10d-And I said:-d Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying:
It shall be well with you—
Yet the sword threatens the very life!
11At that time, it shall be said concerning this people and Jerusalem:
The conduct of e-My poor people-e is like searing wind
From the bare heights of the desert—
It will not serve to winnow or to fan.
12A full blast from them comes against Me:
Now I in turn will bring charges against them.
13Lo, hef ascends like clouds,
His chariots are like a whirlwind,
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, we are ruined!
14Wash your heart clean of wickedness,
O Jerusalem, that you may be rescued.
How long will you harbor within you
Your evil designs?
15Hark, one proclaims from Dan
And announces calamity from Mount Ephraim!
16Tell the nations: Here they are!
Announce concerning Jerusalem:
Watchersf are coming from a distant land,
They raise their voices against the towns of Judah.
17Like guards of fields, they surround her on every side.
For she has rebelled against Me
—declares the LORD.
18Your conduct and your acts
Have brought this upon you;
This is your bitter punishment;
It pierces your very heart.
19Oh, my suffering,g my suffering!
How I writhe!
Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart moans within me,
I cannot be silent;
For h-I hear-h the blare of horns,
Alarms of war.
20Disaster overtakes disaster,
For all the land has been ravaged.
Suddenly my tents have been ravaged,
In a moment, my tent cloths.
21How long must I see standards
And hear the blare of horns?
22For My people are stupid,
They give Me no heed;
They are foolish children,
They are not intelligent.
They are clever at doing wrong,
But unable to do right.
23I look at the earth,
It is unformed and void;
At the skies,
And their light is gone.
24I look at the mountains,
They are quaking;
And all the hills are rocking.
25I look: no man is left,
And all the birds of the sky have fled.
26I look: the farm land is desert,
And all its towns are in ruin—
Because of the LORD,
Because of His blazing anger.
(27For thus said the LORD:
The whole land shall be desolate,
But I will not make an end of it.)
28For this the earth mourns,
And skies are dark above—
Because I have spoken, I have planned,
And I will not relent or turn back from it.
29At the shout of horseman and bowman
The whole city flees.
They enter the thickets,
They clamber up the rocks.
The whole city is deserted,
Not a man remains there.
30And you, who are dommed to ruin,
What do you accomplish by wearing crimson,
By decking yourself in jewels of gold,
By enlarging your eyes with kohl?
You beautify yourself in vain:
Lovers despise you,
They seek your life!
31I hear a voice as of one in travail,
Anguish as of a woman bearing her first child,
The voice of Fair Zion
Panting, stretching out her hands:
“Alas for me! I faint
Before the killers!”
5
Roam the streets of Jerusalem,
Search its squares,
Look about and take note:
You will not find a man,
There is none who acts justly,
Who seeks integrity—
That I should pardon her.
2Even when they say, “As the LORD lives,”
They are sure to be swearing falsely.
3O LORD, Your eyes look for integrity.
You have struck them, but they sensed no pain;
You have consumed them, but they would accept
no discipline.
They made their faces harder than rock,
They refused to turn back.
4Then I thought: These are just poor folk;
They act foolishly;
For they do not know the way of the LORD,
The rules of their God.
5So I will go to the wealthy
And speak with them:
Surely they know the way of the LORD,
The rules of their God.
But they as well had broken the yoke,
Had snapped the bonds.
6Therefore,
The lion of the forest strikes them down,
The wolf of the desert ravages them.
A leopard lies in wait by their towns;
Whoever leaves them will be torn in pieces.
For their transgressions are many,
Their rebellious acts unnumbered.
7Why should I forgive you?
Your children have forsaken Me
And sworn by no-gods.
When I fed them their fill,
They committed adultery
And went trooping to the harlot’s house.
8They were a-well-fed, lusty-a stallions,
Each neighing at another’s wife.
9Shall I not punish such deeds?
—says the LORD—
Shall I not bring retribution
On a nation such as this?
10Go up among her vinesb and destroy;
Lop off her trailing branches,
For they are not of the LORD.
(But do not make an end.)
11For the House of Israel and the House of Judah
Have betrayed Me
—declares the LORD.
12They have been false to the LORD
And said: “c-It is not so!-c
No trouble shall come upon us,
We shall not see sword or famine.
13The prophets shall prove mere wind
For the Word is not in them;
Thus-and-thus shall be done to them!”
14Assuredly, thus said the LORD,
The God of Hosts:
Because theyd said that,
I am putting My words into your mouth as fire,
And this people shall be firewood,
Which it will consume.
15Lo, I am bringing against you, O House of Israel,
A nation from afar
—declares the LORD;
It is an enduring nation,
It is an ancient nation;
A nation whose language you do not know—
You will not understand what they say.
16e-Their quivers-e are like a yawning grave—
They are all mighty men.
