1Run away, children of Benjamin, from within Jerusalem, and with a noise, sound a trumpet, and upon Beth Karam lift up a standard, because I bring evil from the North and great ruin

2To a delicate woman and to a pampered woman I have compared the daughter of Zion

3Shepherds will come upon her and their flocks as one, and they shall pitch their tents against her in a circle, and they shall herd each man to his place

4Prepare war against her, and they shall say: “Arise, go up at noonday! Woe to us, for the day has declined and the shadows of the evening have grown long!

5Arise! We shall go up against her in the night and we shall destroy her palaces!”

6For thus says LORD JEHOVAH: ‘Cut down her trees and set an ambush against Jerusalem. This is the city that was visited and all her slanders within her

7As a cistern gathered its waters, so she gathered her evil of plunder, and spoil is heard in her before my face constantly

8In sorrows and with scourgings be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul will turn from you, lest I shall make you a wilderness, as a land that is uninhabited’”

9Thus says LORD JEHOVAH of Hosts: “To glean they shall search out like a vine the remainder of Israel; turn your hand like a grape gatherer for gleaning

10To whom will I speak and will I call to witness to hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised and are unable to hear; behold, the word of LORD JEHOVAH was to them a reproach, and they have no pleasure in it

11And you are filled with the anger of LORD JEHOVAH, and you are weary with labor. I shall measure and I shall pour out on the boys in the street and upon the assembly of young men as one, because also the men with the women shall be taken captive, and the Elders with the young of days

12Their households shall be given to others, and the fields and the wives as one, because I lift my hands against the inhabitants of the land, says LORD JEHOVAH

13Because from the least of them and unto the greatest of them, they all commit deceit, and from the lying Prophet and unto the Priest, all practice falsehood

14And they heal the breach of the house of my people in mockery, and they were saying, “Peace, peace!” and there is no peace

15They were ashamed, because they practiced defilement, and the shamed were not ashamed, and they did not know how to be rebuked, therefore they shall fall with the fallen ones, and at the time that they are visited, they shall be overthrown, says LORD JEHOVAH”

16Thus says LORD JEHOVAH: “Stand on the roads and see, and ask for the paths of eternity, and see which way is beautiful. Go in it and find rest for your souls”, and they said: ‘We are not going!’

17And I set Watchmen for you, that you may hear the sound of a trumpet, and you were saying, ‘We are not listening!’

18Because of this, hear, oh nations, and know, oh congregation, what is in them!

19Hear, oh Earth, behold, I bring evil on this people as the fruit of their reasonings, because they have not heard my words, and they have rejected my law!

20Why will I have frankincense that you bring from Sheba, and cane of sweet spices from a distant land? I have not been pleased with your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices have not been sweet to me

21Because of this, thus says LORD JEHOVAH: “Behold, I give this people stumbling blocks, and parents and children shall be stumbled on them together, and neighbor and his friend shall be destroyed”

22Thus says LORD JEHOVAH: “Behold, the people come from the land of the north and great people shall be moved from the ends of the Earth

23With bows and with spears they are equipped; they are evil and have no compassion; their voice is like the sea that rages, and they ride upon horses, and they are prepared like mighty men for battle against you, daughter of Zion

24We heard their report and our hands became slack, and grief seized us, and pains like a woman in labor

25You shall not go out to the field, and on a road you shall not go, because of the sword of an enemy that surrounds you

26Daughter of my people, be clothed with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes, make for yourself grieving as for an only son, and bitter mourning, because suddenly the plunderer will come upon you

27I have given you as an examiner in my strong nation, that you shall know and you shall test their ways

28All their rulers are rebels and they walk by treachery, and like brass and iron they all become corrupt

29The bellows and the lead fail from their fire, and in vain the Refiner refines and their evil is not consumed

30Rejected silver they are called, because LORD JEHOVAH rejects them