Beginning

4 If thou wilt make teshuvah, O Yisroel, saith Hashem, return unto Me; and if thou wilt put away thine shikkutzim (abominations) out of My sight, then shalt thou not be moved [to wander].

² And thou shalt swear, Chai Hashem, in emes, in mishpat, and in tzedakah; and the Goyim shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory.

³ For thus saith Hashem to Ish Yehudah and Yerushalayim, Break up your unplowed ground, and sow not among kotzim (thorns).

⁴ Circumcise yourselves to Hashem, and take the mohel knife to the arelot of your levav, ye Ish Yehudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim: lest My fury break out like eish, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.

⁵ Declare ye in Yehudah, and publish in Yerushalayim; and say, Blow ye the shofar in HaAretz. Cry out, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.

⁶ Raise up a nes (a banner, a flag pointing to the place of refuge) over Tziyon; take refuge, delay not; for I will bring ra’ah (evil, disaster) from the tzafon (north), and shever gadol (great destruction).

⁷ The aryeh (lion) is come up from his thicket, and the Mashkhit Goyim (Destroyer of the Nations, i.e., Babylon) is on his way, he is gone forth from his place to make thy eretz desolate; and thy cities shall be made to lie in ruins, without an inhabitant.

⁸ For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the charon af Hashem is not turned away from us.

⁹ And it shall come to pass at that day, saith Hashem, that the lev HaMelech shall be disheartened, and the lev hasarim; and the kohanim shall be horror-struck, and the nevi’im dumbfounded.

¹⁰ Then said I, Adonoi Hashem! Surely Thou hast greatly misled HaAm HaZeh and Yerushalayim, saying, Shalom yeheyeh lachem (Ye shall have shalom); whereas the cherev is near unto the nefesh.

¹¹ At that time shall it be told HaAm HaZeh and Yerushalayim, A ruach tzach (a dry wind, sirocco) from the high places in the midbar toward the Bat Ami [i.e., Yisroel], not to winnow, nor to cleanse,

¹² Even a ruach maleh (strong wind) from those places shall come from Me; now also I will pronounce mishpatim against them.

¹³ Hinei, he [the approaching foe] shall come up like ananim (clouds), and his merkavot shall be like the whirlwind; his susim are swifter than nesharim (eagles). Oy lanu! (Woe unto us!) For we are ruined.

¹⁴ O Yerushalayim, wash thine lev from rah, that thou mayest be saved. Ad mosai (how long, how much longer) shall thy sinful machsh’vot lodge within thee?

¹⁵ For a kol (voice) declareth from Dan, and publisheth evil tidings from Mt Ephrayim.

¹⁶ Tell the Goyim; hinei, spread the news to Yerushalayim, that notzrim (besiegers) come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Yehudah.

¹⁷ As shomrim of a sadeh, they are against her all around; because she hath been rebellious against Me, saith Hashem.

¹⁸ Thy derech and thy deeds have brought these things upon thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is mar (bitter), for it hath touched upon thine lev.

¹⁹ My innards, my innards! I am pained at my very lev; my lev is pounding in me; I cannot keep silent, because thou hast heard, O my nefesh, the kol shofar (sound of the shofar), the teru’at milchamah (battle alarm of war).

²⁰ Shever (destruction) follows after shever; for the whole land lies in ruins; suddenly are my ohalim destroyed, and my canopies rega.

²¹ Ad mosai (how long) shall I see the nes (banner), and hear the kol shofar?

²² For Ami is foolish, they have not known Me; they are stupid banim, and they have no understanding; they are chachamim to do evil, but to do good they have no da’as.

²³ I beheld ha’aretz, and, hinei, it was tohu vavohu [Genesis 1:2]; and HaShomayim—there was no ohr.

²⁴ I beheld the mountains, and, hinei, they quaked, and all the hills had crumbled.

²⁵ I beheld, and, hinei, there was no adam, and kol oph HaShomayim fled away.

²⁶ I beheld, and, hinei, the carmel was a midbar, and all the cities thereof lay in ruins before Hashem, before the charon af Hashem.

²⁷ For thus hath Hashem said, A wasteland shall be kol HaAretz; yet I will not make a complete end of it.

²⁸ For this reason HaAretz shall mourn, and HaShomayim above turn black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not relent, neither will I turn back from it.

²⁹ Kol HaIr shall flee at the noise of the parash and the romeh keshet (the archer); they shall run into thickets, and climb up among the kefim (rocks); every city shall be deserted, and not an ish dwell therein.

³⁰ And thou, O plundered one [Jerusalem], what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with jewelry of zahav, though thou paintest thy eyes with cosmetics, in vain thou adornest thyself; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy nefesh.

³¹ For I have heard a kol (outcry) like that of a woman in travail, and in labor pain like that of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of Bat Tziyon, that waileth, that stretcheth out her hands, saying, Oy nah li (Woe is me now)! for my nefesh is weary because of murderers.

