Flee for safety, ye children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth-haccherem; for evil looketh forth from the north, and a great destruction.
The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off.
Shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
{Hebrew: Sanctify.}Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day declineth, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.
Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.
For thus hath Jehovah of hosts said, Hew ye down {Or, as otherwise read, her trees}trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.
As a well {Or, keepeth fresh}casteth forth its waters, so she {Or, keepeth fresh}casteth forth her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds.
Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee; lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn again thy hand as a grape-gatherer {Or, upon the shoots}into the baskets.
To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of Jehovah is become unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
Therefore I am full of the wrath of Jehovah; I am weary with holding in: pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.
And their houses shall be turned unto others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah.
For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
They have healed also the {Or, breach}hurt of {Another reading is, the daughter of my people, as in chapter 8:11, 21}my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
{Or, They shall be put to shame because they have committed abomination; yea, they are not &c.}Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall; at the time that I visit them they shall {Or, stumble}be cast down, saith Jehovah.
Thus saith Jehovah, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls: but they said, We will not walk therein.
And I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet; but they said, We will not hearken.
Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.
Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.
To what purpose cometh there to me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet {Or, calamus}cane from a far country? your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing unto me.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people; and the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish.
Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, a people cometh from the north country; and a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea, and they ride upon horses, every one set in array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion.
We have heard the report thereof; our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pangs as of a woman in travail.
Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy, and terror, are on every side.
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
I have made thee a {Or, tower}trier and a fortress among my people; that thou mayest know and try their way.
They are all grievous revolters, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron: they all of them deal corruptly.
The bellows {Or, are burned}blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.
Refuse silver shall men call them, because Jehovah hath rejected them.
Querverweise zu Jeremia 6,4 Jer 6,4
Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her branches; for they are not Jehovah's.
Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas; I have brought upon them {Or, against the mother and the young men}against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday: I have caused anguish and terrors to fall upon her suddenly.
The harvest is past, the {Or, ingathering of summer fruits}summer is ended, and we are not saved.
{Or, When the day is cool}Until the day {Or, break Hebrew: breathe}be cool, and the shadows flee away,Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a {Or, gazelle}roe or a young hartUpon the {Or, mountains of separation}mountains of {Perhaps, the spice malobathron.}Bether.
Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, {Hebrew: sanctify.}prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough canker-worm.
For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation; they shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
{Hebrew: sanctify.}Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors thereof, and all the deputies thereof, and all the land of their dominion.
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss for {Hebrew: him.}them from the end of the earth; and, behold, {Hebrew: he (and in the following verses).}they shall come with speed swiftly.
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind:
their roaring shall be like a lioness, they shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver.
And they shall roar {Or, over}against them in that day like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, {According to the Massorette text, behold, darkness; distress and light; it is dark &c.}behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened in the clouds thereof.
Set ye up an ensign upon the bare mountain, lift up the voice unto them, wave the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
I have commanded my consecrated ones, yea, I have called my mighty men for mine anger, even {Or, them that exult in my majesty}my proudly exulting ones.
The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as of a great people! the noise of a tumult of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Jehovah of hosts is mustering the host for the battle.
They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Jehovah, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
Proclaim ye this among the nations; {Hebrew: sanctify.}prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.