1Take refuge, O children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the horn in Tekoa, and set up a signal over Beth-haccherem; for evil looks forth from the north, and a great destruction.
2The beautiful and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, I have cut off.
3To her come shepherds with their flocks; they pitch tents against her round about; they feed, every man (ish) his own portion.
4Sanctify war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! for the day declines, for the shadows of evening are stretched out.
5Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.
6For thus says YHWH of hosts (tzevaot): Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem; this is the city to be punished; she is wholly oppression in her midst.
7As a well keeps fresh its waters, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and spoil are heard in her; before me continually are sickness and wounds.
8Be corrected, O Jerusalem, lest my soul (nephesh) be alienated from you, lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited.
9Thus says YHWH of hosts (tzevaot): They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like 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 cannot attend; behold, the word of YHWH has become to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
11And I am full of the fury of YHWH; I am weary with holding it in. Pour it out upon the child in the street, and upon the assembly of young men together; for even the man (ish) with the woman (ishah) shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days.
12And their houses shall be turned over to others, fields and wives (ishah) together; for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, declares YHWH.
13For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, every one is greedy for unjust gain; and from the prophet even to the priest, every one deals falsely.
14And they have healed the breach of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
15They were put to shame because they had committed abomination; yet they were not at all ashamed, neither did they know how to blush; therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them they shall stumble, says YHWH.
16Thus says YHWH: Stand by the ways, and see, and ask for the ancient paths, where is the good way, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls (nephesh). But they said, We will not walk in it.
17And I set watchmen over you, saying, Attend to the sound of the horn. But they said, We will not attend.
18Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what is against them.
19Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing evil upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts; for they have not attended to my words, and as for my Torah, they have rejected it.
20To what purpose does frankincense come to me from Sheba, and the good cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
21Therefore thus says YHWH: Behold, I am laying before this people stumbling blocks, and they shall stumble against them, fathers and sons together; the neighbor and his friend shall perish.
22Thus says YHWH: 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 javelin; they are cruel, and have no compassion; their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, set in array as a man (ish) for war, against you, O daughter of Zion.
24We have heard the report of it; our hands grow feeble; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in travail.
25Do not go forth 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 wallow in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for suddenly the devastator shall come upon us.
27I have set you as an assayer among my people, a fortress, that you may know and test their way.
28They are all stubborn rebels, going about as slanderers; they are bronze and iron; they are all corrupters.
29The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain has the refiner refined, for the wicked are not separated.
30Rejected silver they are called, for YHWH has rejected them.