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¹ Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin,
    from the midst of Jerusalem.
And in Tekoa blow a horn,
    and on Beth-haccherem lift up a signal,
for evil looks down from the north,
    and a great destruction.
² The lovely and the delicate,
    the daughter of Jerusalem, I will destroy.
³ Shepherds and their flocks will come against her,
    they will pitch their tents against her all around,
    they will pasture, each his portion.^[a]
4 Sanctify^[b] war against her.
    Arise, and let us attack at noon.
Woe to us, for the day turns,
    for the shadows of evening are lengthened.
⁵ Arise, and let us attack by night,
    and let us destroy her citadel fortresses."
⁶ For thus says Yahweh of hosts,
    "Cut down trees and heap up a siege ramp against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be punished,
    its oppression is in its midst.
⁷ As a water well keeps its water cool,
    so she keeps cool her wickedness.
Violence and destruction are heard within her,
    sickness and wounds^[c] are continually before me.^[d]
8 Be warned, O Jerusalem,
    lest I turn away from you in disgust,
lest I make you a desolation,
    a land that is not inhabited."
⁹ Thus says Yahweh of hosts:
    "They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine,
    turn back your hand over the branches like a grape-gatherer.
¹⁰ To whom shall I speak and admonish,
    that they may hear?
Look, their ears are closed,^[e]
    and they are not able to listen attentively.
Look, the word of Yahweh is to them an object of scorn,
    they do not delight in it.
¹¹ But I am full with the wrath of Yahweh,
    I struggle to hold it^[f] in.
Pour it out on the children^[g] in the street,
    and on the assemblies^[h] of young men at the same time.
For even husband with wife will get trapped,
    the old with him who is full of days.
¹² And their houses will be turned over to others,
    their fields and their wives together.
For I will stretch out my hand
    against the inhabitants of the land," declares^[i] Yahweh.
¹³ "For from the smallest of them to the greatest of them,
    everyone^[j] makes profit for unlawful gain.
And from the prophet to the priest,
    everyone^[k] practices deceit.
¹⁴ And they have treated the wound of my people lightly,
    saying,^[l] ‘Peace, peace,' but there is no peace.
¹⁵ Have they acted ashamed, for they have committed a detestable thing?
    Not at all, nor were they ashamed; they did not know to feel humiliated.
Therefore^[m] they will fall among those who fall at the time I punish them,
    they will stumble," says Yahweh.
¹⁶ Thus says Yahweh: "Stand at the roads and look,
    and ask for the ancient paths, where the way of the good is,
and walk in it, and find rest for your inner selves.^[n]
    But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.'^[o]
17 And I raised up watchmen over you:
    ‘Listen attentively to the sound of a horn.'
    But they said, ‘We will not listen attentively.'
¹⁸ Therefore^[p] hear, O nations, and know, O community,
    what will happen to them.^[q]
19 Hear, O earth,
    look, I am about to bring disaster to this people,
    the fruit of their plans,
because they have not listened attentively to my words,
    and my teaching, they have rejected it also.
²⁰ What is this to me?
    Frankincense comes from Sheba,
and the precious spice reed from a distant land.
    Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,^[r]
    your sacrifices are not pleasing to me."
²¹ Therefore^[s] thus says Yahweh:
    "Look, I am about to put before this people stumbling blocks,
and they will stumble against them,
    fathers and children together,
    neighbor and his friend will perish."
²² Thus says Yahweh:
"Look, a people is coming from the land of the north,
    a great nation is woken up from the farthest part of the earth.
²³ The bow and the short sword they grasp are cruel,
    and they show no mercy.
Their sound roars like the sea, and on horses they ride,
    drawn up like a man for battle against you, O daughter of Zion."
²⁴ We have heard news of it,
    our hands grow slack,
anxiety has grasped us,
    pain as a woman who gives birth.
²⁵ You must not go out into the field,
    and you must not walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword,^[t]
    terror is all around.
²⁶ O daughter of my people,
    gird yourself with sackcloth,
and roll about in the ashes in mourning,
    a mourning ceremony as for an only child.
Make for yourself wailing of bitterness,
    for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
²⁷ "I have made you an assayer among my people, a fortification,
    so that you may know and put to the test their ways.^[u]
28 All of them are stubborn rebels,
    going about talking slander.
They are bronze and iron,
    they are all behaving corruptly.
²⁹ The bellows^[v] are burned up,
    lead is consumed by fire.
In vain^[w] he keeps on refining,^[x]
    but the wicked are not torn apart.
³⁰ They are called^[y] rejected silver,
    For Yahweh has rejected them."