1. “Run for safety, people of Benjamin!Get out of Jerusalem!Sound the trumpet in Tekoa!Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem!For disaster lurks out of the north;it will bring great destruction.
2. I will destroy Daughter Zion,who is as delicate and defenseless as a young maiden.
3. Kings will come against it with their armies.They will encamp in siege all around it.Each of them will devastate the portion assigned to him.
4. They will say, ‘Prepare to do battle against it!Come on! Let’s attack it at noon!’But later they will say, ‘Oh, oh! Too bad! The day is almost overand the shadows of evening are getting long.
5. So come on, let’s go ahead and attack it by nightand destroy all its fortified buildings.’
6. All of this is because the Lord who rules over all has said:‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalemand build up a siege ramp against its walls.This is the city which is to be punished.Nothing but oppression happens in it.
7. As a well continually pours out fresh waterso it continually pours out wicked deeds.Sounds of violence and destruction echo throughout it.All I see are sick and wounded people.’
8. So take warning, Jerusalem,or I will abandon you in disgustand make you desolate,a place where no one can live.”
9. This is what the Lord who rules over all said to me:“Those who remain in Israel will be like the grapes thoroughly gleaned from a vine.So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvesterpassing your hand over the branches one last time.”
10. I answered, “Who would listenif I spoke to them and warned them?Their ears are so closedthat they cannot hear!Indeed, what the Lord says is offensive to them.They do not like it at all.
11. I am as full of anger as you are, Lord,I am tired of trying to hold it in.”The Lord answered, “Vent it, then, on the children who play in the streetand on the young men who are gathered together.Husbands and wives are to be included,as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.
12. Their houses will be turned over to othersas will their fields and their wives.For I will unleash my poweragainst those who live in this land,”says the Lord.
13. “That is because, from the least important to the most important of them,all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.Prophets and priests alike,all of them practice deceit.
14. They offer only superficial help for the harm my people have suffered.They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’But everything is not all right!
15. Are they ashamed because they have done such shameful things?No, they are not at all ashamed.They do not even know how to blush!So they will die, just like others have died.They will be brought to ruin when I punish them,”says the Lord.
16. The Lord said to his people:“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path.Ask where the old, reliable paths are.Ask where the path is that leads to blessing and follow it.If you do, you will find rest for your souls.”But they said, “We will not follow it!”
17. The Lord said, “I appointed prophets as watchmen to warn you, saying:‘Pay attention to the warning sound of the trumpet!’”But they said, “We will not pay attention!”
18. So the Lord said, “Hear, you nations!Be witnesses and take note of what will happen to these people.