Beginning
4 “O Israel, if you return, return to Me,” says the LORD, “and if you put away your abominations out of My sight, then you shall not waver.
2 “And you shall swear, ‘The LORD lives in truth, in judgment and in righteousness. And the nations shall be blessed in Him and shall glory in Him.’”
3 For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah, and to Jerusalem:
4 “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among the thorns. Be circumcised to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My wrath come forth like fire, and burn, so that no one can quench it, because of the wickedness of your inventions.
5 “Declare in Judah, and show forth in Jerusalem, and say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land!’ Cry and gather together, and say, ‘Assemble yourselves, and let us go into strong cities!’
6 “Set up the standard in Zion. Prepare to flee. Do not stay. For I will bring a plague from the North, and a great destruction.”
7 The lion has come up from his den, and the destroyer of the Gentiles has departed, gone forth from his place to lay your land waste. Your cities shall be destroyed, without an inhabitant.
8 Therefore, gird yourself with sackcloth. Lament and howl. For the fierce wrath of the LORD has not turned back from us.
9 “And on that day,” says the LORD, “the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes and the priests shall be astonished, and the Prophets shall wonder.”
10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have deceived this people, and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace,’ and the sword pierces to the heart.”
11 At that time, it shall be said to this people, and to Jerusalem, “A dry wind in the high places of the wilderness comes toward the daughter of My people, neither to fan nor to cleanse.
12 “A mighty wind shall come to Me from those places. And now I will also give sentence upon them.”
13 “Behold, he shall come up as the clouds, and his chariots as a tempest. His horses are lighter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are destroyed!”
14 O, Jerusalem! Wash your heart from wickedness, so that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts remain within you?
15 For a voice declares from Dan and publishes affliction from Mount Ephraim.
16 “Make mention of the heathen. Publish in Jerusalem. Behold, the scouts come from a far country and cry out against the cities of Judah.
17 “They have surrounded her as the watchmen of the field, because she has provoked Me to wrath,” says the LORD.
18 “Your ways and your inventions have procured these things for yourself. Such is your wickedness. Therefore, it shall be bitter. Therefore, it shall pierce to your heart.”
19 My belly! My belly! I am pained, even at the very heart! My heart is troubled within me. I cannot be still! For my soul has heard the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of the battle.
20 Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is wasted. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, and my curtains, in a moment.
21 How long shall I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For my people are foolish. They have not known Me. They are foolish children and have no understanding. They are wise in doing evil, but in doing well they have no knowledge.”
23 I have looked upon the Earth. And lo, it was without form and void. And the heavens had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains. And lo, they trembled. And all the hills shook.
25 I beheld, and lo, there was no man. And all the birds of the heaven had departed.
26 I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness. And all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by His fierce wrath.
27 For thus has the LORD said: “The whole land shall be desolate. Yet I will not make a full end.
28 “Therefore, the Earth shall mourn. And the heavens above shall be darkened because I have pronounced it. I have thought it, and will not relent, nor will I turn back from it.
29 “The whole city shall flee because of the noise of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up upon the rocks. Every city shall be forsaken, no one dwelling in them.
30 “And when you shall be destroyed, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you paint your face with colors, yet shall you trim yourself in vain. Your lovers will abhor you and seek your life.
31 “For I have heard a noise as of a woman in labor, or as one bringing forth her first child, the voice of the daughter Zion that sighs and stretches out her hands, saying, ‘Woe is me now! For my soul faints because of the murderers!’”
5 “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem. And behold now, and know, and inquire in its open places, if you can find a man, if there are any who execute judgment, and seek the truth. And I will spare it.
2 “For though they say, ‘The LORD lives,’ they still swear falsely.”
3 O LORD, are not Your eyes upon the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not anguished. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a stone and have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, “Surely they are poor, they are foolish. For they do not know the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God.
5 “I will go to the great men, and will speak to them. For they have known the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God.” But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.
6 Therefore, a lion out of the forest shall slay them. And a wolf of the wilderness shall destroy them. A leopard shall watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces, because their trespasses are many and their rebellions are increased.
7 “How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me, and sworn by those who are not gods. Though I fed them to the full, they still committed adultery, and assembled themselves by companies in the harlot’s houses.
8 “They rose up in the morning like fed horses, every man neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
9 “Shall I not reckon for these things,” says the LORD? Shall not My Soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 “Climb up upon their walls and destroy them. But do not make a full end. Take away their battlements, for they are not the LORD’s.
11 “For the House of Israel, and the House of Judah have grievously trespassed against Me,” says the LORD.
12 They have denied the LORD, and said, “It is not Him, nor shall the plague come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.
13 “And the Prophets shall be as wind. And the Word is not in them. Thus shall it come to them.”
14 Therefore, thus says the LORD God of Hosts: “Because you speak such words, behold, I will put My Words into your mouth, like a fire. And this people shall be as wood. And it shall devour them.
15 “Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from afar, O House of Israel,” says the LORD, “which is a mighty nation, and an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know. Nor do you understand what they say.
16 “Their quiver is as an open sepulcher. They are all very strong.
