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this wind of mine is too strong for that. Now I will pass sentence on them."

For a voice is announcing the news from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Efrayim:

For here is what Adonai says: "The whole land will be desolate (although I will not destroy it completely).

Because of this, the land will mourn and the sky above be black; for I have spoken, I have decided, I will not change my mind, I will not turn back."

For I have heard a sound like a woman in labor, in anguish giving birth to her first child. It is the sound of the daughter of Tziyon gasping for breath as she spreads her hands: "Woe to me! Everything in me is so weary before the killers."

Adonai , your eyes look for truth. You struck them, but they weren't affected; you [nearly] destroyed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than rock, refusing to repent.

I will go to the prominent men, and I will speak to them; for they know the way of Adonai and the rulings of their God." But these had completely broken the yoke and torn the harness off.

Should I not punish for this?" asks Adonai . "Should I not be avenged on a nation like this?"

"For the house of Isra'el and the house of Y'hudah have thoroughly betrayed me," says Adonai .

Don't you fear me? — says Adonai . Won't you tremble at my presence? I made the shore the limit for the sea; by eternal decree it cannot pass. Its waves may toss, but to no avail; although they roar, they cannot cross it.

They don't say to themselves, "Let's fear Adonai our God, who gives the fall and spring rains in season, who reserves us the weeks assigned for harvest."

"For among my people there are wicked men, who, like fowlers, lie in wait and set traps to catch their fellow human beings.

"Should I not punish for this?" asks Adonai . "Should I not be avenged on a nation like this?

"Head for cover, people of Binyamin, get out of Yerushalayim! Blow the shofar in T'koa, light the beacon on Beit-Hakerem. For disaster threatens from the north, with great destruction.

"Prepare for war against her! Get up! Let's attack at noon!" "Woe to us! for the day is waning, evening shadows are lengthening."

For Adonai -Tzva'ot says this: "Cut down her trees, and raise a siege-ramp against Yerushalayim! This is the city to be punished; in her there is nothing but oppression.

To whom should I speak? Whom should I warn? Who will listen to me? Their ears are dull, they can't pay attention. For them the word of Adonai has become unattractive, an object of scorn.

This is why I am full of Adonai 's fury; I am weary of holding it back. "Pour it out on the children in the street and on the groups of young men gathered; for husbands and wives will be taken together, seniors as well as the very old.

"For from the least to the greatest of them, all are greedy for gains; prophets and cohanim alike, they all practice fraud —

Here is what Adonai says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask about the ancient paths, ‘Which one is the good way?' Take it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not take it.'