Chapter 6

¹ Strengthen yourselves, ye children of Benjamin, to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and sound an alarm with the trumpet in Thecue, and set up a signal over Bæthacharma: for evil threatens from the north, and a great destruction is coming. ² And thy pride, O daughter of Sion, shall be taken away. ³ The shepherds and their flocks shall come to her; and they shall pitch their tents against her round about, and shall feed their flocks each with his hand.

⁴ Prepare yourselves for war against her; rise up, and let us go up against her at

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noon. Woe to us! for the day has gone down, for the shadows of the day fail. ⁵ Rise, and let us go up against her by night, and destroy her foundations.

⁶ For thus saith the Lord, Hew down her trees, ¹array a numerous force against Jerusalem. O false city; there is all oppression in her. ⁷ As a cistern cools water, so her wickedness cools her, ungodliness and misery shall be heard in her, as continually before her.

⁸ Thou shalt be chastened, O Jerusalem, with pain and the scourge, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee a desert land, which shall not be inhabited.

⁹ For thus saith the Lord, Glean, glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel: turn back your hands as a grape-gatherer to his basket. ¹⁰ To whom shall I speak, and testify, that he may hearken? behold, thine ears are uncircumcised, and they shall not be able to hear: behold, the word of the Lord is become to them a reproach, they will not at all desire it.

¹¹ And I ²allowed my wrath to come to full, yet I kept it in, and did not utterly destroy them: I will pour it out on the children without, and on the assembly of young men together: for man and woman shall be taken together, the old man with him that is full of days. ¹² And their houses shall be turned to others, with their fields and their wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of this land, saith the Lord.

¹³ For from the least of them even to the greatest they have all committed iniquity; from the priest even to the false prophet they have all wrought falsely. ¹⁴ And they healed the breach of my people imperfectly, making light of it, and saying, Peace, peace, and where is peace? ¹⁵ They were ashamed because they failed; yet they were not ashamed as those who are truly ashamed, and they knew not their own disgrace: therefore shall they utterly fall when they do fall, and in the time of visitation shall they perish, said the Lord.

¹⁶ Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths of the Lord; and see what is the good way, and walk in it, and ye shall find purification for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in them. ¹⁷ I have set watchmen over you, saying, Hear ye the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hear it.

¹⁸ Therefore have the nations heard, and they that feed their flocks. ¹⁹ Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evils upon this people, even the fruit of their rebellions; for they have not heeded my words, and they have rejected my law. ²⁰ Wherefore do ye bring me frankincense from Saba, and cinnamon from a land afar off? your whole-burnt-offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices have not been pleasant to me. ²¹ Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring weakness upon this people, and the fathers and sons shall be weak together; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.

²² Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people comes from the north, and ³nations shall

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be stirred up from the end of the earth. ²³ They shall lay hold on bow and spear; the people is fierce, and will have no mercy; their voice is as the roaring sea; they shall array themselves for war against thee as fire on horses and chariots, O daughter of Sion.

²⁴ We have heard the report of them: our hands are weakened: anguish has seized us, the pangs as of a woman in travail. ²⁵ Go not forth into the field, and walk not in the ways; for the sword of the enemy lingers round about. ²⁶ O daughter of my people, gird thyself with sackcloth: sprinkle thyself with ashes; make for thyself pitiable lamentation, as the mourning for a beloved son: for misery will come suddenly upon you.

²⁷ I have caused thee to be tried among tried nations, and thou shalt know me when I have tried their way. ²⁸ They are all disobedient, walking perversely: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupted. ²⁹ The bellows have failed from the fire, the lead has failed: the silversmith works at his trade in vain; their wickedness ⁴is not consumed. ³⁰ Call ye them reprobate silver, because the Lord has rejected them.