1. People of Benjamin, run for safety! Escape from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa and build a signal fire in Beth Haccherem. Disaster and destruction are about to come from the north.
2. The city of Zion is beautiful, but it will be destroyed;
3. kings will camp there with their armies. They will pitch their tents round the city, and they will each camp wherever they want.
4. They will say, “Prepare to attack Jerusalem! Get ready! We'll attack at noon!” But then they will say, “It's too late, the day is almost over, and the evening shadows are growing long.
5. We'll attack by night; we'll destroy the city's fortresses.”
6. The Lord Almighty has ordered these kings to cut down trees and build mounds in order to besiege Jerusalem. He has said, “I will punish this city because it is full of oppression.
7. As a well keeps its water fresh, so Jerusalem keeps its evil fresh. I hear violence and destruction in the city; sickness and wounds are all I see.
8. People of Jerusalem, let these troubles be a warning to you, or else I will abandon you; I will turn your city into a desert, a place where no one lives.”
9. The Lord Almighty said to me, “Israel will be stripped clean like a vineyard from which every grape has been picked. So you must rescue everyone you can while there is still time.”
10. I answered, “Who would listen to me if I spoke to them and warned them? They are stubborn and refuse to listen to your message; they laugh at what you tell me to say.
11. Your anger against them burns in me too, Lord, and I can't hold it in any longer.”Then the Lord said to me, “Pour out my anger on the children in the streets and on the gatherings of the young people. Husbands and wives will be taken away, and even the very old will not be spared.
12. Their houses will be given to others, and so will their fields and their wives. I am going to punish the people of this land.
13. Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly; even prophets and priests cheat the people.
14. They act as if my people's wounds were only scratches. ‘All is well,’ they say, when all is not well.
15. Were they ashamed because they did these disgusting things? No, they were not at all ashamed; they don't even know how to blush. And so they will fall as others have fallen; when I punish them, that will be the end of them. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
16. The Lord said to his people, “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths and where the best road is. Walk on it, and you will live in peace.”But they said, “No, we will not!”