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¹ O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.² I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate [woman].³ The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch [their] tents against her on every side; they shall feed every one in his place.⁴ Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! for the day departeth, for the shadows of the evening are lengthened.⁵ Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.⁶ For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this [is] the city to be visited; she [is] wholly oppression in the midst of her.⁷ As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and devastation is heard in her; before me continually [are] grief and wounds.⁸ Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

⁹ Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thy hand as a grape-gatherer into the baskets.¹⁰ To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear [is] uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.¹¹ Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with [him that is] full of days.¹² And their houses shall be turned to others, [with their] fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.¹³ For from the least of them even to the greatest of them every one [is] given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest every one dealeth falsely.¹⁴ They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when [there is] no peace.¹⁵ Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time [that] I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.¹⁶ Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk in it, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk [in it].¹⁷ Also I set watchmen over you, [saying], Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

¹⁸ Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what [is] among them.¹⁹ Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, [even] the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened to my words, nor to my law, but have rejected it.²⁰ To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a distant country? your burnt-offerings [are] not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to me.²¹ Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish.²² Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.²³ They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they [are] cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.²⁴ We have heard the fame of it: our hands become feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, [and] pain, as of a woman in travail.²⁵ Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy [and] fear [is] on every side.²⁶ O daughter of my people, gird [thee] with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, [as for] an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.²⁷ I have set thee [for] a tower [and] a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.²⁸ They [are] all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: [they are] brass and iron; they [are] all corrupters.²⁹ The bellows is burned, the lead is consumed by the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.³⁰ Reprobate silver shall [men] call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.