1 "Take refuge, children of Benjamin, out from the midst of Jerusalem! In Tekoa blow the horn, and over Beth-haccherem raise a signal; for evil looks down from the north, and a great shattering.
2 The comely one, the delicate one, the daughter of Zion, I will cut off.
3 To her shepherds will come with their flocks; they will pitch tents against her all around; they will graze, each one his own patch.
4 'Consecrate war against her! Up, let us attack at noon!' 'Woe to us, for the day is turning, for the shadows of evening stretch out!'
5 'Up, let us attack by night and destroy her strongholds!'"
6 For thus says the LORD of hosts: "Cut down trees and pile up a ramp against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished; it is all oppression within her.
7 As a well keeps its water flowing, so she keeps her evil flowing; violence and ruin are heard in her; before me continually are sickness and blows.
8 Take warning, Jerusalem, or my soul will turn away from you, or I will make you a waste, a land without inhabitant."
9 Thus says the LORD of hosts: "They will glean the remnant of Israel thoroughly like a vine; turn your hand back again over the shoots, like a grape gatherer."
10 To whom shall I speak and testify, so that they will listen? See, their ear is uncircumcised; they cannot listen. See, the word of the LORD has become to them a reproach; they have no pleasure in it.
11 But I am filled with the wrath of the LORD; I am tired of holding it back. "Pour it on the child in the street and on the circle of young men as well; for husband and wife alike will be taken, the elder with him who is full of days.
12 Their houses will pass to others, fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land," declares the LORD.
13 "For from the least of them to the greatest, every one is greedy for profit, and from prophet to priest, every one practices deceit.
14 They heal the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace!' when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they did abomination? Not at all ashamed were they, and they did not know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; at the time I punish them they will stumble," says the LORD.
16 Thus says the LORD: "Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the paths of old, where the good way is, and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'
17 And I raised up watchmen over you: 'Pay attention to the sound of the horn!' But they said, 'We will not pay attention.'
18 Therefore hear, you nations; and you, congregation, know what is among them.
19 Hear, O earth! See, I am bringing evil on this people, the fruit of their own devices, for to my words they have not paid attention, and my law, they have spurned it.
20 Why does incense come to me from Sheba, and fragrant cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings win no acceptance, and your sacrifices do not please me."
21 So thus says the LORD: "See, I am setting obstacles before this people, and they will stumble on them, fathers and sons together; a neighbor and his friend will perish."
22 Thus says the LORD: "Look, a people is coming from the land of the north, and a great nation is stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth.
23 Bow and javelin they seize; they are ruthless and will show no pity. Their noise thunders like the sea, and they ride upon horses, drawn up like a man for war against you, O daughter of Zion!"
24 We have heard the news of it; our hands hang limp; distress has gripped us, pangs like a woman giving birth.
25 Do not go out to the field or walk on the road, for the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side.
26 Daughter of my people, wrap yourself in sackcloth and roll about in ashes; mourn as for an only son, a lament most bitter, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
27 "I have set you as an assayer among my people, a fortress, so that you may know and assay their way.
28 All of them are the most stubborn of rebels, peddlers of slander; bronze and iron, all of them are corrupt.
29 The bellows puff; by the fire the lead is spent; in vain the smelting goes on, for the evil are not drawn out.
30 Rejected silver they are called, for the LORD has rejected them."