| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Berean Study Bible |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin, flee from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa; send up a signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms from the north, even great destruction. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2Though she is beautiful and delicate, I will destroy the Daughter of Zion. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3Shepherds and their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents all around her, each tending his own portion: |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4“Prepare for battle against her; rise up, let us attack at noon. Woe to us, for the daylight is fading; the evening shadows grow long. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5Rise up, let us attack by night and destroy her fortresses!” |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Cut down the trees and raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; there is nothing but oppression in her midst. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7As a well gushes its water, so she pours out her evil. Violence and destruction resound in her; sickness and wounds are ever before Me. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8Be warned, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitants.” |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine. Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer over the branches.” |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11But I am full of the LORD’s wrath; I am tired of holding it back. Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the young men gathered together. For both husband and wife will be captured, the old and the very old. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives as well, for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the LORD. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13“For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain. From prophet to priest, all practice deceit. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14They have dressed the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15Were they ashamed of the abomination they committed? No, they were not at all ashamed. They did not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse,” says the LORD. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: Where is the good way? Then walk in it and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’ |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.’ But they answered, ‘We will not listen!’ |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18Therefore hear, O nations, and learn, O congregations, what will happen to them. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their own schemes, for they have paid no attention to My word and have rejected My instruction. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.” |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21Therefore, this is what the LORD says: “I will lay stumbling blocks before this people; fathers and sons alike will be staggered; friends and neighbors will perish.” |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22This is what the LORD says: “Behold, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is stirred from the ends of the earth. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23They grasp the bow and spear. They are cruel and show no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, lined up like men in formation against you, O Daughter of Zion.” |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24“We have heard the reports; our hands are limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like a woman in labor. |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25Do not go out to the fields; do not walk the road. For the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side.” |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26“O daughter of My people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.” |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27I have appointed you a tester of metals among My people, so you may know and try their ways. |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28All are hardened rebels, walking around as slanderers. They are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29The bellows blow fiercely, blasting away the lead with fire. The refining proceeds in vain, for the wicked are not purged. |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30They are called rejected silver, for the LORD has rejected them. |
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