O children of Binyamin, flee for safety out of the midst of Yerushalayim, and blow the shofar in Teqoa, and set up a beacon in Bet-hakkerem: for evil appears out of the north, and great destruction.

Thou seemest comely and delicate, O daughter of Żiyyon.

Yet shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.

Prepare 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 lengthened.

Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

For thus says the Lord of hosts, Hew down trees, and cast up a mound against Yerushalayim: this is the city to be punished; there is oppression everywhere in the midst of her.

As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her wickedness: violence and spoil, grief and wounds, is heard in her before me continually.

Be thou instructed, O Yerushalayim, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Yisra᾽el like a vine: pass thy hand again like a grapegatherer over the branches.

To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary of holding it in: I will pour it out upon the infants 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 that is full of days.

And their houses shall be turned over to others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord.

For from the least of them even to the greatest of them everyone is greedy for gain; and from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.

They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people superficially, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

They should have been ashamed when they had committed abomination; but they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among the fallen: at the time that I punish them they shall stumble, says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord, Stand on the highways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk upon it, and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

And I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the shofar. But they said, We will not hearken.

Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.

Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened to my words, nor to my Tora, but have rejected it.

To what purpose comes incense to me from Sheva, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to me.

Therefore thus says the Lord, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.

Thus says the Lord, Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation shall stir from the sides of the earth.

They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Żiyyon.

We have heard the report of it: our hands grow feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy is there, and terror on every side.

O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, and roll in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayst know and test their way.

They are all grievous revolters, going about with slanders: they are brass and iron; they all deal corruptly.

The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; but the founder melts in vain, for the wicked are not separated.

Base silver shall they be called, for the Lord has rejected them.