UNROLL
Dark storm clouds tower out of the north over the hills of Benjamin while a small walled hill town below still stands in late sunlight among green fields.

Return to Me

Jeremiah 4

Have you ever ignored a warning you knew was true?

31 verses≈ 6 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1The callJosiah’s thirteenth year (about 627 BC): a prophet to the nations
  2. 2–6Return to MeBroken cisterns, faithless Judah, disaster from the northChapter 4
  3. 7–10The temple gateThe temple sermon, a weeping prophet, the living God
  4. 11–20Covenant and complaintThe broken covenant, the potter, Jeremiah’s confessions
  5. 21–29Shepherds and prophetsKings judged, the Branch, seventy years, the yoke, the letter
  6. 30–33The Book of ComfortRestoration, the new covenant, a field bought in a siege
  7. 34–39The last days of JudahThe scroll burned, the cistern, Jerusalem falls (586 BC)
  8. 40–45After the fallGedaliah at Mizpah, the flight to Egypt, a word for Baruch
  9. 46–51The nationsEgypt to Babylon: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  10. 52Jerusalem fallsThe record of 586 BC, and a king released

A Plea to Return

God

“If you will return, O Israel,

return to Me,” declares the LORD.

“If you will remove your detestable idols from My sight

and no longer waver,

and if you can swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’

in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,

then the nations will be blessed by Him,

and in Him they will glory.”

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

God
A hill terrace in early winter: one half hard fallow ground grown over with gray thorns, the other half freshly broken dark earth, a wooden plow resting at the line between them.

For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

“Break up your unplowed ground,

and do not sow among the thorns.

God

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD,

and remove the foreskins of your hearts,

O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem.

Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire

and burn with no one to extinguish it,

because of your evil deeds.”

Disaster from the North

God
God

Announce in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say:

“Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land.

Cry aloud and say,

‘Assemble yourselves

and let us flee to the fortified cities.’

God

Raise a signal flag toward Zion.

Seek refuge! Do not delay!

For I am bringing disaster from the north,

and terrible destruction.

God
At gray dawn a maned lion steps out of a dense dry thicket onto a stony ridge, head low; far below lie a hill town's fields and flat roofs.

A lion has gone up from his thicket,

and a destroyer of nations has set out.

He has left his lair

to lay waste your land.

Your cities will be reduced to ruins

and lie uninhabited.

So put on sackcloth,

mourn and wail,

for the fierce anger of the LORD

has not turned away from us.”

God

“In that day,” declares the LORD,

“the king and officials will lose their courage.

The priests will tremble in fear,

and the prophets will be astounded.”

Jeremiah

Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, how completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”

God
A hot desert wind over barren heights: dust streaming sideways, scrub bent flat under a yellow-brown sky, a winnowing fork lying on an abandoned threshing floor in blown chaff.

At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people, but not to winnow or to sift; a wind too strong for that comes from Me. Now I also pronounce judgments against them.”

Jeremiah

Behold, he advances like the clouds,

his chariots like the whirlwind.

His horses are swifter than eagles.

Woe to us, for we are ruined!

God

Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem,

so that you may be saved.

Jeremiah 4:14

God

How long will you harbor

wicked thoughts within you?

For a voice resounds from Dan,

proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.

God

Warn the nations now!

Proclaim to Jerusalem:

“A besieging army comes from a distant land;

they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.

They surround her like men guarding a field,

because she has rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.

God

“Your ways and deeds

have brought this upon you.

This is your punishment; how bitter it is,

because it pierces to the heart!”

Question

Quick question

Follow the warning as it travels. Read 4:15–16 again before you answer.

From where does the warning voice come in 4:15?

EphraimBenjaminJudahDanJerusalem

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

A voice from Dan

The alarm runs south from Dan through the hills of Ephraim to Jerusalem, ahead of the army.

Lamentation for Judah

Jeremiah
A herders' camp on a hillside after a raid, empty: black goat-hair tents collapsed, their ropes snapped and trailing, torn curtains flapping, a cooking pot overturned.

My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!

Oh, the pain in my chest!

My heart pounds within me;

I cannot be silent.

For I have heard the sound of the horn,

the alarm of battle.

Disaster after disaster is proclaimed,

for the whole land is laid waste.

My tents are destroyed in an instant,

my curtains in a moment.

How long must I see the signal flag

and hear the sound of the horn?

God

“For My people are fools;

they have not known Me.

They are foolish children,

without understanding.

They are skilled in doing evil,

but they know not how to do good.”

Jeremiah
God

For this is what the LORD says:

“The whole land will be desolate,

but I will not finish its destruction.

Therefore the earth will mourn

and the heavens above will grow dark.

I have spoken, I have planned,

and I will not relent or turn back.”

Jeremiah
Midday at a walled hill town with its gate standing open and its lanes empty; far off on the slopes, small figures of families climb among the rocks into the thickets with bundles.

Every city flees

at the sound of the horseman and archer.

They enter the thickets

and climb among the rocks.

Every city is abandoned;

no inhabitant is left.

Jeremiah

And you, O devastated one, what will you do,

though you dress yourself in scarlet,

though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry,

though you enlarge your eyes with paint?

You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you;

they want to take your life.

For I hear a cry like a woman in labor,

a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child—

the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath,

stretching out her hands to say,

“Woe is me,

for my soul faints before the murderers!”

Pray

Pray

LORD, break up the hard ground of my heart and pull out the thorns. Wash the evil from my heart, that I may be saved. When I hear Your warning, let me return before it is too late. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Jeremiah 4

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A verse to carry with you

Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved.

Jeremiah 4:14

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