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The Imminence and Horror of the Invasion

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.
² I have likened daughter Zion
   to the loveliest pasture.^*
3 Shepherds 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!’
⁶ For 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.
⁷ As 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.
⁸ Take warning, O Jerusalem,
   or I shall turn from you in disgust,
and make you a desolation,
   an uninhabited land.

⁹ Thus 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.

¹⁰ To 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.