross References
    Jeremiah 1:13
    The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:28
    But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
  6. Cross References
    Jeremiah 2:15
    The lions have roared against him; they have roared loudly. They have made his land a waste; his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant.
    Jeremiah 5:6
    Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.
    Jeremiah 49:19
    Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make him run away from her. And I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me?
  7. Cross References
    Jeremiah 33:10
    Thus says the Lord : In this place of which you say, 'It is a waste without man or beast,' in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again
    Jeremiah 34:22
    Behold, I will command, declares the Lord, and will bring them back to this city. And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.
    Jeremiah 46:19
    Prepare yourselves baggage for exile, O inhabitants of Egypt! For Memphis shall become a waste, a ruin, without inhabitant.
    Isaiah 5:9
    The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing: "Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
    Isaiah 6:11
    Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste.
  8. Cross References
    Jeremiah 6:26
    O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
    Isaiah 22:12
    In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth.
    Isaiah 32:11
    Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around your waist.
  9. Cross References
    Numbers 25:4
    And the Lord said to Moses, "Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.
    Psalms 78:49
    He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.
    Isaiah 13:9 - 13
    Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.
  10. Cross References
    Psalms 48:4 - 5
    For behold, the kings assembled; they came on together.
  11. Cross References
    Ezekiel 14:9
    And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
    1 Kings 22:22
    And the Lord said to him, 'By what means?' And he said, 'I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And he said, 'You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.
  12. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:2
    Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom.
  13. Cross References
    Jeremiah 1:16
    And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.
  14. Cross References
    Isaiah 5:28
    Their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind.
  15. Cross References
    2 Samuel 1:23
    Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely! In life and in death they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions.
    Lamentations 4:19
    Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains; they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
  16. Cross References
    Jeremiah 9:19
    For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion: 'How we are ruined! We are utterly shamed, because we have left the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.'
  17. Cross References
    Psalms 51:2
    Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
    Psalms 51:7
    Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
    Isaiah 1:16
    Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil.
    James 4:8
    Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
  18. Cross References
    Jeremiah 8:16
    The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighing of their stallions the whole land quakes. They come and devour the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it.
  19. Cross References
    Joshua 24:33
    And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of Phinehas his son, which had been given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
  20. Cross References
    Jeremiah 5:15
    Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, declares the Lord. It is an enduring nation; it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.
  21. Cross References
    Jeremiah 6:3
    Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents around her; they shall pasture, each in his place.
    2 Kings 25:1 - 4
    And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it.
  22. Cross References
    Jeremiah 2:19
    Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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