Jeremiah 4 · The Lantern

A Plea to Return

If you will return, O Israel, says the LORD, return to me: and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then shall you not remove.

And you shall swear, The LORD lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.

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 men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not 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 take away the foreskins of your heart, you 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.

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 you in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow you the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.

Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.

The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make your land desolate; and your cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.

For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.

And it shall happen at that day, says 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.

Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; whereas the sword reaches to the soul.

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,

Even a full wind from those places shall come to me: now also will I give sentence against them.

Look, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! for we are plundered.

O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you?

For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes affliction from mount Ephraim.

Make you mention to the nations; look, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.

As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she has been rebellious against me, says the LORD.

Your way and your doings have procured these things to you; this is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart.

Lamentation for Judah

My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is plundered: suddenly are my tents plundered, and my curtains in a moment.

How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

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.

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 saw the earth, and, look, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

I saw the mountains, and, look, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.

I saw, and, look, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

I saw, and, look, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.

For thus has the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.

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.

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.

And when you are plundered, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you rent your face with painting, in vain shall you make yourself fair; your lovers will despise you, they will seek your life.

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, and the anguish as of her that brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewails herself, that spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

Jeremiah4

A Plea to Return

Disaster from the North

Lamentation for Judah