Jerusalem's Final Warning

1O you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the middle of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appears out of the north, and great destruction.

2I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.

3The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.

4Prepare you war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! for the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

5Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

6For thus has the LORD of hosts said, Hew you down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the middle of her.

7As a fountain casts out her waters, so she casts out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.

8Be you instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you; lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited.

9Thus said the LORD of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.

Israel's Rebellion and God's Wrath

(Jeremiah 25:15-33; Jonah 1:4-10; Acts 27:13-26; Romans 1:18-32)

10To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot listen: behold, the word of the LORD is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

11Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out on the children abroad, and on 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.

12And their houses shall be turned to others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, said the LORD.

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 the daughter 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 them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, said the LORD.

16Thus said the LORD, Stand you in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

17Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Listen to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not listen.

18Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.

19Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

20To what purpose comes there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to me.

21Therefore thus said the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish.

An Invasion from the North

22Thus said the LORD, Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.

23They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, set in array as men for war against you, O daughter of Zion.

24We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

25Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.

26O daughter of my people, gird you with sackcloth, and wallow yourself in ashes: make you mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come on us.

27I have set you for a tower and a fortress among my people, that you may know and try their way.

28They are all grievous rebels, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.

29The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melts in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.

30Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD has rejected them.