1Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth-haccherem; for evil looks forth from the north, and a great destruction. 2The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, I will cut off. 3Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her all around; they shall feed every one in his place. 4Prepare war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! for the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. 5Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces. 6For thus has Yehovah of hosts said, Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her. 7As a well casts out its waters, so she casts out her wickedness: violence and destruction are heard in her; before me continually are sickness and wounds. 8Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from you; lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited. 9Thus says Yehovah of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn again your hand as a grape-gatherer into the baskets. 10To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of Yehovah has become to them a reproach; they have no delight in it. 11Therefore I am full of the wrath of Yehovah; I am weary with holding it in: pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days. 12And their houses shall be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, says Yehovah. 13For 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 deals falsely. 14They have healed also the hurt of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, says Yehovah. 16Thus says Yehovah, Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls: but they said, We will not walk in it. 17And I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet; but they said, We will not hearken. 18Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. 19Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. 20To what purpose does frankincense come to me from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me. 21Therefore thus says Yehovah, Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people; and the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish. 22Thus says Yehovah, Behold, a people comes from the north country; and a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. 23They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, every one set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Zion. 24We have heard its report; our hands grow feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, and pangs as of a woman in labor. 25Do not go out into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy, and terror, are on every side. 26O daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth, and roll in ashes: make mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us. 27I have made you a tester and a fortress among my people; that you may know and test their way. 28They are all grievous revolters, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron: they all of them deal corruptly. 29The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away. 30Rejected silver men shall call them, because Yehovah has rejected them.