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!”
17. I appointed watchmen over you and said: Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.But they protested, “We won’t listen!”
18. Therefore listen, you nationsand you witnesses,learn what the charge is against them.
19. Listen, earth!I am about to bring disaster on these people,the fruit of their own plotting, for they have paid no attention to My word.They have rejected My instruction.
20. What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land?Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;your sacrifices do not please Me.
21. Therefore, this is what the Lord says:I am going to place stumbling blocks before these people;fathers and sons together will stumble over them; friends and neighbors will also perish.
22. This is what the Lord says:Look, an army is coming from a northern land; a great nation will be awakenedfrom the remote regions of the earth.
23. They grasp bow and javelin.They are cruel and show no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses,lined up like men in battle formationagainst you, Daughter Zion.
24. We have heard about it,and we are discouraged. Distress has seized us —pain like a woman in labor.