Jerusalem’s Final Warning

1“ Seek refuge, O sons of Benjamin,

from the midst of Jerusalem!

And in Tekoa blow the shofar,

and in in Beth-haccherem lift up a signal,

for disaster looks down from the north,

even great destruction!

2Though a beautiful and delicate woman,

I will destroy the daughter of Zion!†

3The shepherds and their flocks

shall come to her,

and they shall pitch the tents against her all around;

they shall pasture, each man with his own hand.

4‘Be sanctified for war against her!

Arise, and let us go up at noon!

Woe to us, for the day turns away,

for the shadows of the evening are stretched out!

5Arise and let us go up in the night,

and let us destroy her fortresses!’”

6For thus says YHWH of Hosts:

“Cut down trees,

and pour out against Jerusalem a siege mound!

She is the city to be punished,

in her midst all of her of oppression.

7As a fountain wells up with water,

so she has dug up her evil;

violence and destruction are heard in her,

before My face continually are sickness and wounds.

8Be warned, O Jerusalem,

lest My soul should separate from you,

lest I make you a desolation,

a land not inhabited.”

9Thus says YHWH of Hosts:

“They shall thoroughly glean

the remnant of Israel as a vine—

turn back your hand like a grape-gatherer

over the branches!”

10To whom shall I speak and testify,

that they may hear?

Behold, their ear is uncircumcised,

and they are not able to hear.

Behold, the word of YHWH is a reproach to them—

they do not take delight in it!

11Therefore I am full of the fury of YHWH—

I grow weary of holding it in!

“Pour it out on the sons outside,

and on the assembly of young men together!

For even the husband with his wife will be captured,

the aged with the one full of days.

12And their houses will be turned over to others,

the fields and wives together.

For I will stretch out My hand

against those dwelling in the land!”

A declaration of YHWH.

13“For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them,

everyone is gaining dishonest gain;

and from the prophet even to the priest,

everyone is dealing falsely.

14And they have healed the breach

of My people lightly,

saying, ‘Peace, peace!’

And there is no peace.

15Were they ashamed when they did an abomination?

No, they were not in any way ashamed—

they did not even know how to blush!

Therefore they shall fall among those falling;

at the time I visit them, they will stumble,”

says YHWH.

16Thus says YHWH:

“Stand along the pathways, and see;

and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is this good way,’

and walk in it, and you will find rest for your⁺ souls.

And they said, ‘We will not walk!’

17And I set over you⁺ watchmen:

‘Listen to the voice of the shofar!’

And they said, ‘We will not listen.’

18Therefore hear, O nations,

and know, O congregation,

what is among them.

19Hear, O earth! Behold, I am bringing evil upon this people—

the fruit of their thoughts!—

Because they have paid no attention to My words;

and My law, they have rejected it.

20For what is this to Me, the frankincense that comes from Sheba

and the sweet cane from a land far away?

Your⁺ burnt offerings are not acceptable,

and your⁺ sacrifices are not sweet to Me.”

21Therefore thus says YHWH: “Behold,

I am giving to this people stumbling blocks,

and the fathers and the sons together will stumble over them;

and the neighbor and his companion will perish!”

An Invasion from the North

22Thus says YHWH:

“Behold, a people is coming

from the land of the north,

and a great nation shall be roused

from the sides of the earth.

23Bow and spear† they hold firmly—

they are cruel, and they do not have compassion;

their voice roars like the sea,

and they ride on horses,

arrayed as men for the battle,

against you, O daughter of Zion!”

24We have heard the report of it,

our hands grow feeble;

distress has taken hold of us,

writhing as a woman giving birth.

25You⁺ shall not go out to the field,

and on the road You⁺ shall not walk;

because of the sword of the enemy,

terror is all around!

26O Daughter of my people,

put on sackcloth and roll in ashes;

make for yourself mourning as for an only son,

most bitter lamentation,

for suddenly will come

the destroyer upon us!

27“I have appointed you an examiner among My people like ore,†

that you may know and examine their way.

28All of them are turning aside, rebelling,

walking in slander;

they are bronze and iron,

they are all acting corruptly.

29The bellows are burned;

by the fire, the lead;

in vain has a refiner refined,

and the wicked have not been drawn away.

30They call them rejected silver,

because YHWH has rejected them.”