Jeremiah 4:19

The Message

I’m doubled up with cramps in my belly— a poker burns in my gut. My insides are tearing me up, never a moment’s peace. The ram’s horn trumpet blast rings in my ears, the signal for all-out war. Disaster hard on the heels of disaster, the whole country in ruins! In one stroke my home is destroyed, the walls flattened in the blink of an eye. How long do I have to look at the warning flares, listen to the siren of danger?

Cross References

Psalm 103:1

O my soul, bless God. From head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name! O my soul, bless God, don’t forget a single blessing!

Psalm 116:7

I said to myself, “Relax and rest. God has showered you with blessings. Soul, you’ve been rescued from death; Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears; And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.”

Psalm 146:1

Hallelujah! O my soul, praise God! All my life long I’ll praise God, singing songs to my God as long as I live.

Isaiah 15:5

Oh, how I grieve for Moab! Refugees stream to Zoar and then on to Eglath-shelishiyah. Up the slopes of Luhith they weep; on the road to Horonaim they cry their loss. The springs of Nimrim are dried up— grass brown, buds stunted, nothing grows. They leave, carrying all their possessions on their backs, everything they own, Making their way as best they can across Willow Creek to safety. Poignant cries reverberate all through Moab, Gut-wrenching sobs as far as Eglaim, heart-racking sobs all the way to Beer-elim. The banks of the Dibon crest with blood, but God has worse in store for Dibon: A lion—a lion to finish off the fugitives, to clean up whoever’s left in the land.

Isaiah 22:4

In the midst of the shouting, I said, “Let me alone. Let me grieve by myself. Don’t tell me it’s going to be all right. These people are doomed. It’s not all right.” For the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, is bringing a day noisy with mobs of people, Jostling and stampeding in the Valley of Vision, knocking down walls and hollering to the mountains, “Attack! Attack!” Old enemies Elam and Kir arrive armed to the teeth— weapons and chariots and cavalry. Your fine valleys are noisy with war, chariots and cavalry charging this way and that. God has left Judah exposed and defenseless.

Jeremiah 23:9

My head is reeling, my limbs are limp, I’m staggering like a drunk, seeing double from too much wine— And all because of God, because of his holy words.

Jeremiah 4:5

“Sound the alarm in Judah, broadcast the news in Jerusalem. Say, ‘Blow the ram’s horn trumpet through the land!’ Shout out—a bullhorn bellow!— ‘Close ranks! Run for your lives to the shelters!’ Send up a flare warning Zion: ‘Not a minute to lose! Don’t sit on your hands!’ Disaster’s descending from the north. I set it off! When it lands, it will shake the foundations. Invaders have pounced like a lion from its cover, ready to rip nations to shreds, Leaving your land in wrack and ruin, your cities in rubble, abandoned. Dress in funereal black. Weep and wail, For God’s sledgehammer anger has slammed into us head-on.

Jeremiah 50:22

“The thunderclap of battle shakes the foundations! The Hammer has been hammered, smashed and splintered, Babylon pummeled beyond recognition. I set out a trap and you were caught in it. O Babylon, you never knew what hit you, Caught and held in the steel grip of that trap! That’s what you get for taking on God.

Jeremiah 6:24

We’ve heard the news, and we’re as limp as wet dishrags. We’re paralyzed with fear. Terror has a death grip on our throats. Don’t dare go outdoors! Don’t leave the house! Death is on the prowl. Danger everywhere!

Jeremiah 8:18

I drown in grief. I’m heartsick. Oh, listen! Please listen! It’s the cry of my dear people reverberating through the country. Is God no longer in Zion? Has the King gone away? Can you tell me why they flaunt their plaything-gods, their silly, imported no-gods before me? The crops are in, the summer is over, but for us nothing’s changed. We’re still waiting to be rescued. For my dear broken people, I’m heartbroken. I weep, seized by grief. Are there no healing ointments in Gilead? Isn’t there a doctor in the house? So why can’t something be done to heal and save my dear, dear people? * * *

Jeremiah 9:1

I wish my head were a well of water and my eyes fountains of tears So I could weep day and night for casualties among my dear, dear people. At times I wish I had a wilderness hut, a backwoods cabin, Where I could get away from my people and never see them again. They’re a faithless, feckless bunch, a congregation of degenerates. * * *

Jeremiah 9:10

“I’m lamenting the loss of the mountain pastures. I’m chanting dirges for the old grazing grounds. They’ve become deserted wastelands too dangerous for travelers. No sounds of sheep bleating or cattle mooing. Birds and wild animals, all gone. Nothing stirring, no sounds of life. I’m going to make Jerusalem a pile of rubble, fit for nothing but stray cats and dogs. I’m going to reduce Judah’s towns to piles of ruins where no one lives!” * * *

Lamentations 1:16

“For all this I weep, weep buckets of tears, and not a soul within miles around cares for my soul. My children are wasted, my enemy got his way.”

Lamentations 1:20

“O God, look at the trouble I’m in! My stomach in knots, my heart wrecked by a life of rebellion. Massacres in the streets, starvation in the houses.

Lamentations 2:11

My eyes are blind with tears, my stomach in a knot. My insides have turned to jelly over my people’s fate. Babies and children are fainting all over the place,

Daniel 4:19

At first Daniel, who had been renamed Belteshazzar in Babylon, was upset. The thoughts that came swarming into his mind terrified him. “Belteshazzar,” the king said, “stay calm. Don’t let the dream and its interpretation scare you.” “My master,” said Belteshazzar, “I wish this dream were about your enemies and its interpretation for your foes.

Daniel 7:15

“But as for me, Daniel, I was disturbed. All these dream-visions had me agitated. So I went up to one of those standing by and asked him the meaning of all this. And he told me, interpreting the dream for me:

Daniel 7:28

“And there it ended. I, Daniel, was in shock. I was like a man who had seen a ghost. But I kept it all to myself.”

Daniel 8:27

“I, Daniel, walked around in a daze, unwell for days. Then I got a grip on myself and went back to work taking care of the king’s affairs. But I continued to be upset by the vision. I couldn’t make sense of it.”

Romans 10:1

Believe me, friends, all I want for Israel is what’s best for Israel: salvation, nothing less. I want it with all my heart and pray to God for it all the time. I readily admit that the Jews are impressively energetic regarding God—but they are doing everything exactly backward. They don’t seem to realize that this comprehensive setting-things-right that is salvation is God’s business, and a most flourishing business it is. Right across the street they set up their own salvation shops and noisily peddle their knockoffs. After all these years of refusing to really deal with God on his terms, insisting instead on making their own deals, they have nothing to show for it.