6:1 Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem; for evil looms out of the north, and great destruction.
6:2 I have likened daughter Zion to the loveliest pasture.
6:3 Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her. They shall pitch their tents around her; they shall pasture, all in their places.
6:4 ‘Prepare war against her; up, and let us attack at noon!’ ‘Woe to us, for the day declines, the shadows of evening lengthen!’
6:5 ‘Up, and let us attack by night, and destroy her palaces!’
6:6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Cut down her trees; cast up a siege-ramp against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her.
6:7 As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her wickedness; violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are ever before me.
6:8 Take warning, O Jerusalem, or I shall turn from you in disgust, and make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.
6:9 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel; like a grape-gatherer, pass your hand again over its branches.
6:10 To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? See, their ears are closed, they cannot listen. The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it.
6:11 But I am full of the wrath of the Lord; I am weary of holding it in. Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the gatherings of young men as well; both husband and wife shall be taken, the old folk and the very aged.
6:12 Their 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, says the Lord.
6:13 For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.
6:14 They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace’, when there is no peace.
6:15 They acted shamefully, they committed abomination; yet they were not 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.
6:16 Thus says the Lord: Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
6:17 Also I raised up sentinels for you: ‘Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not give heed.’
6:18 Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
6:19 Hear, O earth; I am going to bring disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not given heed to my words; and as for my teaching, they have rejected it.
6:20 Of what use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.
6:21 Therefore thus says the Lord: See, I am laying before this people stumbling-blocks against which they shall stumble; parents and children together, neighbour and friend shall perish.
6:22 Thus says the Lord: See, a people is coming from the land of the north, a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
6:23 They grasp the bow and the javelin, they are cruel and have no mercy, their sound is like the roaring sea; they ride on horses, equipped like a warrior for battle, against you, O daughter Zion!
6:24 ‘We have heard news of them, our hands fall helpless; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labour.
6:25 Do not go out into the field, or walk on the road; for the enemy has a sword, terror is on every side.’
6:26 O my poor people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only child, most bitter lamentation: for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
6:27 I have made you a tester and a refiner among my people so that you may know and test their ways.
6:28 They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron, all of them act corruptly.
6:29 The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed.
6:30 They are called ‘rejected silver’, for the Lord has rejected them.
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