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6:1  Escape, people of Benjamin, get out of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, sound the alarm in Beth-haccherem; for disaster looms from the north, massive devastation.
6:2  You are like a lovely pasture, Daughter Zion.
6:3  Shepherds come to her with their flocks. They pitch their tents around her and graze in their place.
6:4  “Prepare for battle against her; get ready; let’s attack by noon! Oh, no! Daylight is fading, and the evening shadows lengthen.
6:5  Get ready, let’s attack by night and destroy her fortresses!”
6:6  The 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.
6:7  As a well brings forth fresh water, she brings forth evil. Violence and destruction are heard within her; injury and wounds are ever before me.
6:8  Hear me out, Jerusalem, or else I’ll turn away from you and reduce you to ruins, a land unfit to live in.
6:9  This is what the Lord of heavenly forces says: From top to bottom, let them harvest the remaining few in Israel. Pick clean every last grape on the vine!
6:10  To whom can I speak and warn? How can I get someone’s attention? Their ears are shut tight, so they won’t hear. They are ashamed of the Lord’s word and take no pleasure in it.
6:11  But 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, as will those old and gray.
6:12  Their 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, declares the Lord.
6:13  From the least to the greatest, each is eager to profit; from prophet to priest, each trades in dishonesty.
6:14  They 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.
6:15  They 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, declares the Lord.
6:16  The 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. But you said, “We won’t go!”
6:17  Still, I have appointed watchmen to warn you. But you said, “We won’t listen!”
6:18  Therefore, pay attention, nations; take notice, assembly, what is ahead of them.
6:19  Pay 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.
6:20  What 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.
6:21  Therefore, 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.
6:22  The Lord proclaims: An army is on the move from the northern regions; a great nation is roused from the ends of the earth.
6:23  Equipped with bow and spear, they are cruel; they show no mercy. Their horsemen sound like the roaring sea, arrayed in battle formation against you, Daughter Zion.
6:24  We have heard reports of them and are panic-stricken; distress overwhelms us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
6:25  Don’t go out into the field! Don’t walk on the road! The enemies’ sword terrorizes at every turn.
6:26  My people, put on funeral clothes and roll in ashes; weep and wail as for an only child, because the destroyer will suddenly descend upon us.
6:27  I have made you a tester of metals, to examine my people to know and prove their ways.
6:28  They are tin and iron; they are headstrong and rebellious. They live to slander. They act corruptly—every last one!
6:29  The bellows roar; the lead is consumed. Yet the refining fails; the impurities remain.
6:30  They are called “rejected silver,” for the Lord has rejected them.