1 If you return, O Israel, declares the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Restorer}, you shall return to Me; and if you remove your abominations {shikkutseikha: detestable practices} from before Me, you shall not wander.
2 And you will swear, “As the LORD {YHWH, Living Judge} lives,” in truth {emet: faithful reliability}, in justice, and in righteousness; and in Him nations will bless themselves, and in Him they will glory.
3 For this is what the LORD {YHWH, Moral Reformer} says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Plow up your unworked soil and do not plant seed among thorn patches {qotzim: prickly plants}.”
4 Be circumcised for the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge}—cut away the foreskins of your heart {levav: inner self}, men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem—so that My wrath does not burst out like fire and burn with no one to put it out, because of the evil of your deeds.
5 Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem; say, “Blow the trumpet {shofar: alarm instrument} in the land; cry out, and say, ‘Assemble yourselves {heaspu: muster for defense} and let us go into the fortified cities.’”
6 Lift up a banner {nes: rally signal} toward Zion; take refuge! Do not stand still, for I {YHWH, Divine Judge} am bringing disaster from the north and great destruction.
7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has journeyed on; he has gone forth from his place to make your land a desolation {shamah: ruin, utter waste}. Your cities will be emptied, without an inhabitant {yoshev: one who dwells}.
8 On account of this, gird yourselves with sackcloth {saqqim: symbol of mourning}, mourn, and wail, for the burning anger of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} has not turned back from us.
9 And it will be on that day, declares the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge}, the heart of the king will perish, and the heart of the princes; the priests will be appalled {venashamu: utterly desolated}, and the prophets will be astonished.
10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH, Supreme Master}, surely You have indeed deceived this people and Jerusalem by declaring ‘Peace {shalom: deceptive calm} will be yours,’ but the sword has reached to the very life.”
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind {ruach: scorching gust} from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of My {YHWH: Covenant Lord} people—not for winnowing and not for cleansing.”
12 A wind too strong for those tasks comes for Me {YHWH, Sovereign Arbiter}; now I also will pronounce judgments {mishpatim: judicial sentences} against them.
13 Behold, he will rise up like clouds, and his chariots are like the whirlwind {kasufah: violent storm}; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are plundered {shuddadnu: completely devastated}.
14 Jerusalem {yerushalayim: Covenant Community}, cleanse your heart from evil {raah: moral corruption} so that you may be saved; how long will your wicked thoughts stay lodged within you?
15 For a voice {qol: announcement} declares from Dan and proclaims trouble {aven: disaster} from Mount Ephraim.
17 Like keepers of a field, they are against her all around, for she has rebelled {maratah: acted defiantly} against Me, declares the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Announcer}.
18 Your way and your deeds have brought these upon you; this is your doom {ra'atek: grievous trouble}, for it is bitter {mar: searing bitterness}—it has reached your very heart.
19 My innermost parts, my innermost parts! I writhe in anguish; the walls of my heart—my heart bellows within me. I cannot be silent, for I have heard the trumpet’s blast; my soul {nafshi: life essence} has heard the war alarm {teru‘at: battle shout}.
20 Destruction {shever: relentless calamity} upon destruction is proclaimed, for the whole land has been laid waste. Suddenly my tents {ohalai: nomadic dwellings} are ruined; in a moment my curtains fall.
21 How long must I continue to see the rally banner {nes: rally banner} and hear the sound of the horn {shofar: assembly horn}?
22 For my people are foolish; they have not known Me {YHWH, Divine Judge}. They are foolish children {banim: immature sons} and are not discerning. They are wise in doing evil, but in doing good they do not know.
23 I looked at the earth, and behold, it was formless {tohu: utter chaos} and empty. And toward the heavens, and there was no light {oram: illumination}.
24 I saw the mountains, and behold, they were quaking {roashim: ongoing trembling}, and all the hills swayed {hitkalkalu: staggered with instability}.
25 I saw, and behold, there was no man {adam: humanity}, and all the birds of the heavens had fled {nadadu: scattered away}.
26 I saw, and behold, the fertile land was a wilderness {midbar: desolate expanse}, and all its cities were broken down before the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}, before the burning of His anger.
27 For thus says the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge}, “All the land will become a desolation {shemamah: total devastation}; but I will not make a complete end.”
28 Upon this, the earth will mourn, and the heavens above will grow dark; for I {YHWH, Unchanging Judge} have spoken, I have purposed, and I have not relented {nichamti: changed intent}, nor will I turn back from it.
29 At the sound of the horseman {parash: mounted warrior} and the archer, every city flees; they have entered the thickets {avim: dense brushwood} and climbed among the rocks; every city is forsaken, and there is no one dwelling in them—not a man.
30 And you, devastated one {shadud: ruined and desolate}, what will you do? Though you dress in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with antimony, in vain you beautify yourself; your lovers have rejected you—they will seek your life {nafshekh: entire being}.
31 For I have heard a voice like a woman in labor, anguish like one bearing her first child; the voice of the daughter of Zion, she gasps {tit-yappeach: to breathe laboriously}, she spreads out her hands, “Woe is me now! For my soul {nafshi: inner being} is weary because of murderers.”