1. Flee for safety, ye children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth-haccherem: for evil looketh forth from the north, and a great destruction.
2. The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off.
3. Shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
4. Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day declineth, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.
5. Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.
6. For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast up a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.
7. As a well casteth forth her waters, so she casteth forth her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds.
8. Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee; lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.