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 6,12 Jer 6,12
Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall possess them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Jehovah standing between earth and heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not use the fruit thereof.
Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to save thee.
Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people; and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day: and there shall be nought in the power of thy hand.
The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labors, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway;
Therefore is the anger of Jehovah kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them; and the mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them, but thou shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worm shall eat them.
Thou shalt have olive-trees throughout all thy borders, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast its fruit.
Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be thine; for they shall go into captivity.
All thy trees and the fruit of thy ground shall the locust possess.
The sojourner that is in the midst of thee shall mount up above thee higher and higher; and thou shalt come down lower and lower.
the Syrians {Or, on the east}before, and the Philistines {Or, on the west}behind; and they {Or, have devoured}shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for every one is profane and an evil-doer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen shall {Hebrew: wear out.}long enjoy the work of their hands.
Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
We are orphans and fatherless;Our mothers are as widows.
{Or, Without me they shall bow down &c.}They shall only bow down under the prisoners, and shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
They ravished the women in Zion,The virgins in the cities of Judah.
He hath bent his bow like an enemy, he hath stood with his right hand as an adversary,And hath slain all that were pleasant to the eye: {Or, On}In the tent of the daughter of Zion he hath poured out his wrath like fire.
And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation: yea, they shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof.
The Lord is become as an enemy, he hath swallowed up Israel;He hath swallowed up all her palaces, he hath destroyed his strongholds;And he hath multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
Jehovah hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion;He hath stretched out the line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from {Hebrew: swallowing up.}destroying;And he hath made the rampart and wall to lament; they languish together.
Surely against me he turneth his hand again and again all the day.