1  “If you return, O Israel,

declares the Lord,

^xto me you should return.

If you remove your detestable things from my presence,

^yand do not waver,

2  ^zand if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’

in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,

then ^anations shall bless themselves in him,

^band in him shall they glory.”

^c“Break up your fallow ground,

and ^dsow not among thorns.

4  ^eCircumcise yourselves to the Lord;

remove the foreskin of your hearts,

O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;

^flest my wrath go forth like fire,

and burn with none to quench it,

^gbecause of the evil of your deeds.”

^h“Blow the trumpet through the land;

cry aloud and say,

ⁱ‘Assemble, and let us go

into the fortified cities!’

6  ^jRaise a standard toward Zion,

flee for safety, stay not,

for I bring disaster from ^kthe north,

^land great destruction.

7  ^mA 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

ⁿwithout inhabitant.

8  For this ^oput on sackcloth,

lament and wail,

for ^pthe fierce anger of the Lord

has not turned back from us.”

13  Behold, he comes up like clouds;

^uhis chariots like the whirlwind;

his horses are ^vswifter than eagles—

woe to us, ^wfor we are ruined!

14  O Jerusalem, ^xwash your heart from evil,

that you may be saved.

How long shall your wicked thoughts

lodge within you?

15  For a voice ^ydeclares from Dan

and proclaims trouble from ^zMount Ephraim.

16  Warn the nations that he is coming;

announce to Jerusalem,

“Besiegers come ^afrom a distant land;

they shout against the cities of Judah.

17  Like keepers of a field ^bare 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 ^cit is bitter;

it has reached your very heart.”

19  ^dMy anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!

Oh the walls of my heart!

My heart is beating wildly;

I cannot keep silent,

for I hear the sound of the trumpet,

the alarm of war.

20  ^eCrash follows hard on crash;

the whole land is laid waste.

^fSuddenly my tents are laid waste,

my curtains in a moment.

21  How long must I see the standard

and hear the sound of the trumpet?

22  “For ^gmy people are foolish;

they know me not;

they are stupid children;

they have no understanding.

^hThey are ‘wise’—in doing evil!

But how to do good they know not.”

23  I looked on the earth, and behold, it was ⁱwithout form and void;

^jand to the heavens, and they had no light.

24  I looked on ^kthe mountains, and behold, they were quaking,

and all the hills moved to and fro.

25  ^lI looked, and behold, there was no man,

and all the birds of the air had fled.

26  I looked, and behold, the ^mfruitful land was a desert,

and all its cities were laid in ruins

before the Lord, before ⁿhis fierce anger.

28  ^p“For this the earth shall mourn,

^qand the heavens above be dark;

for I have spoken; I have purposed;

^rI have not relented, nor will I turn back.”

29  At the noise of horseman and archer

every city takes to flight;

they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;

all the cities are forsaken,

and ^sno man dwells in them.

30  And you, O desolate one,

what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,

^tthat you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,

^uthat you enlarge your eyes with paint?

In vain you beautify yourself.

^vYour lovers despise you;

they seek your life.

31  For I heard ^wa cry as of a woman in labor,

anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,

the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,

^xstretching out her hands,

“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”