4
1 If thou wilt make teshuvah, O Yisroel,
saith Hashem,
return unto Me;
and if thou wilt put away thine shikkutzim (abominations) out of My sight,
and shalt not waver.*
2 And thou shalt swear, Chai Hashem(as surely as HASHEM lives),
in emes, in mishpat, and in tzedakah;
and the Goyim shall bless themselves in Him,
and in Him shall they glory.
3 For thus saith Hashem
to Ish Yehudah and Yerushalayim:
Break up your unplowed ground,
and sow not among kotzim (thorns).
4 Circumcise yourselves to Hashem,
and take the mohel knife to the arelot of your levav,
ye Ish Yehudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim:
lest My fury break out like eish,
and burn that none can quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds.
5 Declare ye in Yehudah, and publish in Yerushalayim, and say:
Blow ye the shofar in HaAretz.
Cry out, gather together, and say:
Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.
6 Raise up a nes (a banner, a flag pointing to the place of refuge) over Tziyon;
take refuge, delay not;
for I will bring ra'ah (evil, disaster) from the tzafon (north),
and shever gadol (great destruction).
7 The aryeh (lion) is come up from his thicket,
and the Mashkhit Goyim (Destroyer of the Nations),† is on his way,
he is gone forth from his place to make thy eretz desolate;
and thy cities shall be made to lie in ruins, without an inhabitant.
8 For this gird you with sackcloth,
lament and wail;
for the charon af Hashem
is not turned away from us.
9 And it shall come to pass at that day, saith Hashem, that the lev HaMelech shall be disheartened, and the lev hasarim; and the kohanim shall be horror-struck, and the nevi'im dumbfounded. 10 Then said I, Adonoi Hashem! Surely Thou hast greatly misled HaAm HaZeh and Yerushalayim, saying, Shalom yeheyeh lachem (Ye shall have shalom); whereas the cherev is near unto the nefesh.
11 At that time shall it be told HaAm HaZeh and Yerushalayim, A ruach tzach (a dry wind, sirocco) from the high places in the midbar toward the Bat Ami,‡ not to winnow, nor to cleanse, 12 Even a ruach maleh (strong wind) from those places shall come from Me; now also I will pronounce mishpatim against them.
13 Hinei, he§ shall come up like ananim (clouds),
and his merkavot shall be like the whirlwind;
his susim are swifter than nesharim (eagles).
Oy lanu! (Woe unto us!) For we are ruined.
14 O Yerushalayim, wash thine lev from rah,
that thou mayest be saved.
Ad mosai (how long, how much longer)
shall thy sinful machsh'vot lodge within thee?
15 For a kol (voice) declareth from Dan,
and publisheth evil tidings from Mt Ephrayim.
16 Tell the Goyim; hinei,
spread the news to Yerushalayim,
that notzrim (besiegers) come from a far country,
and raise their voice against the cities of Yehudah.
17 As shomrim of a sadeh, they are against her all around;
because she hath been rebellious against Me,
saith Hashem.
18 Thy derech and thy deeds
have brought these things upon thee;
this is thy wickedness,
how mar (bitter) it is,
for it hath touched upon thine lev.
19 My innards, my innards!
I am pained at my very lev;
my lev is pounding in me;
I cannot keep silent,
because thou hast heard, O my nefesh, the kol shofar (sound of the shofar),
the teru'at milchamah (battle alarm of war).
20 Shever (destruction) follows after shever;
for the whole land lies in ruins;
suddenly are my ohalim destroyed,
and my canopies rega.
21 Ad mosai (how long) shall I see the nes (banner),
and hear the kol shofar?
22 For Ami is foolish,
they have not known Me;
they are stupid banim,
and they have no understanding;
they are chachamim to do evil,
but to do good they have no da'as.
23 I beheld ha'aretz, and,
hinei, it was tohu vavohu;*
and HaShomayim — there was no ohr.
24 I beheld the mountains, and, hinei, they quaked,
and all the hills had crumbled.
25 I beheld, and, hinei, there was no adam,
and kol oph HaShomayim fled away.
26 I beheld, and, hinei, the carmel was a midbar,
and all the cities thereof lay in ruins
before Hashem,
before the charon af Hashem.
27 For thus hath Hashem said, A wasteland shall be kol HaAretz; yet I will not make a complete end of it.
28 For this reason HaAretz shall mourn,
and HaShomayim above turn black;
because I have spoken it, I have purposed it,
and will not relent,
neither will I turn back from it.
29 Kol HaIr shall flee at the noise of the parash
and the romeh keshet (the archer);
they shall run into thickets,
and climb up among the kefim (rocks);
every city shall be deserted,
and not an ish dwell therein.
30 And thou, O plundered one,†
what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with scarlet,
though thou deckest thee with jewelry of zahav,
though thou paintest thy eyes with cosmetics,
in vain thou adornest thyself;
thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy nefesh.
31 For I have heard a kol (outcry) like that of a woman in travail,
and in labor pain like that of her that bringeth forth her first child,
the voice of Bat Tziyon, that waileth,
that stretcheth out her hands, saying:
Oy nah li (Woe is me now)! For my nefesh
is weary because of murderers.
* 4:1 to wander † 4:7 i.e., Babylon ‡ 4:11 i.e., Yisroel § 4:13 the approaching foe * 4:23 Gn 1:2 † 4:30 Jerusalem