Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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Jeremiah 4

Jeremiah Laments over Judah

Jeremiah 4:¹ “If you will return, O Israel,” says the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ),
“Return to Me (‘ēl);
And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight,
Then you shall not be moved.

Jeremiah 4:² And you shall swear, ‘The Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) lives,’
In truth, in judgment (justice), and in righteousness;
The nations shall bless themselves in Him,
And in Him they shall glory.”

Jeremiah 4:³ For thus says the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

“Break up your fallow ground (untilled),

• Mark 4:8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

And do not sow among thorns.

• Mark 4:7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.

Jeremiah 4:⁴ Circumcise yourselves to the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ),
And take away the foreskins of your hearts,

• Circumcision is an outward sign of an inward heart involving the removal of earthly fleshly pleasures.

You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Lest My fury come forth like fire,
And burn so that no one can quench it,
Because of the evil of your doings.”

An Imminent Invasion

Jeremiah 4:⁵ Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say:

“Blow the trumpet in the land;
Cry, ‘Gather together,’
And say, ‘Assemble yourselves,
And let us go into the fortified cities.’

Jeremiah 4:⁶ Set up the standard (banner/flag) toward Zion.
Take refuge! Do not delay!
For I will bring disaster from the north (Babylon),
And great destruction.”

• Three times in scripture is the trumpet blown:
  1. When the camp is moved.
  2. An alarm of an attack.
  3. Rejoicing during the festivities of feasts and marriages
• Prophetically, these are foretold events of the High Holy Days:
  1. The camp is moved at the Rapture, then …
  2. Sound the alarm. The seven years of tribulation.
  3. Rejoice! Rejoice! The return of Jesus.

Jeremiah 4:⁷ The lion has come up from his thicket,
And the destroyer of nations is on his way.
He has gone forth from his place
To make your land (Judah) desolate.
Your cities will be laid waste,
Without inhabitant.

Jeremiah 4:⁸ For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth,
Lament and wail.
For the fierce anger of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ)
Has not turned back from us.

Jeremiah 4:⁹ “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ),
“That the heart of the king shall perish,
And the heart of the princes;
The priests shall be astonished,
And the prophets shall wonder.”

Jeremiah 4:¹⁰ Then I said, “Ah, Lord (‘ăḏōnāy) God (Yᵊhōvâ )!

• In other places in scripture in the Old Testament “LORD” would be a translation of Yᵊhōvâ and God would be a translation of ‘ĕlōhîm.

Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem,
Saying, ‘You shall have peace,’
Whereas the sword reaches to the heart (Lit. soul).”

Jeremiah 4:¹¹ At that time it will be said
To this people and to Jerusalem,
“A dry wind of the desolate heights blows in the wilderness
Toward the daughter of My people—
Not to fan or to cleanse—

Jeremiah 4:¹² A wind too strong for these will come for Me;
Now I will also speak judgment against them.”

Jeremiah 4:¹³ “Behold, he (Nebuchadnezzar) shall come up like clouds, And his chariots like a whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are plundered!”

• There will be a time in the future when it will be the Antichrist with his armies.
  See notes in Isaiah Chapter 21 in Quantum Study Bible.

Jeremiah 4:¹⁴ O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness,
That you may be saved.
How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?

Jeremiah 4:¹⁵ For a voice declares from Dan
And proclaims affliction (Or wickedness) from Mount Ephraim:

• The Time of Affliction is a name given to the prophetic upcoming seven year tribulation for the Jews.

Jeremiah 4:¹⁶ “Make mention to the nations (gentiles),
Yes, proclaim against Jerusalem,
That watchers (those who conceal a plan for a seige) come from a far country
And raise their voice against the cities of Judah.

Jeremiah 4:¹⁷ Like keepers of a field they are against her all around,
Because she has been rebellious against Me,” says the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ).

• Throughout scripture a field is symbolic of the world and worldliness.

Jeremiah 4:¹⁸ “Your ways and your doings
Have procured these things for you.
This is your wickedness,
Because it is bitter,
Because it reaches to your heart.”

Sorrow for the Doomed Nation

Jeremiah 4:¹⁹ O my soul, my soul!
I am pained in 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.

Jeremiah 4:²⁰ Destruction upon destruction is cried,
For the whole land is plundered.
Suddenly my tents are plundered,
And my curtains in a moment.

Jeremiah 4:²¹ How long will I see the standard (banner),
And hear the sound of the trumpet?

Jeremiah 4:²² “For My people are foolish,
They have not known Me.
They are silly children (foolish),
And they have no understanding.
They are wise to do evil,
But to do good they have no knowledge.”

Jeremiah 4:²³ I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void;
And the heavens, they had no light.

• The vision is receding to the past at creation:
  • Genesis 1:² And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. ³ And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Jeremiah 4:²⁴ I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled,
And all the hills moved back and forth.

• The vision moves into the future at Jesus’ return to His creation:
  • Ezekiel 38:20 [The Battle of Gog and Magog] so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’
  • Revelation 6:16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

²⁵ I beheld, and indeed there was no man,
And all the birds of the heavens had fled.

Jeremiah 4:²⁶ I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were broken down
At the presence of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ),
By His fierce anger.

Jeremiah 4:²⁷ For thus says the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ):

“The whole land shall be desolate;
Yet I will not make a full end.

• God will save a remnant.

Jeremiah 4:²⁸ For this shall the earth mourn,
And the heavens above be black,
Because I have spoken.
I have purposed and will not relent,
Nor will I turn back from it.

• Joel 2:2 A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations.
  
• Joel 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
  
• Zephaniah 1:15 That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of devastation and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness,

Jeremiah 4:²⁹ The whole city shall flee from the noise of the horsemen and bowmen.
They shall go into thickets and climb up on the rocks.
Every city shall be forsaken,
And not a man shall dwell in it.

Jeremiah 4:³⁰ “And when you are plundered,
What will you do?
Though you clothe yourself with crimson,
Though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
Though you enlarge your eyes with paint,
In vain you will make yourself fair;
Your lovers will despise you;
They will seek your life.

• They sought help from Egypt whom God calls Judah’s lover because she relies on Egypt instead of God.
• In the end of days it will be the same. They will rely on gentile nations instead of God.

Jeremiah 4:³¹ “For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor (childbirth),
The anguish as of her who brings forth her first child,
The voice of the daughter of Zion bewailing herself;
She spreads her hands, saying,
‘Woe is me now, for my soul is weary (faint)

Because of murderers!’

• The prophetic seven year tribulation is called the Time of Sorrows (like a woman in labor) When the Antichrist reigns in Jerusalem and Jerusalem is called “Babylon”.
  • Matthew 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
  • Isaiah 13:8 And they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth; They will be amazed at one another; Their faces will be like flames. [Compare with Isaiah 21)

Conclusion:

The Antichrist will beseige Jerusalem and rule from Jerusalem. She is seen as Babylon, Egypt, and Sodom in God’s eyes. The Babylonian Jerusalem will be held accountable to God in His day of wrath.