Jerusalem’s Final Warning
1 “Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa
and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem,
for disaster looks out from the north
with a great destruction.
2 I will cut off the beautiful and delicate one,
the daughter of Zion.
3 Shepherds with their flocks will come to her.
They will surround her and pitch their tents against her.
They will feed everyone in his place.
4 Prepare war against her!
Arise! Let us go up at noon.
Woe to us! For the day declines,
for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.
5 Arise! Let us go up by night
and let us destroy her palaces.”
6 For the LORD of Hosts said,
“Cut down trees
and cast up a siege ramp against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished,
for she is full of oppression.
7 As a well produces its waters,
so she produces her wickedness.
Violence and destruction is heard in her.
Sickness and wounds are continually before me.
8 Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest I be alienated from you,
lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.”
9 The LORD of Hosts says,
“Glean the remnant of Israel,
as thoroughly as a vine.
Pass over once again like a grape gatherer.
into the baskets.”
Israel’s Rebellion and God’s Wrath
10 To whom should I speak and testify, that they may hear?
Their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot listen.
The word of the LORD has become a reproach to them.
They have no delight in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the LORD’s wrath.
I am weary of holding it in.
Pour it out on the children in the street
and on the assembly of young men together.
The husband and wife will be taken,
the elderly with him, who are very aged.
12 Their houses will be turned over to others,
their fields and their wives together,
for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land,” says the LORD.
13 “For from their least to their greatest,
everyone is given to covetousness.
From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.
14 They have healed the hurt of my people superficially,
saying, ‘Peace. Peace!’ when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed this abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush.
Therefore they will fall among those who fall.
When I visit them, they will be cast down,” says the LORD.
16 The LORD says,
“Stand in the crossroads and look,
and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’
and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 I set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not listen!’
18 Therefore hear, you nations, and see, congregation,
what is among them.
19 Hear, earth! I will bring disaster on these people,
even the fruit of their thoughts,
because they have not listened to my words,
and as for my law, they have rejected it.
20 To what purpose does frankincense from Sheba come to me,
and the sweet cane from a far country?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.”
21 Therefore the LORD says,
“I will lay stumbling blocks before these people.
The fathers and the sons together will stumble against them.
The neighbor and his friend will perish.”
An Invasion from the North
22 The LORD says,
“A people comes from the north country.
A great nation will be stirred up
from the uttermost parts of the earth.
23 They take hold of bow and spear.
They are cruel and without mercy.
Their voices are roaring like the sea,
and they come riding on horses,
all arrayed for battle, against you, daughter of Zion.”
24 We have heard its report.
Our hands have become feeble.
Anguish has taken hold of us,
and pains as of a woman in labor.
25 Do not go out into the field
or walk in the street,
for the sword of the enemy
and terror are on every side.
26 Daughter of my people,
clothe yourself with sackcloth
and wallow in ashes!
Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation,
for the destroyer will suddenly come on us.
27 “I have made you a tester of metals among my people,
that you may know and try their ways.
28 They are all grievous rebels,
going around to slander.
They are bronze and iron.
All of them deal corruptly.
29 The bellows blow fiercely.
The lead is consumed in the fire.
In vain they go on refining,
for the wicked are not plucked away.
30 Men will call them rejected silver
because the LORD has rejected them.”