6. Raise the signal flag toward Zion. Run for your lives! Don’t wait! Do this because I am bringing disaster from the north. I am bringing terrible destruction.”
7. A lion has come out of his cave. A destroyer of nations has begun to march. He has left his home to destroy your land. Your towns will be destroyed. There will be no one left to live in them.
8. The Lord is angry with us, so put on sackcloth and cry out loud!
9. The Lord says, “When this happens, the king and his officers will lose their courage. The priests will be filled with fear, and the prophets will be shocked.”
10. Then I, Jeremiah, said, “Lord GOD, you have tricked the people of Judah and Jerusalem. You said to them, ‘You will have peace.’ But now the sword is pointing at their throats!”
11. At that time this message will be given to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: “A hot wind blows from the bare hills. It comes from the desert to my people. It is not like the gentle wind that is used to separate the grain from the chaff.
12. It is a stronger wind than that, and it comes from me. Now I will announce my judgment against the people of Judah.”
13. Look! The enemy rises up like a cloud. His chariots look like a windstorm. His horses are faster than eagles. It will be very bad for us! We are ruined!
14. People of Jerusalem, wash the evil from your hearts. Make your hearts pure so that you can be saved. Don’t continue making evil plans.
15. Listen! The voice of a messenger from the land of Dan is speaking. Someone is bringing bad news from the hill country of Ephraim:
16. “Report it to this nation. Spread the news to the people in Jerusalem. Enemies are coming from a faraway country. They are shouting words of war against the cities of Judah.
17. The enemy has surrounded Jerusalem like men guarding a field. Judah, you turned against me, so the enemy is coming against you.” This message is from the Lord.