2And you shall swear: "LORD JEHOVAH is living in the truth, and in judgment and in righteousness, and the nations shall be blessed in him, and in him they shall be glorified!”

3Because thus says LORD JEHOVAH to the men of Judea and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “Light for yourselves a lamp and you shall not sow among the thorns

4Be circumcised to LORD JEHOVAH and take away the uncircumcision of your heart, men of Judea and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath will go forth as fire, and it will burn and there is no one quenching it, because of the wickedness of your deeds

5Show in Yehuda and in Jerusalem and make heard and say: “Sound a trumpet in the land! Cry out in a loud voice and say: ‘Be gathered, and we will enter the fortress cities’

6Take standards to Zion. Be courageous and do not stop, because I bring evil from the North, and great ruin

7A mighty King went up like a lion from his thicket and is destroying the nations. He packed up and he went out from his place to make your land a wilderness, and your towns shall be desolate, without one inhabitant

8Because of this, put on sackcloth and mourn and wail, because LORD JEHOVAH has not turned the heat of his wrath from you!

9And it shall be in that day, says LORD JEHOVAH, the heart of the King will be destroyed, and the heart of the Rulers, and the Priests shall be astonished and the Prophets shall marvel

10And I said: “I beg you, LORD JEHOVAH God, I have truly deceived this people and I said to Jerusalem: you shall have peace, and behold, you have brought a sword unto the soul!”

11In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “As a stray wind that is in the paths of the wilderness, the way of the daughter of my people is not scattering and is not collecting” 12The wind that is full of these will come to me, therefore also I shall speak my judgment with them

13Behold, he ascends as a cloud and his chariots like a hurricane! His horses are swifter than eagles! Woe to us, for we have been plundered!

14Wash your heart from evil, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved! How long will your evil intentions stay within you?

15Because a voice speaks from Dan and suffering makes heard from the Mount of Aphreim

16Remind the nations and make heard to Jerusalem: “Behold, multitudes of Gentiles are coming from a distant land and they shall raise their voice against the towns of Judea

17As the keepers of the fields they have been against her from around her, because she has angered me, says LORD JEHOVAH

18Your ways and your works have produced these things for you. This is your evil which has been bitter and it has come unto your heart”

19My bowels, my bowels! They pain me and my heartstrings. My heart skips in me, and my heart is not silent, because my soul has heard the sound of the trumpets and the shouting of war

20Ruin on ruin shall come, because suddenly all the land is plundered; my tents are plundered and my tents have fallen

21How long shall I see fugitives and shall I hear the sound of the trumpets?

22Because my people are insane and they have not known me. They are foolish children and they have not been wise. They are wise for evil and they do not know good

23I looked in the earth, and behold, chaos and emptiness, and to the Heavens, and their light is not there

24I have seen the mountains, and behold, they are shaken, and all the hills have departed

25I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of Heaven had fled

26I have seen, and behold, Karmela is desolate as the wilderness, and all her cities have passed away from the presence of LORD JEHOVAH and from the presence of the heat of his anger

27Because thus says LORD JEHOVAH: all the land will be for destruction, and I shall not make the end

28Because of these things, the Earth shall mourn and Heaven shall be dark from above; I shall not regret anything that I have spoken and I have counseled, and I shall not turn from it

29From the sound of the horsemen and the shooters of a bow all the city fled. They entered into the forest and they went up into the cliffs. All the towns shall be forsaken, and there is no son of man who dwells in them

30And you are plundered. What will you do when you will wear scarlet, when you will adorn yourself in ornaments of gold, when you paint your eyes with antimony? You are decorated for nothing; your intimates have left you and they seek your life

31Because I heard a voice like that of a sick woman and she throws herself backward as a woman that is in labor to give birth a sound of the daughter of Zion who is shaking and stretches out her hands and says: “Woe to me, for my soul is stricken for my slain!”