5 Run ye to and fro through the chutzot Yerushalayim (streets of Jerusalem), and see now, and know, and seek in the rechovot thereof, if ye can find an ish, if there be any that dispenseth mishpat (justice), that seeketh the emunah (faith); and I will forgive her [Jerusalem].

² And though they say, Chai Hashem; surely they swear lasheker (falsely).

³ Hashem, are not Thine eyes upon emunah? Thou hast struck them, but they felt no anguish; Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to accept musar [cf Isa 53:5]; they have made their faces harder than stone; they have refused to make teshuvah.

⁴ Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the Derech Hashem, nor the Mishpat Eloheihem.

⁵ I will get me unto the Gedolim, and will speak unto them; for they have known the Derech Hashem, and the Mishpat Eloheihem; but these have altogether broken off the ol (yoke), and burst the bonds.

⁶ Therefore an aryeh (lion) out of the forest shall slay them, and a ze’ev (wolf) of the deserts shall destroy them, a namer (leopard) shall prowl near their towns; every one that ventureth out from there shall be torn to pieces; because their peysha’im (rebellions) are many, and their meshuvot (backslidings) are increased.

⁷ How shall I forgive thee for this? Thy banim have forsaken Me, and sworn by them that are no elohim; when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and trooped to the bais zonah.

⁸ They were like well-fed, lusty susim: every one neighed after the isha of his neighbor.

⁹ Shall I not visit [to punish] for these things? saith Hashem; and shall not My Nefesh be avenged on such a Goy as this?

¹⁰ Go ye up through her rows of vines, and cut down; but make not a full end; take away her branches; for they are not Hashem’s.

¹¹ For Bais Yisroel and Bais Yehudah have dealt very treacherously against Me, saith Hashem.

¹² They have spoken lies about Hashem, and said, Lo hu (not He); neither shall ra’ah come upon us; neither shall we see cherev nor ra’av (famine);

¹³ And the nevi’im shall become ru’ach, and the Devar is not in them; thus shall it be done unto them.

¹⁴ Therefore thus saith Hashem Elohei Tzva’os, Because ye speak this devar, hinei, I will make My Devarim in thy mouth an eish, and HaAm HaZeh etzim (wood), and it shall consume them.

¹⁵ Hineni, I will bring a Goy (Nation) upon you from afar, O Bais Yisroel, saith Hashem; it is a powerful nation, a goy me’olam (an ancient nation), a nation whose leshon thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.

¹⁶ Their quiver is as an open kever (grave), they are all gibborim.

¹⁷ And they shall devour thine katzir (harvest), and thy lechem, which thy banim and thy banot should eat; they shall devour thy tzon and thine bakar; they shall eat up thy gefen and thy te’enah (fig tree); they shall impoverish thy fortified cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the cherev.

¹⁸ Nevertheless in those days, saith Hashem, I will not make a full end with you.

¹⁹ And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why doeth Hashem Eloheinu all these things unto us? Then shalt thou answer them, As ye have forsaken Me, and served elohei nechar (foreign g-ds, strange g-ds) in your land, so shall ye serve zarim in an eretz not your own.

²⁰ Declare this in Bais Ya’akov, and publish it in Yehudah, saying,

²¹ Hear now this, O Am Sakhal (foolish people) without understanding; which have eynayim (eyes), and see not; which have oznayim (ears), and hear not;

²² Fear ye not Me? saith Hashem; will ye not tremble at My Presence, Who hath placed the chol (sand) as the boundary of the yam by a chok olam, that it cannot transgress; and though the waves thereof toss, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?

²³ But HaAm Hazeh hath a lev sorer (stubborn heart) and moreh (rebellious); they have revolted and departed.

²⁴ Neither say they in their lev, Let us now fear Hashem Eloheinu, that giveth geshem, both the yoreh (former rain, autumn rain) and the malkosh (latter rain, spring rain) in season; He secureth unto us shavu’ot chukkot katzir (the appointed weeks of the harvest).

²⁵ Your avonot (iniquities) have turned away these things, and your chatta’ot (sins) have deprived hatov from you.

²⁶ For among Ami are found resha’im; they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a mashkhit (trap), they catch anashim.

²⁷ As a cage is full of oph, so are their batim (houses) full of mirmah; therefore they are become powerful and oshir (rich, wealthy).

²⁸ They have grown fat and sleek; yea, their wicked deeds are without limit; the cause of the yatom they do not plead, yet they prosper; and the mishpat evyonim (right of the poor people) they do not defend.

²⁹ Shall I not visit [to punish] for these things? saith Hashem; shall not My nefesh be avenged on such a Goy (Nation) as this?

³⁰ An astonishing and horrible thing is committed in HaAretz;

³¹ The nevi’im prophesy falsely, and the kohanim rule at their direction; and My people love to have it this way; but what will ye do in the end?

6 O ye Bnei Binyamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Yerushalayim, and blow the shofar in Tekoa, and kindle the fire signal on Beit HaKerem; for ra’ah (evil, disaster) appeareth out of the tzafon (north), and shever gadol (great destruction).

