3. Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents around her;they shall pasture, each in his place.
4. “Prepare war against her;arise, and let us attack at noon!Woe to us, for the day declines,for the shadows of evening lengthen!
5. Arise, and let us attack by nightand destroy her palaces!”
6. For thus says the Lord of hosts: “Cut down her trees; cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.This is the city that must be punished;there is nothing but oppression within her.
7. As a well keeps its water fresh,so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and destruction are heard within her;sickness and wounds are ever before me.
8. Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I turn from you in disgust,lest I make you a desolation,an uninhabited land.”
9. Thus says the Lord of hosts: “They shall glean thoroughly as a vinethe remnant of Israel;like a grape gatherer pass your hand againover its branches.”
10. To whom shall I speak and give warning,that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen;behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;they take no pleasure in it.
11. Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord; I am weary of holding it in. “Pour it out upon the children in the street,and upon the gatherings of young men, also; both husband and wife shall be taken,the elderly and the very aged.
12. Their houses shall be turned over to others,their fields and wives together,for I will stretch out my handagainst the inhabitants of the land,”declares the Lord.
13. “For from the least to the greatest of them,everyone is greedy for unjust gain;and from prophet to priest,everyone deals falsely.
14. They have healed the wound of my people lightly,saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.