1 ¶ O children of Benjamin, flee together from Jerusalem, sound the trumpet in Tekoa, and light a signal fire in Bethhaccerem: because disaster and great destruction threatens from the north.

2 I have compared the daughter of Zion to a beautiful and delicate woman.

3 The shepherds will come to her with their flocks; they will pitch their tents against her all around; each grazing their own plot.

4 Prepare war against her; arise, and let us attack at noon. Woe to us! for the day is passing, the evening shadows are growing long.

5 Come, let us attack by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

6 For the LORD of armies has said, Cut down trees, and heap siege mounds against Jerusalem: this city is to be punished; there is nothing but oppression in her.

7 As a fountain spews out its water, she spews out her wickedness: violence and plunder are heard within her; sorrow and injury are continually before me.

8 Receive instruction, O Jerusalem, lest I turn away from you; and make you desolate, a country where no one lives.

9 ¶ The LORD of armies says this, They will thoroughly glean what is left of Israel like a vine: passing their hand again over the branches like one gathering grapes into baskets.

10 Whom can I tell, and warn, that will listen? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hear: the word of the LORD reproaches them; and they do not like it.

11 Therefore I am full of the LORD’S fury; and tired of holding it in: I will pour it out on the children in the street, and on the gangs of young men: for both husband and wife will be captured, the old and the very aged.

12 And their houses will be given to others, along with their fields and wives: for I will stretch out my hand over the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD.

13 For all of them, from the least to the greatest, is given to covetousness; and from the prophet to the priest every one deals dishonestly.

14 They have treated the wounds of my people superficially, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

15 Were they ashamed after they had committed abominable sins? no, they were not ashamed at all, nor could they blush: therefore they will fall among those who fall: at the time that I punish them they will be brought down, says the LORD.

16 The LORD says, Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the old paths, which are the way to what is good, and follow them, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not follow them.

17 I also set watchmen over you, saying, Listen for the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not listen.

18 ¶ Therefore let the nations hear, and the congregation know, what will happen to them.

19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring disaster upon this people, which is the product of their own thoughts, because they have not listened to my words, or to my law, but rejected it.

20 What good is incense from Sheba to me, or sweet cane from a distant country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices do not please me.

21 Therefore the LORD says, Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people, and fathers and sons together will stumble over them; a neighbor and his friend will perish.

22 Thus says the LORD, Behold, an army is coming from a northern land, and a great nation will be awakened from the remote regions of the earth.

23 They will carry bows and spears; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, prepared to fight as soldiers against you, O daughter of Zion.

24 We have heard the news of it: and our hands grow weak: we are gripped by anguish, and pain, like that of a woman in travail.

25 Do not go out into the field, or walk along the road; because the enemy’s sword is there, terrifying all around.

26 O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes: mourn as for an only son, wailing bitterly: for the destroyer will come upon us suddenly.

27 I have appointed you to be a tower and a fortress among my people, so that you may know and test their way.

28 They are all stubborn rebels, going around slandering: they are like brass and iron; they are all corrupt.

29 The bellows blow fiercely, blasting the lead with fire; but the refiner melts it in vain: for the bad is not removed.

30 Men will call them silver refuse, because the LORD has rejected them.