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| [1]Strengthen yourselves, ye children of Benjamin, to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and sound an alarm with the trumpet in Thecue, and set up a signal over Baethacharma: for evil threatens from the north, and a great destruction is coming. |
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| [2]And thy pride, O daughter of Sion, shall be taken away. |
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| [3]The shepherds and their flocks shall come to her; and they shall pitch their tents against her round about, and shall feed their flocks each with his hand. |
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| [4]Prepare yourselves for war against her; rise up, and let us go up against her at noon. Woe to us! for the day has gone down, for the shadows of the day fail. |
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| [5]Rise, and let us go up against her by night, and destroy her foundations. |
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| [6]For thus saith the Lord, Hew down her trees, array a numerous force against Jerusalem. O false city; there is all oppression in her. |
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| [7]As a cistern cools water, so her wickedness cools her, ungodliness and misery shall be heard in her, as continually before her. |
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| [8]Thou shalt be chastened, O Jerusalem, with pain and the scourge, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee a desert land, which shall not be inhabited. |
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| [9]For thus saith the Lord, Glean, glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel: turn back your hands as a grape-gatherer to his basket. |
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| [10]To whom shall I speak, and testify, that he may hearken? behold, thine ears are uncircumcised, and they shall not be able to hear: behold, the word of the Lord is become to them a reproach, they will not at all desire it. |
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| [11]And I allowed my wrath to come to full, yet I kept it in, and did not utterly destroy them: I will pour it out on the children without, and on the assembly of young men together: for man and woman shall be taken together, the old man with him that is full of days. |
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| [12]And their houses shall be turned to others, with their fields and their wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of this land, saith the Lord. |
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| [13]For from the least of them even to the greatest they have all committed iniquity; from the priest even to the false prophet they have all wrought falsely. |
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| [14]And they healed the breach of my people imperfectly, making light of it, and saying, Peace, peace, and where is peace? |
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| [15]They were ashamed because they failed; yet they were not ashamed as those who are truly ashamed, and they knew not their own disgrace: therefore shall they utterly fall when they do fall, and in the time of visitation shall they perish, said the Lord. |
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| [16]Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths of the Lord; and see what is the good way, and walk in it, and ye shall find purification for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in them. |
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| [17]I have set watchmen over you, saying, Hear ye the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hear it. |
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| [18]Therefore have the nations heard, and they that feed their flocks. |
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| [19]Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evils upon this people, even the fruit of their rebellions; for they have not heeded my words, and they have rejected my law. |
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| [20]Wherefore do ye bring me frankincense from Saba, and cinnamon from a land afar off? your whole-burnt-offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices have not been pleasant to me. |
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| [21]Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring weakness upon this people, and the fathers and sons shall be weak together; the neighbour and his friend shall perish. |
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| [22]Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people comes from the north, and nations shall be stirred up from the end of the earth. |
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| [23]They shall lay hold on bow and spear; the people is fierce, and will have no mercy; their voice is as the roaring sea; they shall array themselves for war against thee as fire on horses and chariots, O daughter of Sion. |
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| [24]We have heard the report of them: our hands are weakened: anguish has seized us, the pangs as of a woman in travail. |
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| [25]Go not forth into the field, and walk not in the ways; for the sword of the enemy lingers round about. |
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| [26]O daughter of my people, gird thyself with sackcloth: sprinkle thyself with ashes; make for thyself pitiable lamentation, as the mourning for a beloved son: for misery will come suddenly upon you. |
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| [27]I have caused thee to be tried among tried nations, and thou shalt know me when I have tried their way. |
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| [28]They are all disobedient, walking perversely: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupted. |
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| [29]The bellows have failed from the fire, the lead has failed: the silversmith works at his trade in vain; their wickedness is not consumed. |
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| [30]Call ye them reprobate silver, because the Lord has rejected them. |
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