Prepare for war

¹Escape, people of Benjamin,

get out of Jerusalem!

Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,

sound the alarm in Beth-haccherem;

²You are like a lovely pasture, Daughter Zion.[#6.2 Heb uncertain]

³Shepherds come to her with their flocks.

They pitch their tents around her

⁴“Prepare for battle against her;

get ready; let’s attack by noon!

Oh, no! Daylight is fading,

and the evening shadows lengthen.

⁵Get ready, let’s attack by night

and destroy her fortresses!”

⁶The LORD of heavenly forces proclaims:

Cut down her trees,

and build siege ramps against Jerusalem.

This city must be held accountable,

for there’s nothing but oppression in her midst.

⁷As a well brings forth fresh water,

she brings forth evil.

Violence and destruction are heard within her;

injury and wounds are ever before me.

⁸Hear me out, Jerusalem,[#6.8 Or Accept correction]

or else I’ll turn away from you

Unresponsive people

⁹This is what the LORD of heavenly forces says:

From top to bottom, let them harvest

the remaining few in Israel.

¹⁰To whom can I speak and warn?

How can I get someone’s attention?

They are ashamed of the LORD ’s word

and take no pleasure in it.

¹¹But I’m filled with the LORD ’s rage

and am tired of holding it in.

Pour it out on the children in the streets

and on the youths gathered together;

husband with wife will be trapped,

¹²Their homes will be turned over to others,

their fields and wives as well.

I will stretch out my hand

against the people of this land,

¹³From the least to the greatest,

from prophet to priest,

¹⁴They treat the wound of my people

as if it were nothing:

“All is well, all is well,” they insist,

when in fact nothing is well.

¹⁵They should be ashamed

of their detestable practices,

but they have no shame;

they don’t even blush!

Therefore, they will fall among the fallen

and stumble when I bring disaster,

¹⁶The LORD proclaims:

Stop at the crossroads and look around;

ask for the ancient paths.

Where is the good way?

Then walk in it

and find a resting place for yourselves.

¹⁷Still, I have appointed watchmen to warn you.

But you said, “We won’t listen!”

¹⁸Therefore, pay attention, nations;

¹⁹Pay attention, earth:

I’m bringing disaster upon my people,

the fruit of their own devices,

because they have ignored my words

and they have rejected my teaching.

²⁰What use to me is incense from Sheba

or sweet cane from a faraway land?

Your entirely burned offerings won’t buy your pardon;

your sacrifices won’t appease me.

²¹Therefore, the LORD proclaims:

I’m putting obstacles before this people,

and both parents and children will stumble over them;

neighbor and friend alike will perish.

Panic-stricken Zion

²²The LORD proclaims:

An army is on the move

a great nation is roused

²³Equipped with bow and spear,

they are cruel;

they show no mercy.

Their horsemen sound

like the roaring sea,

²⁴We have heard reports of them

and are panic-stricken;

distress overwhelms us,

²⁵Don’t go out into the field!

Don’t walk on the road!

²⁶My people,

put on funeral clothes and roll in ashes;

weep and wail as for an only child,

Prophet as tester

²⁷I have made you a tester of metals,

to examine my people

to know and prove their ways.

²⁸They are tin and iron;[#6.28 Or bronze]

they are headstrong and rebellious.

They live to slander.

They act corruptly—every last one!

²⁹The bellows roar;

the lead is consumed.

Yet the refining fails;

the impurities remain.

³⁰They are called “rejected silver,”

for the LORD has rejected them.