For thus said the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
For thus said the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
For thus saith Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: Get your unworked land ploughed up, do not put in your seeds among thorns.
For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, "Break up your fallow ground, and don't sow among thorns.
For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Break up your fallow ground - Fallow ground is either that which, having been once tilled, has lain long uncultivated; or, ground slightly ploughed, in order to be ploughed again previously to its being sown. Ye have been long uncultivated in righteousness; let true repentance break up your fruitless and hardened hearts; and when the seed of the word of life is sown in them, take heed that worldly cares and concerns do not arise, and, like thorns, choke the good seed.
To the men - To each man "of Judah." They are summoned individually to repentance.
Break up - literally, Fallow for you a fallow ground, i. e., do not sow the seeds of repentance in unfit soil, but just as the farmer prepares the ground, by clearing it of weeds, and exposing it to the sun and air, before entrusting to it the seed, so must you regard repentance as a serious matter, requiring forethought, and anxious labor. To sow in unfallowed ground was practically to sow on land full of thorns.
4:3 For - The Lord turns now his speech from Israel to Judah.Break up - Prepare your hearts by making them soft, tender, and pliable, fit to embrace my word. A metaphor taken from plow - men. Thorns - Rid your hearts and hands of what may hinder you of embracing my word.