1O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction. 2I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate [woman]. 3The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch [their] tents against her on every side; they shall feed every one in his place. 4Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! for the day departeth, for the shadows of the evening are lengthened. 5Arise, and let vs goe vp by night, and destroy her palaces. 6For thus hath the Lord of hostes said, Hewe downe wood, and cast a mounte against Ierusalem: this citie must be visited: all oppression is in the middes of it. 7As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually [are] grief and wounds. 8Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited. 9Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thy hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets. 10To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear [is] uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it. 11Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with [him that is] full of days. 12And their houses with their landes, & wiues also shalbe turned vnto strangers: for I will stretch out mine hande vpon the inhabitants of the land, sayeth the Lord. 13For from the least of them, euen vnto the greatest of them, euery one is giuen vnto couetousnesse, and from the Prophet euen vnto the Priest, they all deale falsely. 14They have healed also the hurt [of the daughter] of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when [there is] no peace. 15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not ashamed, no neither coulde they haue any shame: therefore they shall fall among the slaine: when I shall visite them, they shall be cast downe, sayth the Lorde. 16Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk in it, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk [in it]. 17Also I set watchmen over you, [saying], Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. 18Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what [is] among them. 19Heare, O earth, beholde, I will cause a plague to come vpon this people, euen the fruite of their owne imaginations: because they haue not taken heede vnto my woordes, nor to my Lawe, but cast it off. 20To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a distant country? your burnt offerings [are] not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to me. 21Therefore thus sayeth the Lorde, Beholde, I will laie stumbling blockes before this people, and the fathers and the sonnes together shall fall vpon them: the neighbour and his friende shall perish. 22Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth. 23With bowe and shield shal they be weaponed: they are cruell and will haue no compassion: their voyce roareth like the sea, and they ride vpon horses, well appointed, like men of warre against thee, O daughter Zion. 24We have heard the report of it: our hands become feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, [and] pain, as of a woman in travail. 25Goe not foorth into the fielde, nor walke by the way: for the sword of the enemie and feare is on euery side. 26O daughter of my people, girde thee with sackecloth, and wallowe thy selfe in the ashes: make lamentation, and bitter mourning as for thine onely sonne: for the destroier shall suddenly come vpon vs. 27I have set thee [for] a tower [and] a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way. 28They are all rebellious traitours, walking craftily: they are brasse, and yron, they all are destroyers. 29The bellows is burned, the lead is consumed by the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away. 30They shall call them reprobate siluer, because the Lord hath reiected them.