| NET Bible | English Standard Version |
| 1"Run for safety, people of Benjamin! Get out of Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa! Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem! For disaster lurks out of the north; it will bring great destruction. | 1Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms out of the north, and great destruction. |
| 2I will destroy Daughter Zion, who is as delicate and defenseless as a young maiden. | 2The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy, the daughter of Zion. |
| 3Kings will come against it with their armies. They will encamp in siege all around it. Each of them will devastate the portion assigned to him. | 3Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents around her; they shall pasture, each in his place. |
| 4They will say, 'Prepare to do battle against it! Come on! Let's attack it at noon!' But later they will say, 'Oh, oh! Too bad! The day is almost over and the shadows of evening are getting long. | 4“Prepare war against her; arise, and let us attack at noon! Woe to us, for the day declines, for the shadows of evening lengthen! |
| 5So come on, let's go ahead and attack it by night and destroy all its fortified buildings.' | 5Arise, and let us attack by night and destroy her palaces!” |
| 6All of this is because the LORD who rules over all has said: 'Cut down the trees around Jerusalem and build up a siege ramp against its walls. This is the city which is to be punished. Nothing but oppression happens in it. | 6For thus says the LORD of hosts: “Cut down her trees; cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her. |
| 7As a well continually pours out fresh water so it continually pours out wicked deeds. Sounds of violence and destruction echo throughout it. All I see are sick and wounded people.' | 7As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are ever before me. |
| 8So take warning, Jerusalem, or I will abandon you in disgust and make you desolate, a place where no one can live." | 8Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I turn from you in disgust, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.” |
| 9This is what the LORD who rules over all said to me: "Those who remain in Israel will be like the grapes thoroughly gleaned from a vine. So go over them again, as though you were a grape harvester passing your hand over the branches one last time." | 9Thus says the LORD of hosts: “They shall glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel; like a grape gatherer pass your hand again over its branches.” |
| 10I answered, "Who would listen if I spoke to them and warned them? Their ears are so closed that they cannot hear! Indeed, what the LORD says is offensive to them. They do not like it at all. | 10To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it. |
| 11I am as full of anger as you are, LORD, I am tired of trying to hold it in." The LORD answered, "Vent it, then, on the children who play in the street and on the young men who are gathered together. Husbands and wives are to be included, as well as the old and those who are advanced in years. | 11Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD; I am weary of holding it in. “Pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the gatherings of young men, also; both husband and wife shall be taken, the elderly and the very aged. |
| 12Their houses will be turned over to others as will their fields and their wives. For I will unleash my power against those who live in this land," says the LORD. | 12Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the LORD. |
| 13"That is because, from the least important to the most important of them, all of them are greedy for dishonest gain. Prophets and priests alike, all of them practice deceit. | 13“For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. |
| 14They offer only superficial help for the harm my people have suffered. They say, 'Everything will be all right!' But everything is not all right! | 14They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. |
| 15Are they ashamed because they have done such shameful things? No, they are not at all ashamed. They do not even know how to blush! So they will die, just like others have died. They will be brought to ruin when I punish them," says the LORD. | 15Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the LORD. |
| 16The LORD said to his people: "You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. Ask where the old, reliable paths are. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing and follow it. If you do, you will find rest for your souls." But they said, "We will not follow it!" | 16Thus says the LORD: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ |
| 17The LORD said, "I appointed prophets as watchmen to warn you, saying: 'Pay attention to the warning sound of the trumpet!'" But they said, "We will not pay attention!" | 17I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’ |
| 18So the LORD said, "Hear, you nations! Be witnesses and take note of what will happen to these people. | 18Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them. |
| 19Hear this, you peoples of the earth: 'Take note! I am about to bring disaster on these people. It will come as punishment for their scheming. For they have paid no attention to what I have said, and they have rejected my law. | 19Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. |
| 20I take no delight when they offer up to me frankincense that comes from Sheba or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land. I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me. I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.' | 20What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me. |
| 21So, this is what the LORD says: 'I will assuredly make these people stumble to their doom. Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction. Friends and neighbors will die.' | 21Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will lay before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble; fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend shall perish.’” |
| 22"This is what the LORD says: 'Beware! An army is coming from a land in the north. A mighty nation is stirring into action in faraway parts of the earth. | 22Thus says the LORD: “Behold, a people is coming from the north country, a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth. |
| 23Its soldiers are armed with bows and spears. They are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride forth on their horses. Lined up in formation like men going into battle to attack you, Daughter Zion.'" | 23They lay hold on bow and javelin; they are cruel and have no mercy; the sound of them is like the roaring sea; they ride on horses, set in array as a man for battle, against you, O daughter of Zion!” |
| 24The people cry out, "We have heard reports about them! We have become helpless with fear! Anguish grips us, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby! | 24We have heard the report of it; our hands fall helpless; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor. |
| 25Do not go out into the countryside. Do not travel on the roads. For the enemy is there with sword in hand. They are spreading terror everywhere." | 25Go not out into the field, nor walk on the road, for the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side. |
| 26So I said, "Oh, my dear people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with painful sobs as though you had lost your only child. For any moment now that destructive army will come against us." | 26O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us. |
| 27The LORD said to me, "I have made you like a metal assayer to test my people like ore. You are to observe them and evaluate how they behave." | 27“I have made you a tester of metals among my people, that you may know and test their ways. |
| 28I reported, "All of them are the most stubborn of rebels! They are as hard as bronze or iron. They go about telling lies. They all deal corruptly. | 28They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron; all of them act corruptly. |
| 29The fiery bellows of judgment burn fiercely. But there is too much dross to be removed. The process of refining them has proved useless. The wicked have not been purged. | 29The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed. |
| 30They are regarded as 'rejected silver' because the LORD rejects them." | 30Rejected silver they are called, for the LORD has rejected them.” |
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