Beginning
4 “If you will return, O Israel,
return to Me,” declares Adonai.
“If you will put your detestable things out of My sight.
Then you will not waver.
2 You will swear, ‘As Adonai lives!’
in truth, in justice and in righteousness.
The nations will bless themselves in Him
and in Him they will glory.”
3 Thus says Adonai to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:
“Break up your unplowed ground
and do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to Adonai
and remove the foreskins of your heart,
men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Else My wrath will break out like fire and blaze,
with no one to quench it,
because of your evil deeds!”
Imminent Invasion from the North
5 Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, saying:
“Blow the shofar in the land!”
Cry aloud and say,
“Assemble yourselves!
Let us go into the fortified cities.”
6 “Raise a banner toward Zion!
Take refuge! Do not delay!
For I bring calamity from the north,
even terrible destruction.
7 A lion has come up from his thicket—
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his place
to make your land a wasteland.
Your cities will lie in ruins,
without inhabitant.
8 Therefore, put on sackcloth—
lament and wail!
For the fierce anger of Adonai
has not turned away from us.”
9 “It will happen in that day”
—it is a declaration of Adonai—
“that the king’s heart will fail,
as will the heart of the princes.
The kohanim will be appalled,
and the prophets will be stunned.”
10 Then I said, “Alas, Adonai Elohim! How completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem saying, ‘You will have shalom,’ until the sword touches the soul!”
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the barren hills in the wilderness blows toward My people, but not to winnow or to sift— 12 a wind too strong for these things will come from Me. Now even I will pronounce judgments against them.”
13 See, he comes up like clouds,
and his chariots like whirlwinds.
His horses are swifter than eagles—
“Oy! We are ruined!”
14 O Jerusalem, purify your heart from wickedness, so that you may be saved.
How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you?
15 A voice announces from Dan
and proclaims calamity from the hills of Ephraim,
16 “Remind the nations,
proclaim over Jerusalem!
Besiegers are soon coming from a far country,
raising their voice against the cities of Judah.
17 Like keepers of a field they surround her,
because she has been rebellious against Me.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
18 Your conduct and your deeds
have brought these things on you.
This is your calamity!
How bitter it is!
How it smites your heart!
19 My stomach, my stomach!
I writhe in anguish!
The pain of my heart!
My heart is pounding within me!
I cannot keep silent
because I have heard, O my soul,
the sound of the shofar,
the battle-cry of war.
20 Disaster on disaster is reported.
So the whole land is ruined.
My tents are suddenly ravaged,
my curtains in an instant.
21 How long must I see the battle standard
and hear the sound of the shofar?
22 “For My people are foolish.
They do not know Me.
They are senseless children,
and they have no understanding.
They are wise to do evil,
but to do good they do not know.”
23 I looked at the earth and behold,
it was deserted and desolate,
and at the heavens
and they had no light.
24 I looked at the mountains—
behold, they were shaking
and all the hills swaying to and fro.
25 I looked and behold, no people!
All the birds of the sky had fled.
26 I looked and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness
and all of its cities were in ruins
before Adonai, before His fierce anger.
27 For thus says Adonai,
“The whole land will be wasteland,
yet I will not totally destroy it.
28 Therefore, the earth will mourn
and the heavens above grow black.
For I have spoken, I have purposed,
nor will I relent, nor turn from it.
29 At the sound of horsemen and archers
the whole city flees.
They go into the thickets
and climb up on the rocks.
The whole city is deserted—
no one dwells in it.
30 And you, O desolate one, what will you do?
Though you dress in scarlet,
though you adorn yourself with gold ornaments
though you enlarge your eyes with paint—
in vain
you make yourself beautiful—
your lovers despise you,
they seek your life.
31 For I heard a cry like one in labor,
the anguish of one giving birth to her first child—
the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands saying,
“Oy, now to me!
For my soul faints
before murderers.”
God’s Just Judgment
5 Roam the streets of Jerusalem,
look around and consider,
search through her squares!
If you can find a person,
if there is one who does justice,
who seeks truth,
then I will pardon the city.
2 Though they say, “As Adonai lives!”
surely they swear falsely.
3 Adonai, do Your eyes not look for faithfulness?
You struck them, but they did not grieve.
You disciplined them, but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than stone.
They refused to return.
4 Then I said:
These are only the poor.
They are foolish.
For they do not know the way of Adonai,
the ordinance of their God.
5 I will go to the distinguished
and speak to them.
Surely they know the way of Adonai,
the ordinance of their God.
But they too had broken the yoke
and torn off the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion from the forest will kill them.
A desert wolf will ravage them.
A leopard watches over their cities.
Everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces,
For their rebellion is great,
their backslidings frequent.
7 “Why therefore should I forgive you?
Your children have forsaken Me
and sworn by those who are not gods.
Even though I fed them well,
they committed adultery
and thronged to the prostitute houses.
8 They are well-fed, lustful stallions,
each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
9 For such, should I not punish them?”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
“On such a nation as this
should I not avenge Myself?
10 Go up into her vines and ravage them,
but do not completely destroy them.
Strip away her branches
for they are not Adonai’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly unfaithful to Me.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
12 They have lied about Adonai saying:
“Not He! No harm will come to us.
Nor will we see sword or famine.
13 The prophets are but wind
and the word is not in them.
Let what they say be done to them!”
14 Therefore thus says Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot:
“Because you speak this word, behold,
I will make My words in your mouth fire
and this people wood—
and it will devour them.
15 See, I am bringing a nation against you
from afar, O house of Israel.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
“It is an enduring nation,
an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you neither know
nor understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is an open grave.
