• Yahweh Disciplines Israel

  • 1 “Flee for safety, O sons of Benjamin, From the midst of Jerusalem! Now blow a trumpet in Tekoa And raise a signal over Beth-haccerem, For evil looks down from the north, As well as great destruction.
  • 2 “The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, I will ruin.
  • 3 “Shepherds and their flocks will come to her; They will pitch their tents around her; They will pasture each in his place.
  • 4 “Set yourselves apart for war against her; Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us, for the day declines, For the shadows of the evening stretch out!
  • 5 “Arise, and let us go up by night And destroy her palaces!”
  • 6 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Cut down her trees And cast up a siege against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished, In whose midst there is only oppression.
  • 7 “Like a well keeps its waters fresh, So she keeps fresh her evil. Violence and devastation are heard in her; Sickness and wounds are continually before Me.
  • 8 “Heed discipline, O Jerusalem, Lest My soul become disgusted at you, Lest I make you a desolation, A land not inhabited.”
  • 9 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “They will thoroughly glean as the vine the remnant of Israel; Pass your hand again like a grape gatherer Over the branches.”
  • 10 To whom shall I speak and give warning That they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, And they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of Yahweh has become a reproach to them; They have no delight in it.
  • 11 But I am full of the wrath of Yahweh; I am weary of holding it in. “Pour it out on the infants in the street And on the gathering of choice men together; For both husband and wife shall be captured, The aged with the one full of days.
  • 12 “Their houses shall be turned over to others, Their fields and their wives together, For I will stretch out My hand Against the inhabitants of the land,” declares Yahweh.
  • 13 “For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is greedy for gain, And from the prophet even to the priest Everyone practices lying.
  • 14 “They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.
  • 15 “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; They did not even know how to feel dishonor. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time that I punish them, They shall be cast down,” says Yahweh.
  • 16 Thus says Yahweh, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
  • 17 “And I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not give heed.’
  • 18 “Therefore hear, O nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them.
  • 19 “Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing evil on this people, The fruit of their plans, Because they have not given heed to My words, And as for My law, they have rejected it also.
  • 20 “For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba And the sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”
  • 21 Therefore, thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people. And they will stumble against them, Fathers and sons together; Neighbor and friend will perish.”

  • Mourn the Coming Destroyer

  • 22 Thus says Yahweh, “Behold, a people is coming from the land of the north, And a great nation will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.
  • 23 “They take hold of bow and spear; They are cruel and have no compassion; Their voice roars like the sea, And they ride on horses, Arranged as a man for the battle Against you, O daughter of Zion!”
  • 24 We have heard the report of it; Our hands are limp. Distress has taken hold of us, Pain as of a woman in childbirth.
  • 25 Do not go out into the field And do not walk on the road, For the enemy has a sword; Terror is on every side.
  • 26 O daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth And roll in ashes; Mourn as for an only son, A lamentation most bitter. For suddenly the destroyer Will come upon us.
  • 27 “I have made you a tester of metals and an assayer among My people, That you may know and test their way.”
  • 28 All of them are rebelliously stubborn, Going about as a slanderer. They are bronze and iron; They, all of them, are corrupt.
  • 29 The bellows blow fiercely; The lead is consumed by the fire; In vain the refining goes on, But the evil ones are not separated.
  • 30 They call them rejected silver Because Yahweh has rejected them.