Impending Destruction from the North

6 “O you children of Benjamin,

Gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem!

Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,

And set up a signal-fire in aBeth Haccerem;

bFor disaster appears out of the north,

And great destruction.

2 I have likened the daughter of Zion

To a lovely and delicate woman.

3 The cshepherds with their flocks shall come to her.

They shall pitch their tents against her all around.

Each one shall pasture in his own place.”

4 “Prepare dwar against her;

Arise, and let us go up eat noon.

Woe to us, for the day goes away,

For the shadows of the evening are lengthening.

5 Arise, and let us go by night,

And let us destroy her palaces.”

6 For thus has the Lord of hosts said:

“Cut down trees,

And build a mound against Jerusalem.

This is the city to be punished.

She is full of oppression in her midst.

7 fAs a fountain 1wells up with water,

So she wells up with her wickedness.

gViolence and plundering are heard in her.

Before Me continually are 2grief and wounds.

8 Be instructed, O Jerusalem,

Lest hMy soul depart from you;

Lest I make you desolate,

A land not inhabited.”

9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel;

As a grape-gatherer, put your hand back into the branches.”

10 To whom shall I speak and give warning,

That they may hear?

Indeed their iear is uncircumcised,

And they cannot give heed.

Behold, jthe word of the Lord is a reproach to them;

They have no delight in it.

11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord.

kI am weary of holding it in.

“I will pour it out lon the children outside,

And on the assembly of young men together;

For even the husband shall be taken with the wife,

The aged with him who is full of days.

12 And mtheir houses shall be turned over to others,

Fields and wives together;

For I will stretch out My hand

Against the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord.

13 “Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them,

Everyone is given to ncovetousness;

And from the prophet even to the opriest,

Everyone deals falsely.

14 They have also phealed the 3hurt of My people 4slightly,

qSaying, ‘Peace, peace!’

When there is no peace.

15 Were they rashamed when they had committed abomination?

No! They were not at all ashamed;

Nor did they know how to blush.

Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

At the time I punish them,

They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.

16 Thus says the Lord:

“Stand in the ways and see,

And ask for the sold paths, where the good way is,

And walk in it;

Then you will find trest for your souls.

But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

17 Also, I set uwatchmen over you, saying,

v‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’

But they said, ‘We will not listen.’

18 Therefore hear, you nations,

And know, O congregation, what is among them.

19 wHear, O earth!

Behold, I will certainly bring xcalamity on this people—

yThe fruit of their thoughts,

Because they have not heeded My words

Nor My law, but rejected it.

20 zFor what purpose to Me

Comes frankincense afrom Sheba,

And bsweet cane from a far country?

cYour burnt offerings are not acceptable,

Nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.”

21 Therefore thus says the Lord:

“Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people,

And the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them.

The neighbor and his friend shall perish.”

22 Thus says the Lord:

“Behold, a people comes from the dnorth country,

And a great nation will be raised from the farthest parts of the earth.

23 They will lay hold on bow and spear;

They are cruel and have no mercy;

Their voice eroars like the sea;

And they ride on horses,

As men of war set in array against you, O daughter of Zion.”

24 We have heard the report of it;

Our hands grow feeble.

fAnguish has taken hold of us,

Pain as of a woman in 5labor.

25 Do not go out into the field,

Nor walk by the way.

Because of the sword of the enemy,

Fear is on every side.

26 O daughter of my people,

gDress in sackcloth

hAnd roll about in ashes!

iMake mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation;

For the plunderer will suddenly come upon us.

27 “I have set you as an assayer and ja fortress among My people,

That you may know and test their way.

28 kThey are all stubborn rebels, lwalking as slanderers.

They are mbronze and iron,

They are all corrupters;

29 The bellows blow fiercely,

The lead is consumed by the fire;

The smelter refines in vain,

For the wicked are not drawn off.

30 People will call them nrejected silver,

Because the Lord has rejected them.”