1. Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem. And in Tekoa blow a horn, and on Beth-haccherem lift up a signal, for evil looks down from the north, and a great destruction.
2. The lovely and the delicate, the daughter of Jerusalem, I will destroy.
3. Shepherds and their flocks will come against her, they will pitch their tents against her all around, they will pasture, each his portion.
4. Sanctify war against her. Arise, and let us attack at noon. Woe to us, for the day turns, for the shadows of evening are lengthened.
5. Arise, and let us attack by night, and let us destroy her citadel fortresses.”
6. For thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Cut down trees and heap up a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished, its oppression is in its midst.
7. As a water well keeps its water cool, so she keeps cool her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard within her, sickness and wounds are continually before me.
8. Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I turn away from you in disgust, lest I make you a desolation, a land that is not inhabited.”
9. Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine, turn back your hand over the branches like a grape-gatherer.
10. To whom shall I speak and admonish, that they may hear? Look, their ears are closed, and they are not able to listen attentively. Look, the word of Yahweh is to them an object of scorn, they do not delight in it.
11. But I am full with the wrath of Yahweh, I struggle to hold it in. Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assemblies of young men at the same time. For even husband with wife will get trapped, the old with him who is full of days.
12. And their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and their wives together. For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares Yahweh.
13. “For from the smallest of them to the greatest of them, everyone makes profit for unlawful gain. And from the prophet to the priest, everyone practices deceit.