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6:1  Seek refuge, Benjaminites, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, raise a signal over Beth-haccherem; For disaster threatens from the north, and mighty destruction.
6:2  Lovely and delicate daughter Zion, you are ruined!
6:3  Against her, shepherds come with their flocks; all around, they pitch their tents against her; each one grazes his portion.
6:4  “Prepare for war against her, Up! let us rush upon her at midday!” “Woe to us! the day is waning, evening shadows lengthen!”
6:5  “Up! let us rush upon her by night, destroy her palaces!”
6:6  For thus says the Lord of hosts: Hew down her trees, throw up a siege mound against Jerusalem. Woe to the city marked for punishment; there is nothing but oppression within her!
6:7  As a well keeps its waters fresh, so she keeps fresh her wickedness. Violence and destruction resound in her; ever before me are wounds and blows.
6:8  Be warned, Jerusalem, or I will be estranged from you, And I will turn you into a wilderness, a land where no one dwells.
6:9  Thus says the Lord of hosts: Glean, glean like a vine the remnant of Israel; Pass your hand, like a vintager, repeatedly over the tendrils.
6:10  To whom shall I speak? whom shall I warn, and be heard? See! their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot pay attention; See, the word of the Lord has become for them an object of scorn, for which they have no taste.
6:11  But the wrath of the Lord brims up within me, I am weary of holding it in. I will pour it out upon the child in the street, upon the young men gathered together. Yes, husband and wife will be taken, elder with ancient.
6:12  Their houses will fall to others, their fields and their wives as well; For I will stretch forth my hand against those who dwell in the land—oracle of the Lord.
6:13  Small and great alike, all are greedy for gain; prophet and priest, all practice fraud.
6:14  They have treated lightly the injury to my people: “Peace, peace!” they say, though there is no peace.
6:15  They have acted shamefully, committing abominations, yet they are not at all ashamed, they do not know how to blush. Therefore they will fall among the fallen; in the time of their punishment they shall stumble, says the Lord.
6:16  Thus says the Lord: Stand by the earliest roads, ask the pathways of old, “Which is the way to good?” and walk it; thus you will find rest for yourselves. But they said, “We will not walk it.”
6:17  I raised up watchmen for them: “Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!” But they said, “We will not pay attention!”
6:18  Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O earth, what I will do with them:
6:19  See, I bring evil upon this people, the fruit of their own schemes, Because they did not pay attention to my words, because they rejected my law.
6:20  Of what use to me is incense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from far-off lands? Your burnt offerings find no favor with me, your sacrifices do not please me.
6:21  Therefore, thus says the Lord: See, I will place before this people obstacles to trip them up; Parents and children alike, neighbors and friends shall perish.
6:22  Thus says the Lord: See, a people comes from the land of the north, a great nation, rising from the very ends of the earth.
6:23  Bow and javelin they wield; cruel and pitiless are they. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride forth on horses, Each in his place for battle against you, daughter Zion.
6:24  We hear news of them; our hands hang helpless, Anguish takes hold of us, pangs like a woman in childbirth.
6:25  Do not go out into the field, do not step into the street, For the enemy has a sword; terror on every side!
6:26  Daughter of my people, dress in sackcloth, roll in the ashes. Mourn as for an only child with bitter wailing: “How suddenly the destroyer comes upon us!”
6:27  A tester for my people I have appointed you, to search and test their way.
6:28  Arch-rebels are they all, dealers in slander, bronze and iron, all of them, destroyers they are.
6:29  The bellows are scorched, the lead is consumed by the fire; In vain has the refiner refined, the wicked are not drawn off.
6:30  “Silver rejected” they shall be called, for the Lord has rejected them.