1 Impending Destruction from the North “O you children of Benjamin, Gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, And set up a signal-fire in Neh. 3:14 Beth Haccerem; Jer. 4:6 For disaster appears out of the north, And great destruction.
2 I have likened the daughter of Zion To a lovely and delicate woman.
3 The 2 Kin. 25:1–4; Jer. 4:17; 12:10 shepherds with their flocks shall come to her. They shall pitch their tents against her all around. Each one shall pasture in his own place.”
4 “Prepare Jer. 51:27; Joel 3:9 war against her; Arise, and let us go up Jer. 15:8; Zeph. 2:4 at noon. Woe to us, for the day goes away, For the shadows of the evening are lengthening.
5 Arise, and let us go by night, And let us destroy her palaces.”
6 For thus has the Lord of hosts said: “Cut down trees, And build a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished. She is full of oppression in her midst.
7 Is. 57:20 As a fountain wells up with water, So she wells up with her wickedness. Ps. 55:9 Violence and plundering are heard in her. Before Me continually are grief and wounds.
8 Be instructed, O Jerusalem, Lest Ezek. 23:18; Hos. 9:12 My soul depart from you; Lest I make you desolate, A land not inhabited.”
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel; As a grape-gatherer, put your hand back into the branches.”
10 To whom shall I speak and give warning, That they may hear? Indeed their Ex. 6:12; Jer. 5:21; 7:26; (Acts 7:51) ear is uncircumcised, And they cannot give heed. Behold, Jer. 8:9; 20:8 the word of the Lord is a reproach to them; They have no delight in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord . Jer. 20:9 I am weary of holding it in. “I will pour it out Jer. 9:21 on the children outside, And on the assembly of young men together; For even the husband shall be taken with the wife, The aged with him who is full of days.
12 And Deut. 28:30; Jer. 8:10; 38:22 their houses shall be turned over to others, Fields and wives together; For I will stretch out My hand Against the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord .
13 “Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is given to Is. 56:11; Jer. 8:10; 22:17 covetousness; And from the prophet even to the Jer. 5:31; 23:11; Mic. 3:5, 11 priest, Everyone deals falsely.
14 They have also Jer. 8:11–15; Ezek. 13:10 healed the hurt of My people slightly, Jer. 4:10; 23:17 Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace.
15 Were they Jer. 3:3; 8:12 ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time I punish them, They shall be cast down,” says the Lord .
16 Thus says the Lord : “Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the Is. 8:20; Jer. 18:15; Mal. 4:4; Luke 16:29 old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find Matt. 11:29 rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it. ’
17 Also, I set Is. 21:11; 58:1; Jer. 25:4; Ezek. 3:17; Hab. 2:1 watchmen over you, saying, Deut. 4:1 ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
18 Therefore hear, you nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them.
19 Is. 1:2 Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring Jer. 19:3, 15 calamity on this people— Prov. 1:31 The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words Nor My law, but rejected it.
20 Ps. 40:6; 50:7–9; Is. 1:11; 66:3; Amos 5:21; Mic. 6:6, 7 For what purpose to Me Comes frankincense Is. 60:6 from Sheba, And Is. 43:24 sweet cane from a far country? Jer. 7:21–23 Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, 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 on them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish.”
22 Thus says the Lord : “Behold, a people comes from the Jer. 1:15; 10:22; 50:41–43 north country, And a great nation will be raised from the farthest parts of the earth.
23 They will lay hold on bow and spear; They are cruel and have no mercy; Their voice Is. 5:30 roars like the sea; And they ride on horses, As men of war set in array against you, O daughter of Zion.”
24 We have heard the report of it; Our hands grow feeble. Jer. 4:31; 13:21; 49:24 Anguish has taken hold of us, Pain as of a woman in labor.
25 Do not go out into the field, Nor walk by the way. Because of the sword of the enemy, Fear is on every side.
26 O daughter of my people, Jer. 4:8 Dress in sackcloth Jer. 25:34; Mic. 1:10 And roll about in ashes! Amos 8:10; (Zech. 12:10) Make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; For the plunderer will suddenly come upon us.
27 “I have set you as an assayer and Jer. 1:18 a fortress among My people, That you may know and test their way.
28 Jer. 5:23 They are all stubborn rebels, Jer. 9:4 walking as slanderers. They are Ezek. 22:18 bronze and iron, They are all corrupters;
29 The bellows blow fiercely, The lead is consumed by the fire; The smelter refines in vain, For the wicked are not drawn off.
30 People will call them Is. 1:22; Jer. 7:29 rejected silver, Because the Lord has rejected them.”