kjv@Jeremiah:4:1@ If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:2@ And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:3@ For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:4@ Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:5@ Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:6@ Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:7@ The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:8@ For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:9@ And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:10@ Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:11@ At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
kjv@Jeremiah:4:12@ Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:13@ Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:14@ O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
kjv@Jeremiah:4:15@ For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:16@ Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:17@ As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:18@ Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:19@ My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:20@ Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:21@ How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
kjv@Jeremiah:4:22@ For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:23@ I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:24@ I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:25@ I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:26@ I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:27@ For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:28@ For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:29@ The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:30@ And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
kjv@Jeremiah:4:31@ For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
I see two possible explanations as to why the language very similar to kjv@Genesis:1 would be used here. 1a: This coming judgment will so severe as to symbolically set Israel/Judah back to the beginning as if none of this covenant had ever been. 1b: It will be so devastating as to appear as dark and chaotic as earths infancy. 2: Gap theory suggests a gap between kjv@Genesis:1:1 and kjv@Genesis:1:2 where this type of judgment actually occurred to a pre-Adamic human or angelic race on earth; that what we read is not an account of creation but of a earth's first restoration. Both explanations may not be exclusive as well.
The United States itself has learned successfully the type of concerted and focused effort and force to conquer a complete nation, but the nearly impossible dispersed effort of maintaining the rule over it. Here bands of rogue men are able to nearly do as they pleased, even assassinate the appointed leader at will.
Even a man of God as Jeremiah was had to wait on the answer of the Lord. One would think the Lord would be eager to get the remnant up and running, after all they seem sincere and honest in their desire. The Lord's timing is perfectly right however, even if it is not what we would expect.
Just because the people of the remnant appear to be sincere in their approach to serve the Lord does not mean that they are sincere. A terrible thing has happened and continues all around them. Their fear may be not as much for the Lord but, for their own safety. They may say that this is what they'll do, but, the test is will they? God certainly wants to do good for them but first it is up to them. Which fear is the fear that will motivate them most?
The lesson I guess has not been learned yet. The leaders are lead by fear, not by fear of the Lord. Everything Jeremiah has said has panned out and yet he is despised like this. This time he offers them calm and peace and they will have none of that. What else can be said?
We see how the mind will always justify itself. Their argument is that because they stopped their offerings to the queen of heaven these things have befallen them. When did they stop making these offerings? Haven't they made them all along? Even to others gods as well?
Suggested here in this text is a goddess largely worshiped by the women. We sense that men were typically excluded. Many of the male gods now have fallen yet the complete destruction of a nation has not rooted this one out; it has only strengthened it in the void. We are again looking down on this from a clinical view as readers knowing beginning/context and end. They are living it in real time without the top down insight. They are left to decide by observing the mounting evidence around them. The idolatrous mind certainly sees the evidence in a much different fashion. For those of you lead by your heart this should be a warning; the heart may be 180 degrees off.
Egypt is in a bad spot. Not only are they being cursed for harboring the adulterous remnant of Judah (who were told not to go into Egypt or they would be a curse) they are judged by all the gods and idols of their own making. Surely the Lord has not kept this secret from them, we have some evidences of His dealings with them from this and other prophets. Other nations should be warned of this as well. When they see what and why this has happened to Egypt they should realize that this could be them as well.
God has never intended to work in the life of Israel alone. It has always been His plan to work in the life of all mankind and He has done that throughout. He has used Israel/Judah as His insertion point, His needle carrying the needed inoculation strategically planted. It is in their reaction to the antibodies, vile and repulsed, that they are stirred, inflamed and angered in to accepting His serum.
The conditions in Moab are just the same, pride and false gods. If not for the pride perhaps one would see that what has happen to the others may happen to them as well. If not for pride one might sense that something consistent and immense is happening in the region having to do with the God of Israel.
2012 - pBiblx2 Field Wise Bible System Version 2.0.9d - GPL3
