1Yahweh says, “You Israeli people, come back to me!
2and if you declare, ‘Just as surely as Yahweh lives, what he says is true,’
3This is what Yahweh says to the people of Jerusalem and the other cities in Judah:
4Purify your inner beings and your minds for me.
5“Declare this [DOU] to all the people in Jerusalem and the rest of Judea;
6Shout to the people of Jerusalem,
7An army that has destroyed many nations will attack you
8So, put on sackcloth/rough clothes
9Yahweh said that at the time he punishes you, the King of Judah and all his officials will be very afraid.
10Then I replied, “Yahweh my God, you completely deceived the people by telling them that there would be peace in Jerusalem, but now our enemies [PRS] are ready to slaughter us with their swords!”
11When that happens, Yahweh will say to the people of Jerusalem,
12They will be like [MET] a strong blast that I will send.
13Our enemies are about to rush down on us; their chariots are like [SIM] whirlwinds.
14You people of Jerusalem [APO], purify your hearts/inner beings,
15From Dan city in the far north to the hills of Ephraim a few miles/kilometers north of Jerusalem messengers are proclaiming that disasters are coming.
16Tell this to the people in other nations
17They will set up tents around Jerusalem like people set up temporary shelters [SIM] around a field at harvest time.
18You will be punished very severely;
19I am extremely anguished/sad;
20Disasters will occur one after another
21How long will this battle continue?
22Yahweh says, “My people are very foolish!
23God gave me a vision in which I saw
24I looked at the mountains and hills,
25I looked and saw that there were no more people,
26I looked and saw that the fields that previously were fertile had become a desert.
27This is what Yahweh is saying:
28I will do to my people what I said that I would do,
29When the people hear the sound of the enemy army marching,
30So you who will surely be destroyed,
31It is as though I already hear the people in Jerusalem crying very loudly,