Episode 188: Circumcise the foreskin of your heart

Jeremiah 1-4

Jeremiah, the unborn prophet

1 ¹ The words of Jeremiah, to whom God spoke, when Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah were kings of Judah, before Jerusalem was taken captive. ⁴ The word of God came to me, saying,

⁵ I made you a prophet while you were a fetus.

God put words in Jeremiah's mouth

⁶ I said, "I can't speak because I'm still a child."

⁷ God said to me,

Don't say you're a child.

You are going to speak for me.

⁹ Then God touched my mouth with his hand, and said, "I've put words in your mouth."

¹¹ The word of God came to me and said, "Jeremiah, what do you see?"

¹² God said, "That's right. Because I am watching."

And I said, “A branch from an almond tree.”

¹³ The word of God came to me a second time, and said, "What do you see?"

I said, "A seething pot facing north."

¹⁴ God said to me,

Evil will attack everyone from the north.

¹⁵ I will call all the kingdoms of the north to set up their thrones on the gates of Jerusalem.

¹⁶ And I will punish those who have forsaken me by burning incense to other gods or worshiping the works of their own hands.

¹⁷ So gird up your loins and speak to them.

¹⁹ They'll fight against you, but they won't win. Because I'm with you.

In vain have I smitten your children

2 ¹ The word of God said to me,

² Go cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying,

This is what God says,

I remember when you were my young bride and you loved me in the wilderness.

³ You were faithful, and I protected you.

⁹ So I accuse you and your children's children.

²⁰ You've played the harlot under every high hill and under every green tree.

²⁴ Like a female donkey in heat, you sniff the air looking for sex. ²⁵ You've worn yourself out chasing after strangers to have sex with them.

²⁸ Where are the gods that you made. Let them come to save you.

³⁰ I punished you by killing your children. But it didn't help.

A whore's forehead

3 ¹ If a man divorces his wife and then she marries another man, should he marry her again? Wouldn't that pollute the land? But you’ve played the harlot with many lovers, and yet you want to return to me?

² Look up to the high places. Is there any place you haven't had sex? You've had sex like an Arab in the wilderness, polluting the land with your whoredoms.

³ To punish you for this, I have stopped it from raining.

You have a whore's forehead; you refuse to be ashamed of it.

⁶ God said to me,

Israel has played the harlot on every mountaintop and under every green tree.

⁷ Even her sister Judah saw it

⁸ So I divorced Israel, while her sister Judah played the harlot too.

⁹ She defiled the land, committing adultery with sticks and stones.

¹² Tell backsliding Israel to return to me. I am merciful and won't be angry forever.

¹³ Just admit that you've had sex with strangers under every green tree.

¹⁶ Someday the ark of the covenant will be lost, and no one will know what became of it.

²⁰ Israel has been like an unfaithful wife to me.

Circumcise the foreskin of your heart

4 ¹ God says to Israel,

Return to me and put your abominations out of my sight.

⁴ Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, or my fury will descend upon you like fire.

The destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way.

⁵ Blow the trumpet and shout out loud.

⁶ God will bring evil from the north.

⁷ A lion (the destroyer of the Gentiles) is coming who will kill everyone in your cities.

⁸ So gird yourself with sackcloth, lament and howl, because God's anger is coming our way.

¹⁰ And I said to God, "Surely you have deceived the people, saying there will be peace, while we are being attacked and destroyed."

¹⁹ My bowels, my bowels! My heart makes a sound in me.

²⁵ I looked, and there was no one. All the birds had fled.

²⁶ All the cities had been destroyed by God in his fierce anger.

God said,

²⁷ I'll destroy the whole land, well most of it, anyway.

²⁸ The earth will mourn, and the heavens will be black, because I said so.

And I won't change my mind.