Book (-) (+) Chap (-) (+) Vs (-) (+)
Bible Text (Scroll to Verse) [Copy]
1 O you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst 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.
2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate [woman].
3 The shepherds with their flocks will come to her; they will pitch [their] tents against her round about; they will feed every one in his place.
4 Prepare 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.
5 Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.
6 For thus has the LORD [Yahweh] 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 midst of her.
7 As 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.
8 Be you instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you; lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited.
9 Thus says the LORD [Yahweh] of hosts, They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back your hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.
10 To whom will I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear [is] uncircumcised, and they cannot listen: behold, the word of the LORD [Yahweh] is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD [Yahweh]; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife will be taken, the aged with [him that is] full of days.
12 And their houses will be turned to others, [with their] fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD [Yahweh].
13 For from the least of them even to the great of them every one [is] given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely.
14 They have healed also the hurt [of the daughter] of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when [there is] no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they will fall among them that fall: at the time [that] I visit them they will be cast down, says the LORD [Yahweh].
16 Thus says the LORD [Yahweh], Stand you in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk therein, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk [therein].
17 Also I set watchmen over you, [saying], Listen to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not listen.
18 Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what [is] among them.
19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, [even] the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.
20 To 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.
21 Therefore thus says the LORD [Yahweh], Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together will fall upon them; the neighbor and his friend will perish.
22 Thus says the LORD [Yahweh], Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation will be raised from the sides of the earth.
23 They will 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 you, O daughter of Zion.
24 We have heard the fame of it: our hands wax feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, [and] pain, as of a woman in travail.
25 Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy [and] fear [is] on every side.
26 O 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 will suddenly come upon us.
27 I have set you [for] a tower [and] a fortress among my people, that you may know and try their way.
28 They [are] all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: [they are] brass and iron; they [are] all corrupters.
29 The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melts in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.
30 Reprobate silver will [men] call them, because the LORD [Yahweh] has rejected them.