1If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return to me: and if thou wilt put away thy abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not be removed. 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. 4Breake vp your fallowe ground, and sowe not among the thornes: be circumcised to the Lord, & take away the foreskinnes of your hearts, ye men of Iudah, and inhabitants of Ierusalem, lest my wrath come foorth like fire, and burne, that none can quenche it, because of the wickednesse of your inuentions. 5Declare ye in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, confirm, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified 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; thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant. 8Wherefore girde you with sackecloth: lament, and howle, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is not turned backe from vs. 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; though the sword reacheth to 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, 12A mightie winde shall come vnto me from those places, and nowe will I also giue sentence vpon them. 13Behold, 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 laid waste. 14O Ierusalem, wash thine heart from wickednes, that thou maiest be saued: how long shall thy wicked thoughtes remaine within thee? 15For a voice declareth from Dan, and proclaimeth affliction from mount Ephraim. 16Make ye mention of the heathen, and publish in Ierusalem, Beholde, the skoutes come from a farre countrey, and crie out against the cities of Iudah. 17As keepers of a field, they are against her on all sides; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD. 18Thy wayes and thine inuentions haue procured thee these things, such is thy wickednesse: therefore it shall be bitter, therefore it shall perce vnto thine heart. 19My distress, my distress! 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 laid waste: suddenly are my tents ruined, [and] my curtains in a moment. 21Howe long shall I see the standert, and heare the sounde of the trumpet? 22For my people [are] foolish, they have not known me; they [are] silly children, and they have no 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 behelde the mountaines: and loe, they trembled and all the hilles shooke. 25I behelde, and loe, there was no man, and all the birdes of the heauen were departed. 26I behelde, and loe, the fruitfull place was a wildernesse, and all the cities thereof were broken downe at the presence of the Lorde, and by his fierce wrath. 27For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. 28Therefore shall the earth mourne, and the heauens aboue shall be darkened, because I haue pronounced it: I haue thought it, and will not repent, neither will I turne backe from it. 29The whole citie shall flee, for the noyse of the horsemen and bowemen: they shall goe into thickets, and clime vp vpon the rockes: euery citie shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein. 30And [when] thou [art] laid waste, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou enlarge thy eyes 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.