They are all mighty warriors.
17 They will devour your harvest and your food.
They will devour your sons and your daughters.
They will devour your flocks and your herds.
They will devour your vines and your fig trees.
They will demolish your fortified cities
—the ones in which you trust—
with the sword.
18 “Yet even in those days,” declares Adonai, “I will not completely destroy you. 19 So it will come to pass that when you ask, ‘Why has Adonai Eloheinu done all these things to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’
20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob
and proclaim it in Judah, saying:
21 ‘Hear this you foolish people
who have no understanding,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear.
22 Do you not fear Me?’ says Adonai.
‘Do you not tremble in My presence?’
For I made the sand a boundary of the sea,
an everlasting decree that cannot be broken.
Though the waves roll, they cannot prevail.
Though they roar, they cannot cross it.
23 But this people have a stubborn and rebellious heart.
They have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say in their heart,
‘Let us now fear Adonai Eloheinu,
who gives rain in its season
—fall rain and spring rain—
who reserves for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’
25 Your iniquities have turned these away,
your sins have deprived you of bounty.
26 For among My people are wicked men,
watching like bait-layers lying in wait.
They set a trap—they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds,
so are their houses full of deceit.
That is why they grew great and rich.
28 They grew fat and sleek.
They also overlooked evil deeds.
They do not uphold a cause
—the cause of an orphan to prosper—
nor do they defend the right of the poor.
29 Should I not punish them?” says Adonai.
“On such a nation
should I not avenge Myself?
30 An appalling and horrible thing
has happened in the land.
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
the kohanim rule by their own authority,
and My people love it this way!
But what will you do in the end?”
Jerusalem Under Siege
6 Flee for refuge, children of Benjamin,
from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the shofar in Tekoa
and raise a signal in Beth-cherem!
For disaster looms from the north,
even terrible destruction.
2 “The lovely, delicate Daughter of Zion
I will cut off.”
3 Shepherds with their flocks are coming against her.
All around her they pitch their tents,
each pasturing in his own place.
4 “Prepare for war against her.
Rise up! Let’s attack at noon.”
“Oy for us! For day is fading—
evening shadows are lengthening.”
5 “Rise up! Let’s attack at night
and destroy her palaces.”
6 For thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“Chop down her trees!
Raise a siege ramp at Jerusalem.
This city must be punished—
in her midst is only oppression.
7 As a well gushes out its waters,
so she pours out her wickedness.
Violence and havoc are heard in her,
sickness and wounds ever before Me.
8 Be warned, O Jerusalem,
lest I abandon you,
lest I make you desolate—
an uninhabited land.”
9 Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“Glean the remnant of Israel
thoroughly as a vine.
Pass your hand over the branches once more,
like a grape-gatherer.”
10 “To whom can I speak and warn
so they would hear?
See, their ears are uncircumcised,
unable to hear!
The word of Adonai has become scorn to them.
They have no delight in it.
11 So I am full of the wrath of Adonai.
I am weary of holding it in!
Pour it out on a child in the street,
on young men gathered together.
For husband will be taken with wife,
the aged with the very old.
12 Their homes will be turned over to others
—together with their fields and their wives.
For I will stretch out My hand
on the inhabitants of the land.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
13 “For from the least to the greatest,
all of them are greedy for gain,
and from prophet even to kohen,
everyone practices deceit.
14 They healed the wound of My people superficially,
saying ‘Shalom, shalom!’
when there is no shalom.”
15 “Were they ashamed when they
committed abomination? No, they were
not at all ashamed; they did not know
how to blush. Therefore they shall fall
among those who fall; at the time that
I punish them, they shall be
overthrown,” says Adonai.
16 Thus says Adonai:
“Stand in the roads and look.
Ask for the ancient paths—
where the good way is—and walk in it.
Then you will find rest for your souls.[a]
But they said, ‘We won’t walk in it.’
17 So I set watchmen over you, saying
‘Listen to the sound of the shofar!’
But they said, ‘We won’t listen.’
18 Therefore hear, O nations
and observe, O congregation,
what is against them.
19 Hear, O earth!
See, I will bring disaster on this people
—fruit of their schemes—
for they did not listen to My words
and rejected My Torah.
20 Of what use to Me is frankincense coming from Sheba
or sweet cane from a distant country?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
nor are your sacrifices pleasing to Me.”
21 Therefore thus says Adonai:
“Look, I am laying before this people stumbling blocks—
and against them they will stumble—
fathers and the sons together,
a neighbor and his friend,
and they will perish.”
Destruction from the North
22 Thus says Adonai:
“Look, a people coming from a northern land,
a great nation roused from the ends of the earth!
23 They are armed with bow and spear,
cruel and with no compassion.
They sound like the roaring sea—
as they ride on horses
as men in battle formation,
against you, Daughter of Zion!”
24 “We have heard of their fame.
Our hands hang limp;
anguish has gripped us,
pain like a woman in labor.
25 Don’t go out into the field
or walk on the road.
Since the enemy has a sword,
there’s terror on every side!”
26 “Daughter of My people,
put on sackcloth and roll in ashes.
Mourn as for an only son
with bitter lamentation.”
“For suddenly the destroyer
will come on us!”
27 “I have made you a metal-tester among My people—
so you may observe and test their way.
28 They are all stubborn rebels
spreading slander.
They are bronze and iron,
all of them are corrupt.
29 The bellows blow fiercely,
blasting away the lead with fire.
The refining is completely in vain,
for the wicked are not drawn off.
30 They are called ‘cast off silver’—
for Adonai has cast them off.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.