1Take flight for safety, O sons of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the ram’s horn in Tekoa, and raise a signal over Beth-hakkerem, for evil looms out of the north—a great shattering.
2The lovely and delicate one, the Daughter of Zion, I have destroyed.
3To her shepherds will come with their flocks; they pitch tents against her all around; each grazes his own portion.
4‘Consecrate war against her! Arise, let us go up at noon!’ ‘Woe to us, for the day has turned, for the shadows of evening lengthen!’
5‘Arise, let us go up by night, and let us destroy her citadels!’
6For thus says Yahweh of hosts: Cut down her trees and pour out a siege ramp against Jerusalem. She is the city that has been visited with punishment; she is wholly oppression within her.
7As a cistern keeps its water fresh, so she keeps her evil fresh. Violence and destruction are heard within her; before my face continually are sickness and wounds.
8Be disciplined, O Jerusalem, lest my very self turn away from you, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.
9Thus says Yahweh of hosts: They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine; pass your hand again, like a grape-gatherer, over the branches.
10To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot pay attention. Behold, the word of Yahweh has become to them a reproach; they take no delight in it.
11But I am full of the wrath of Yahweh; I am weary of holding it in. Pour it out on the child in the street and on the gathering of young men together; for even husband with wife will be caught, the aged with the one full of days.
12Their houses will be turned over to others, fields and wives together; for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, declares Yahweh.
13For from the least of them to the greatest of them, every one is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, every one deals falsely.
14They have healed the wound of my people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
15Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not even know how to blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall; at the time I punish them they will stumble, says Yahweh.
16Thus says Yahweh: Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths—where is the good way?—and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17And I raised up watchmen over you: ‘Pay attention to the sound of the ram’s horn!’ But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’
18Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.
19Hear, O earth: Behold, I am bringing evil upon this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not paid attention to my words, and as for my law, they have rejected it.
20Why should this frankincense come to me from Sheba, and sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.
21Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am setting before this people stumbling blocks, and they will stumble over them, fathers and sons together; neighbor and friend will perish.
22Thus says Yahweh: Behold, a people is coming from the land of the north, and a great nation is being roused from the far reaches of the earth.
23They grasp bow and javelin; they are cruel and show no mercy. Their sound roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, arrayed like a man for battle against you, O Daughter Zion.
24We have heard the report of it; our hands hang limp. Anguish has seized us, writhing like a woman in labor.
25Do not go out into the field, and do not walk on the road, for the enemy has a sword—terror is on every side!
26O Daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth and roll in ashes; make for yourself mourning as for an only child, most bitter wailing, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
27I have made you an assayer among my people, a fortress, that you may know and test their way.
28They are all the most stubborn of rebels, going about as slanderers; they are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt.
29The bellows is scorched; the lead is consumed by the fire. In vain the refiner refines, and the wicked are not drawn off.
30‘Rejected silver’ they are called, for Yahweh has rejected them.
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