17 “And they shall eat your harvest and your bread. They shall devour your sons and your daughters. They shall eat up your sheep and your bullocks. They shall eat your vines and your fig trees. They shall destroy your fenced cities with the sword, in which you trusted.
18 “Nevertheless, in those days,” says the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you.
19 “And when they shall say, ‘Why does the LORD our God do these things to us?’ Then You shall answer them, “Just as you have forsaken Me and served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20 “Declare this in the House of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 ‘Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding, which has eyes and does not see, which has ears and does not hear.
22 ‘Do you not fear Me,’ says the LORD? ‘Or will you not be afraid in My presence? Who has placed the sand for the bounds of the sea by the perpetual decree, so that it cannot pass it? And though its waves rage, they still cannot prevail? Though they roar, they cannot pass over it?
23 “But this people has an unfaithful and rebellious heart. They have departed and gone.
24 “For they do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the LORD our God, Who gives rain both early and late in due season, Who reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’
25 “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have hindered good things from you.
26 “For among My people are found wicked persons, who lay in wait, as he who sets snares. They have made a pit to catch men.
27 “As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit, by which they have become great and grown rich.
28 “They have grown fat and smooth. They surpass the deeds of the wicked. They execute no judgment, no not the judgment of the fatherless. Yet they prosper, though they execute no judgment for the poor.
29 “Shall I not reckon for these things,” says the LORD? “Or shall not My Soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 “A horrible and filthy thing has been committed in the land.
31 “The prophets prophesy lies, and the priests receive gifts in their hands, and My people delight in them. But what will you do when it ends?
6 “O you children of Benjamin, prepare to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa! Set up a standard upon Beth-Haccerem! For a plague appears out of the North, and great destruction!
2 “I have compared the Daughter of Zion to a beautiful and delicate woman.
3 “The shepherds, with their flocks, shall come to her. They shall pitch tents all around her, and everyone shall feed in his place.”
4 “Prepare for war against her! Arise, and let us go up toward the South. Woe to us! For the day declines, and the shadows of the evening are stretched out.
5 “Arise, and let us go up by night and destroy her palaces!”
6 For thus has the LORD of Hosts said: “Cut down wood and lay down a mound against Jerusalem! This city must be visited! All oppression is in the midst of it!
7 “As the fountain throws forth her waters, so she throws forth her malice! Cruelty and spoil are continually heard in her before Me, with sorrow and strokes.
8 “Be instructed, O [h]Jerusalem, lest My Soul departs from you, lest I make you desolate, a land that no one inhabits!”
9 Thus says the LORD of Hosts: “They shall gather, the residue of Israel, as a vine. Return your hand into the baskets, as does the grape gatherer.”
10 To whom shall I speak, and admonish, so that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot listen. Behold, the Word of the LORD is as a reproach to them. They have no delight in it.
11 Therefore, I am full of the wrath of the LORD. I am weary with holding it. “I will pour it out upon the children in the street, and likewise upon the assembly of the young men. For the husband shall be taken with the wife, the aged with him who is full of days,
12 “and their houses with their lands. And wives, also, shall be turned to strangers. For I will stretch out My Hand upon the inhabitants of the land,” says the LORD.
13 “For from the least of them to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness, and from the Prophet to the Priest, they all deal falsely.
14 “They have also slightly healed the hurt of My people, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
15 “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not ashamed. Nor could they have any shame. Therefore, they shall fall among the slain when I shall visit them. They shall be cast down,” says the LORD.
16 Thus says the LORD: “Stand in the ways and behold. And ask for the old way, which is the good way. And walk in it. And you shall find rest for your souls.’ But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 “Also, I set watchmen over you, who said, ‘Listen for the sound of the trumpet.’ But they said, ‘We will not listen for it.’
18 “Hear, therefore, you Gentiles. And know, you Congregation, what is among them.
19 “Hear, O Earth! Behold, I will cause a plague to come upon this people, the fruit of their own imaginations. Because they have not listened to My Words, nor to My Law, but cast it off.
20 “For what purpose do you bring Me incense from Sheba, and sweet calamus from a far country? Your Burnt Offerings are not pleasant, nor your sacrifices sweet, to Me.”
21 Therefore, thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish.”
22 Thus says the LORD: “Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation shall arise from the sides of the Earth.
23 “They shall be weaponed with bow and shield. They are cruel and will have no compassion. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, well-appointed, like men of war against you, O daughter Zion.”
24 We have heard of their fame. Our hands grow feeble. Sorrow has come upon us, as the sorrow of a woman in labor.
25 Do not go forth into the field or walk by the way, for the sword of the enemy and fear are on every side.
26 O daughter of my people, gird yourselves with sackcloth and wallow in the ashes! Make lamentation, and bitter mourning, as for your only son. For the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
27 “I have set you as a defense and fortress among My people, so that you may know and try their ways.
28 “They are all rebellious traitors, walking craftily, bronze and iron. They all are destroyers.
29 “The bellows are burnt. The lead is consumed in the fire. The founder refines in vain. For the wicked are not taken away.
30 “They shall call them rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”
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