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6Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem; for evil looms out of the north, and great destruction. ²I have likened daughter Zion to the loveliest pasture. ³Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her. They shall pitch their tents around her; they shall pasture, all in their places. ⁴“Prepare war against her; up, and let us attack at noon!” “Woe to us, for the day declines, the shadows of evening lengthen!” ⁵“Up, and let us attack by night, and destroy her palaces!” ⁶For thus says the Lord of hosts: Cut down her trees; cast up a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her. ⁷As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her wickedness; violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are ever before me. ⁸Take warning, O Jerusalem, or I shall turn from you in disgust, and make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.

⁹Thus says the Lord of hosts: Glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel; like a grape-gatherer, pass your hand again over its branches. ¹⁰To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? See, their ears are closed, they cannot listen. The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it. ¹¹But I am full of the wrath of the Lord; I am weary of holding it in. Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the gatherings of young men as well; both husband and wife shall be taken, the old folk and the very aged. ¹²Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord. ¹³For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. ¹⁴They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. ¹⁵They acted shamefully, they committed abomination; yet they were not ashamed, they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord. ¹⁶Thus says the Lord: Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, “We will not walk in it.” ¹⁷Also I raised up sentinels for you: “Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!” But they said, “We will not give heed.”

¹⁸Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. ¹⁹Hear, O earth; I am going to bring disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not given heed to my words; and as for my teaching, they have rejected it. ²⁰Of what use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me. ²¹Therefore thus says the Lord: See, I am laying before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble; parents and children together, neighbor and friend shall perish. ²²Thus says the Lord: See, a people is coming from the land of the north, a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth. ²³They grasp the bow and the javelin, they are cruel and have no mercy, their sound is like the roaring sea; they ride on horses, equipped like a warrior for battle, against you, O daughter Zion! ²⁴“We have heard news of them, our hands fall helpless; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor. ²⁵Do not go out into the field, or walk on the road; for the enemy has a sword, terror is on every side.” ²⁶O my poor people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only child, most bitter lamentation: for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us. ²⁷I have made you a tester and a refiner among my people so that you may know and test their ways. ²⁸They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron, all of them act corruptly. ²⁹The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed. ³⁰They are called “rejected silver,” for the Lord has rejected them.