Major Prophets · Chapter 4 of 52

Jeremiah 4

God calls Judah to genuine repentance, to break up fallow ground and circumcise their hearts, or face fire none can quench. He announces a destroyer from the north and summons the alarm of war. Jeremiah is anguished, hearing the trumpet and seeing the land undone, a vision of creation reversed to formless void. Yet God vows he will not make a full end.

What happens in Jeremiah 4

God pleads with Israel to return in truth, to put away abominations, and promises that the nations will bless themselves in him. He commands Judah and Jerusalem to break up their fallow ground and circumcise their hearts, warning that unrepented evil will kindle unquenchable fire. Then the trumpet of invasion sounds. A lion, a destroyer of nations, advances from the north to lay the land waste; leaders lose heart, and Jeremiah protests that the people were told they would have peace.

The prophet's anguish erupts: his heart writhes at the sound of the alarm, destruction upon destruction. He sees a terrible vision of the earth returned to being without form and void, the heavens dark, mountains trembling, cities broken, no man left. Yet even here God declares he will not make a complete end. Jerusalem, likened to a woman decking herself in vain, hears the cry of one in labor.

Jeremiah 4 in context

This chapter belongs to Jeremiah's early warnings of the foe from the north, understood as Babylon, whose armies would eventually destroy Jerusalem in 587 BC. The call to circumcise the heart recalls Deuteronomy and exposes the inadequacy of mere ritual circumcision.

Jeremiah's visionary language, echoing the formless void of Genesis 1, portrays divine judgment as a kind of de-creation, the unmaking of order when a people persistently reject their God.

Main themes of Jeremiah 4

Jeremiah 4 (KJV)

1If 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. 2And 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. 3For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. 4Circumcise 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. 5Declare 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. 6Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. 7The 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. 8For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us. 9And 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. 10Then 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. 11At 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, 12Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them. 13Behold, 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. 14O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? 15For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim. 16Make 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. 17As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD. 18Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart. 19My 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. 20Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. 21How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? 22For 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. 23I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 24I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. 25I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. 26I 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. 27For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. 28For 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. 29The 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. 30And 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. 31For 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.

Verses to carry from Jeremiah 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.”Jeremiah 4:4

“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.”Jeremiah 4:19

“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.”Jeremiah 4:23

Reflection

God asks for more than tidy religion; he asks for a heart plowed open and cut loose from evil. Where has your inner life grown hard, fallow, crusted over by routine? Genuine return means letting him break up that ground. And notice Jeremiah's tears; warning need not be cold. Let both the summons and the sorrow move you to turn.

A prayer from Jeremiah 4