Jeremiah 4:16

¹⁴ Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?

¹⁵ For a voice resounds from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.

Warn the nations now! Proclaim to Jerusalem: “A besieging army comes from a distant land; they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.

¹⁷ They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.

¹⁸ “Your ways and deeds have brought this upon you. This is your punishment; how bitter it is, because it pierces to the heart!”

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: Warn the nations now! Proclaim to Jerusalem: “A besieging army comes from a distant land; they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.
KJV: Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
WEB: “Tell the nations, behold, publish against Jerusalem, ‘Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah.
ASV: make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, [that] watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
DARBY: Inform the nations; behold, make Jerusalem to hear: Besiegers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah.
BLB: Make mention to the nations—behold, proclaim over Jerusalem: “Besiegers are coming from a land far away, and they will raise their voice against the cities of Judah.

ÅB: Forkynn det for folkene, kunngjør det for Jerusalem: Voktere kommer fra det fjerne land, og de lar sin røst høre mot Judas byer.
OTB: «Rapporter dette til nasjonene, proklamer om Jerusalem: ‘En beleirende hær kommer fra et fjernt land, hever et krigsrop mot byene i Juda.
B1930: Forkynn det for folkene, kunngjør det for Jerusalem: Voktere kommer fra det fjerne land, og de lar sin røst høre mot Judas byer.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Ezekiel 21:22
In his right hand appears the portent for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering rams, to call for the slaughter, to lift a battle cry, to direct the battering rams against the gates, to build a ramp, and to erect a siege wall.
Read in context
Jeremiah 5:15
Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.
Read in context
Isaiah 39:3
Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, “Where did those men come from, and what did they say to you?” “They came to me from a distant land,” Hezekiah replied, “from Babylon.”
Read in context
Jeremiah 2:15
The young lions have roared at him; they have growled with a loud voice. They have laid waste his land; his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.
Read in context
Jeremiah 31:10
Hear, O nations, the word of the LORD, and proclaim it in distant coastlands: “The One who scattered Israel will gather them and keep them as a shepherd keeps his flock.
Read in context
Jeremiah 5:6
Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf from the desert will ravage them. A leopard will lie in wait near their cities, and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces. For their rebellious acts are many, and their unfaithful deeds are numerous.
Read in context
Isaiah 34:1
Come near, O nations, to listen; pay attention, O peoples. Let the earth hear, and all that fills it, the world and all that springs from it.
Read in context
Jeremiah 4:17
They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.
Read in context