Jeremiah 4 · The Lantern

A Plea to Return

If you return, Israel — the utterance of the LORD — to me you will return. And if you remove your detestable things from before me, then you will not wander.

And you will swear, As the LORD lives, in truth, in judgment and in righteousness; and the nations will bless themselves in him, and in him they will boast.

But if the old law had belonged to the devil, it would not have led people away from idolatry, but rather would have drawn them on and cast them into it; for this did the devil desire. But now we see the opposite effect produced by the old law. And indeed this very thing, the oath, was ordained of old for this cause, that they might not swear by the idols.

"If you swear, 'The Lord lives,' in truth, in justice and in righteousness." In the sacred Gospels, by contrast, he made more perfect prescriptions than these: "It was said to the ancients, You shall not swear falsely: you shall discharge your oaths to the Lord.

In the Old Testament it is said that he who swears in the name of God should swear and not perjure himself. For to perjure is the same as to forswear, and this is to take the name of God in vain.

For thus says the LORD to the man of Judah and to Jerusalem: Break up for yourselves fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.

He adds: "And the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him they shall give praise to God in Jerusalem. For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to those who dwell in Jerusalem." He has spoken to those from the nations, he has spoken also to those from Israel, and he now speaks to those from Judah.

Let us imitate the example of all these people, that there may be peace and righteousness in our days, and that what we read in another place may not happen to us: "Thorns and briars shall spring up on the soil of my people." Rather, let us clean the fallow ground for ourselves and not sow among thorns.

(Verse 3 and following.) For thus says the Lord to the man of Judah and Jerusalem: Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my fury go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your thoughts (or inventions).

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your heart, man of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath go out like fire and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.

He speaks moreover concerning our ears, how He hath circumcised both them and our heart. The Lord saith in the prophet, "In the hearing of the ear they obeyed me." And again He saith, "By hearing, those shall hear who are afar off; they shall know what I have done." And, "Be ye circumcised in your hearts, saith the Lord." And again He says, "Hear, O Israel, for these things sai…

The first circumcision of the flesh is made void, and the second circumcision of the spirit is promised instead. In Jeremiah, "Thus says the Lord to the men of Judah, and to them who inhabit Jerusalem, 'Renew newness among you, and do not sow among thorns.

He clearly brought out that the visible circumcision is a type of the invisible, and that if there is circumcision within, bodily circumcision is unnecessary.

Disaster from the North

Declare in Judah, and in Jerusalem make it heard, and say: Blow the horn in the land! Call out, fill the cry and say: Gather, and let us go into the fortified cities!

Lift a signal toward Zion; take refuge, do not stand still, for evil I am bringing from the north, and a great breaking.

A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone out from his place to make your land a horror. Your cities will be burned, without inhabitant.

For this gird sackcloth, lament and howl, for the burning anger of the LORD has not turned back from us.

And it will be in that day — the utterance of the LORD — the heart of the king will perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests will be appalled, and the prophets astonished.

And I said: Ah, Lord GOD! Surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You will have peace — and the sword has reached to the soul.

At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A scorching wind off the bare heights in the wilderness, toward the daughter of my people — not to winnow and not to cleanse.

A wind fuller than these comes for me; now I too will speak judgments against them.

See, like clouds he comes up, and like the whirlwind his chariots; swifter than eagles are his horses. Woe to us, for we are devastated!

Wash your heart from evil, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will the thoughts of your iniquity lodge within you?

For a voice declares from Dan and makes iniquity heard from the hill country of Ephraim.

Make mention to the nations! See — make it heard against Jerusalem: Watchers are coming from a far land, and they give their voice against the cities of Judah.

Like keepers of a field they are against her all around, for against me she rebelled — the utterance of the LORD.

Your way and your deeds have done these to you. This is your evil, for it is bitter, for it has reached to your heart.

Lamentation for Judah

My bowels, my bowels! I writhe! The walls of my heart! My heart moans in me, I cannot be silent, for the sound of the horn my soul has heard, the shout of war.

Breaking upon breaking is called out, for the whole land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are devastated, in a moment my curtains.

How long must I see the signal, hear the sound of the horn?

For my people is a fool; me they do not know. Foolish sons are they, and they have no understanding. Wise they are to do evil, but to do good they do not know.

In the beginning, God commanded that you do these things because of your wickedness. In the same way, because of your determination to remain wicked, or rather, because you are increasingly prone to do it, he uses the same precepts to call you to remember it or come to know it.

The ancient and pious doctrine that defended the Trinity was abolished, by setting up a fort and battering down the incarnation. They opened the door to impiety by means of what is written, using as their pretext their reverence for Scripture and for the use of approved terms but really introducing unscriptural Arianism.

(Verse 22) Because my foolish people did not acknowledge me: they are foolish and senseless children. They are wise to do evil, but do not know how to do good. The cause of their brokenness, devastation, fleeing, and trumpet sound is that the people have become foolish, not by nature, but by their own deliberate choice.

I looked at the earth, and see — formless and empty; and to the heavens, and their light was gone.

I looked at the mountains, and see — they were quaking, and all the hills shook back and forth.

I looked, and see — there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled.

I looked, and see — the fruitful field was the wilderness, and all its cities were torn down before the LORD, before his burning anger.

For thus says the LORD: A desolation the whole land will be — yet a full end I will not make.

For this the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow black, because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I have not relented, and I will not turn back from it.

From the sound of horseman and bowman the whole city flees; they come into the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is forsaken, and no man dwells in them.

And you, devastated one, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself in scarlet, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint — in vain you make yourself beautiful. The lovers despise you; they seek your soul.

For I have heard a voice like a woman in labor, distress like one bearing her first, the voice of the daughter of Zion gasping, spreading her hands: Woe now to me, for my soul is faint before killers!

Jeremiah4

A Plea to Return

Disaster from the North

Lamentation for Judah