A Plea to Return

1O Israel, yf thou wylt turne thee, then turne vnto me, saith ye Lord: and yf thou wylt put away thine abhominations out of my sight, thou shalt not be moued.

2And shalt sweare, The Lord lyueth, in trueth, in equitie, and righteousnesse, and all people shalbe fortunable and ioyfull in hym.

3For thus saith the Lorde to all Iuda and Hierusalem: Plowe your lande, and sowe not among the thornes.

4Be circumcised in the Lorde, and cut away the foreskynne of your heartes all ye of Iuda, and all the indwellers of Hierusalem: that myne indignation breake not out lyke fire, and kindle, so that no man may quenche it, because of the wickednesse of your imaginations.

Disaster from the North

5Preach in Iuda and Hierusalem, crye out and speake, blowe the trumpettes in the lande, crye that euery man may heare, and say, Gather you together, and we wyll go into strong cities.

6Set vp the token in Sion, speede you and make no tarying: for I wyll bring a great plague and a great destruction from the north.

7For the spoyler of the gentiles is broken vp from his place as a lion out of his denne: that he may make thy lande waste, and destroy the cities, so that no man may dwell therin.

8Wherfore girde your selues about with sackcloth, mourne and weepe: for the fearefull wrath of the Lorde is not withdrawen from vs.

9At the same tyme saith the Lord, the heart of the kyng & of the princes shalbe gone, the priestes shalbe astonished, and the prophetes shalbe sore afrayde.

10Then sayde I: Oh Lorde God, hast thou then deceaued this people and Hierusalem, saying, Ye shall haue peace: and nowe the sworde goeth through their lyues?

11Then shall it be sayde to the people and Hierusalem, A strong winde in the hye places of the wildernesse commeth through the way of my people, but neither to fanne nor to cleanse. 12After that, shall there come vnto me a strong wynde from those places, & then wyll I also geue sentence vpon them.

13For lo, he ariseth like a cloude, and his charrets are like a stormie wynde, his horses are swifter then the Egle: Wo vnto vs, for we are destroyed.

14O Hierusalem, washe thine heart from wickednesse, that thou mayest be helped: Howe long shall thy vayne thoughtes remayne with thee?

15For a voyce from Dan and from the hill of Ephraim speaketh out, and telleth of a destruction.

16Remember the heathen, and geue Hierusalem warning, and preache vnto her, that watchers ouer her are commyng from farre countries, they haue cryed out against the cities of Iuda.

17And they haue beset her about in euery place, lyke as the watchmen in the fielde: For they haue prouoked me to wrath, saith the Lorde.

18Thy wayes and thy thoughtes haue brought thee vnto this, such is thine owne wickednesse and disobedience: and because it is a bitter thyng, it hath stricken thee to the heart.

Lamentation for Judah

19Ah my belly, ah my belly shalt thou crie, howe is my heart so sore? my heart panteth within me, I can not be styll, for I haue hearde the crying of the trumpettes, and peales of warre.

20They crye murther vpon murther, the whole lande shall perishe: Immediatly my tentes were destroyed, and my hanginges in the twincklyng of an eye.

21Howe long shall I see the tokens of warre, and heare the noyse of the trumpettes?

22Neuerthelesse, this shall come vpon them, because my people is become foolishe, and hath not knowen me: they are the children of foolishnesse, and without any discretion: To do euyll, they haue wit inough: but to do well, they haue no wisdome.

23I haue loked vpon the earth, and see it was waste and voyde: I loked towarde heauen, and it had no shine.

24I behelde the mountaynes, and lo, they trembled, and all the hylles were in a feare.

25I loked about me, and there was no body: and all the birdes of the ayre were away.

26I marked well, and the plowed fielde was become waste, yea all their cities were broken downe at the presence of the Lord and indignation of his wrath.

27For thus hath the Lorde saide: The whole lande shalbe desolate, yet wyll I not then haue done.

28And therfore shall the earth mourne, and the heauen be sorie aboue: for the thyng that I haue spoken to the prophetes, purposed, and taken vpon me to do, shall not repent me, and I wyll not go from it.

29The whole lande shall flee for the noyse of horsemen and bowmen, they shall runne into dennes, into wooddes, and climbe vp the stonye rockes: all the cities shalbe voyde, and no man dwellyng therin.

30What wylt thou nowe do, thou being destroyed? For though thou clothest thy selfe with scarlet, and deckest thee with golde, though thou payntest thy face with colours nowe, yet shalt thou trimme thy selfe in vayne: For those that hitherto haue ben thy louers, shall abhorre thee, and go about to slay thee.

31For I heare a noyse lyke as it were of a woman trauaylyng, & one labouryng of her first childe, Euen the voyce of the daughter Sion, that casteth out her armes, and sowneth, saying: Ah, wo is me, howe sore vexed and faynt is my heart for feare of the murtherers?