1You children of Benjamin, gather together and flee out of Jerusalem. Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a fire signal in Bethhaccerem. For evil is looming out of the north, and great destruction.
2I have compared the daughter of Zion to a lovely and delicate woman.
3Shepherds with their flocks will come against her. They will pitch their tents all around her. Each one will feed his flock in his own place.
4"Get ready for war against her. Rise up, and let us attack at noon. How sad for us, for the day is fading, and the evening shadows are stretching out."
5"Rise up, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces."
6For this is what the LORD of hosts says: "Cut down trees, and build a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished; there is nothing but oppression inside her."
7As a spring pours out its water, so she pours out her wickedness. Violence and ruin are heard in her. Grief and wounds are always before me.
8Take warning, Jerusalem, or my soul will turn away from you, and I will make you a waste, a land where no one lives.
9This is what the LORD of hosts says: "They will glean what is left of Israel as clean as a vine. Pass your hand over the branches again, like a grape gatherer filling his baskets."
10Who can I speak to and warn, so that they will hear? Look, their ears are closed, and they cannot listen. Look, the word of the LORD is an insult to them; they take no delight in it.
11So I am full of the fury of the LORD. I am worn out with holding it in. I will pour it out on the children in the street, and on the gatherings of young men as well. Husband and wife will both be taken, the old man and the one who is full of days.
12Their houses will be handed over to others, with their fields and their wives too. For I will stretch out my hand against the people of the land, says the LORD.
13From the least of them to the greatest of them, every one is greedy for gain. From the prophet to the priest, every one deals falsely.
14They have healed the wound of the daughter of my people only lightly, saying, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace.
15Were they ashamed when they did these disgusting things? No, they were not ashamed at all, and they did not know how to blush. So they will fall among those who fall. When I punish them, they will be thrown down, says the LORD.
16This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the roads and look. Ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'"
17"I also set watchmen over you, saying, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet.' But they said, 'We will not listen.'"
18"So hear, you nations, and know, you assembly, what is among them."
19"Hear, earth: look, I will bring evil on this people, the fruit of their own thoughts, because they have not listened to my words, and they have rejected my law."
20"What use is it to me that incense comes from Sheba, and sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me."
21So this is what the LORD says: "Look, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. Fathers and sons together will fall over them. The neighbour and his friend will perish."
22This is what the LORD says: "Look, a people is coming from the country of the north, and a great nation will be stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth."
23"They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel and show no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, lined up like men ready for war against you, daughter of Zion."
24We have heard the news of them. Our hands hang weak. Anguish has gripped us, and pain like a woman in childbirth.
25Do not go out into the field, and do not walk on the road, for the enemy has a sword, and there is terror on every side.
26Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn as for an only son, with the most bitter weeping, for the destroyer will suddenly come upon us.
27I have made you a tower and a fortress among my people, so that you may know and test the way they live.
28They are all stubborn rebels, going about spreading slander. They are brass and iron; they are all corrupt.
29The bellows are scorched, the lead is burned up by the fire. The refiner melts for nothing, for the wicked are not taken away.
30People will call them rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.