4. Set them apart for war against her;rise up, let’s attack at noon.Woe to us, for the day is passing;the evening shadows grow long.
5. Rise up, let’s attack by night.Let us destroy her fortresses.”
6. For this is what the Lord of Hosts says:Cut down the trees; raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem.This city must be punished.There is nothing but oppression within her.
7. As a well gushes out its water,so she pours out her evil. Violence and destruction resound in her.Sickness and wounds keep coming to My attention.
8. Be warned, Jerusalem,or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation,a land without inhabitants.
9. This is what the Lord of Hosts says:Glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine.Pass your hand once more like a grape gathererover the branches.
10. Who can I speak to and give such a warning that they will listen?Look, their ear is uncircumcised, so they cannot pay attention.See, the word of the Lord has become contemptible to them —they find no pleasure in it.
11. But I am full of the Lord’s wrath;I am tired of holding it back. Pour it out on the children in the street, on the gang of young men as well.For both husband and wife will be captured,the old with the very old.
12. Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives as well,for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land.This is the Lord’s declaration.
13. For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is making profit dishonestly. From prophet to priest,everyone deals falsely.
14. They have treated My people’s brokenness superficially,claiming, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.
15. Were they ashamed when they acted so abhorrently?They weren’t at all ashamed.They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.When I punish them, they will collapse, says the Lord.
16. This is what the Lord says:Stand by the roadways and look.Ask about the ancient paths: Which is the way to what is good?Then take itand find rest for yourselves. But they protested, “We won’t!”