17They will devour your harvest and food,
They will devour your sons and daughters,
They will devour your flocks and herds,
They will devour your vines and fig trees.
They will batter down with the sword
The fortified towns on which you rely.
18But even in those days—declares the LORD—I will not make an end of you. 19And when theyd ask, “Because of what did the LORD our God do all these things?” you shall answer them, “Because you forsook Me and served alien gods on your own land, you will have to serve foreigners in a land not your own.”
20Proclaim this to the House of Jacob
And announce it in Judah:
21Hear this, O foolish people,
Devoid of intelligence,
That have eyes but can’t see,
That have ears but can’t hear!
22Should you not revere Me
—says the LORD—
Should you not tremble before Me,
Who set the sand as a boundary to the sea,
As a limit for all time, not to be transgressed?
Though its waves toss, they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, they cannot pass it.
23Yet this people has a wayward and defiant heart;
They have turned aside and gone their way.
24They have not said to themselves,
“Let us revere the LORD our God,
Who gives the rain,
The early and late rain in season,
Who keeps for our benefit
The weeks appointed for harvest.”
25It is your iniquities that have diverted these things,
Your sins that have withheld the bounty from you.
26For among My people are found wicked men,
a-Who lurk, like fowlers lying in wait;-a
They set up a trap to catch men.
27As a cage is full of birds,
So their houses are full of guile;
That is why they have grown so wealthy.
28They have become fat and sleek;
They f-pass beyond the bounds of wickedness,-f
And they prosper.
They will not judge the case of the orphan,
Nor give a hearing to the plea of the needy.
29Shall I not punish such deeds
—says the LORD—
Shall I not bring retribution
On a nation such as this?
30An appalling, horrible thing
Has happened in the land:
31The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests a-rule accordingly;-a
And My people like it so.
But what will you do at the end of it?
6
Flee for refuge, O people of Benjamin,
Out of the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the horn in Tekoa,
Set up a signal at Beth-haccherem!
For evil is appearing from the north,
And great disaster.
2a-Fair Zion, the lovely and delicate,
I will destroy.-a
3Against her come shepherds with their flocks,
They pitch tents all around her;
Each grazes b-the sheep under his care.-b
4c-Prepare for-c battle against her:
“Up! we will attack at noon.”
“Alas for us! for day is declining,
The shadows of evening grow long.”
5“Up! let us attack by night,
And wreck her fortresses.”
6For thus said the LORD of Hosts:
Hew down her trees,
And raise a siegemound against Jerusalem.
d-She is the city destined for punishment;-d
Only fraud is found in her midst.
7As a well flows with water,
So she flows with wickedness.
Lawlessness and rapine are heard in her;
Before Me constantly are sickness and wounds.
8Accept rebuke, O Jerusalem,
Lest I come to loathe you,
Lest I make you a desolation,
An uninhabited land.
9Thus said the LORD of Hosts:
c-Let them glean-c over and over, as a vine,
The remnant of Israel.
Pass your hand again,
Like a vintager,
Over its branches.
10fTo whom shall I speak,
Give warning that they may hear?
Their ears are blocked
And they cannot listen.
See, the word of the LORD has become for them
An object of scorn; they will have none of it.
11But I am filled with the wrath of the LORD,
I cannot hold it in.
Pour it on the infant in the street,
And on the company of youths gathered together!
Yes, men and women alike shall be captured,
Elders and those of advanced years.
12Their houses shall pass to others,
Fields and wives as well,
For I will stretch out My arm
Against the inhabitants of the country
—declares the LORD.
13For from the smallest to the greatest,
They are all greedy for gain;
Priest and prophet alike,
They all act falsely.
14They offer healing offhand
For the wounds of My people,
Saying, “All is well, all is well,”
When nothing is well.
15They have acted shamefully;
They have done abhorrent things—
Yet they do not feel shame,
And they cannot be made to blush.
Assuredly, they shall fall among the falling,
They shall stumble at the time when I punish them
—said the LORD.
16Thus said the LORD:
Stand by the roads and consider,
Inquire about ancient paths:
Which is the road to happiness?
Travel it, and find tranquillity for yourselves.
But they said, “We will not.”
17And I raised up watchmeng for you:
“Hearken to the sound of the horn!”
But they said, “We will not.”
18Hear well, O nations,
And know, a-O community, what is in store for them.-a
19Hear, O earth!
I am going to bring disaster upon this people,
The outcome of their own schemes;
For they would not hearken to My words,
And they rejected My Instruction.
20What need have I of frankincense
That comes from Sheba,
Or fragrant cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable
And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.
21Assuredly, thus said the LORD:
I shall put before this people stumbling blocks
Over which they shall stumble—
Fathers and children alike,
Neighbor and friend shall perish.
22Thus said the LORD:
See, a people comes from the northland,
A great nation is roused
From the remotest parts of the earth.
23They grasp the