² Bat Tziyon, so beautiful and delicate, I will destroy.

³ The ro’im (shepherds) with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their ohalim against her all around; they shall pasture each his portion.

⁴ Prepare ye milchamah against her; arise, and let us go up to attack at noon. Oy unto us! For the yom fadeth away, for the shadows of erev are lengthening.

⁵ Arise, and let us attack ba’lailah, and let us destroy her fortresses.

⁶ For thus hath Hashem Tzva’os said, Cut ye down trees, and throw up a solelah (siege ramp) against Yerushalayim; this is the Ir that must be visited [for punishment]; oshek (oppression) is rampant within her.

⁷ As a well casteth afresh her waters, so she [Jerusalem] casteth afresh her rah (wickedness); chamas and shod (destruction) is heard in her; before Me tamid (continually) is sickness and wounds.

⁸ Be thou warned, O Yerushalayim, lest My nefesh depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, an eretz not inhabited.

⁹ Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os, They shall thoroughly glean the She’erit Yisroel (the Remnant of Israel) as a gefen (vine); turn back thine yad once again like a grape gatherer over the vine tendrils.

¹⁰ To whom can I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Hinei, their ear is arelah (uncircumcised), and to pay heed is beyond them; hinei, the Devar Hashem is unto them a reproach; they find no pleasure in it.

¹¹ Therefore I am full of the chamat Hashem; I am weary with holding in; I will pour it out upon the olal in the street, and upon the assembly of bocherim together; for even the ish with the isha shall be caught, the zaken, those weighed down with yamim (days).

¹² And their batim (houses) shall be turned over unto others, with their sadot and nashim together; for I will stretch out My yad upon the Yoshvei HaAretz (Inhabitants of the Land), saith Hashem.

¹³ For from the katan of them even unto the gadol of them, every one is given to greediness for unjust gain; and from the navi even unto the kohen, every one doeth sheker (deceit, falsehood).

¹⁴ They have provided superficial treatment for Ami, saying, Shalom, shalom; v’ein shalom.

¹⁵ Were they ashamed when they had committed to’evah (abomination)? They were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush; therefore they shall fall among them that fall; at the time that I visit them [in punishment] they shall be brought down, saith Hashem.

¹⁶ Thus saith Hashem, Stand ye in the derakhim (crossroads), and look, and ask for the netivot olam (old paths), where is the derech hatov (good road, way), and walk therein, and ye shall find margo’a (rest) for your nefashot. But they said, We will not walk therein.

¹⁷ Also I set tzofim (watchmen) over you, saying, Pay heed to the kol shofar (sound of the shofar). But they said, We will not pay heed.

¹⁸ Therefore hear, ye Goyim, and know, O Edah (Congregation), what will happen to them.

¹⁹ Hear, HaAretz (O Earth); hinei, I will bring ra’ah (evil, disaster) upon HaAm Hazeh, even the p’ri (fruit) of their machsh’vot (schemes), because they have not paid heed unto My devarim, nor to My torah, but rejected it.

²⁰ To what purpose cometh there to Me frankincense from Sheva [i.e., southwest Arabia], and the sweet cane from a far country? Your olot (burnt offerings) are not acceptable, nor your zevakhim pleasing unto Me.

²¹ Therefore thus saith Hashem, Hineni, I will lay michsholim (stumblingblocks) before HaAm HaZeh, and the Avot and the Banim together shall stumble upon them; the shakhen (neighbor) and his re’a (neighbor, friend) shall perish.

²² Thus saith Hashem, Hinei, Am (an Army, a people) cometh from the eretz tzafon, and a Goy Gadol is aroused from the ends of the earth.

²³ They shall lay hold of keshet (bow) and kidon (spear); they are cruel, and have no mercy; their kol (voice) roareth like the yam; and they ride upon susim, set in array as ish for milchamah against thee, O Bat Tziyon.

²⁴ We have heard the fame thereof; our hands hang limp; tzarah (anguish) hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in labor.

²⁵ Go not forth into the sadeh, nor walk by the derech; for the cherev of the oyev (enemy) and magur (fear, terror) is on every side.

²⁶ O Bat Ami, gird thee with sackcloth, and roll thyself in ashes; make thee evel (mourning), as for a yachid (only son), most bitter lamentation; for the shoded (destroyer) shall suddenly come upon us.

²⁷ I have set thee for a bachon (tester, assayer) of Ami (My People); that thou mayest know and test their derech (way, conduct).

²⁸ They are all maximum rebels, going about as rachil (talebearers, slanderers); they are nechoshet and barzel; they are all corrupt.

²⁹ The bellows blow, the oferet (lead) is consumed by the eish; the smelter’s refining is in vain; for the ra’im are not drawn off.

³⁰ Nimas kesef (reprobate silver, rejected silver) shall men call them, because Hashem hath rejected them.