1  O yee children of Beniamin, gather your selues to flee out of the middest of Ierusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa: and set vp a signe of fire in Beth-haccerem: for euill appeareth out of the North, and great destruction.

2  I haue likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.

3  The shepheards with their flocks shall come vnto her: they shall pitch their tents against her round about: they shall feede, euery one in his place.

4  Prepare yee warre against her: arise, and let vs goe vp at noone: woe vnto vs, for the day goeth away, for the shadowes of the euening are stretched out.

5  Arise, and let vs goe by night, and let vs destroy her palaces.

6  ¶ For thus hath the Lord of hostes said; Hew yee downe trees and cast a mount against Ierusalem: this is the citie to be visited, she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

7  As a fountaine casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickednesse: violence and spoile is heard in her, before me continually is griefe and wounds.

8  Be thou instructed, O Ierusalem, lest my soule depart from thee: lest I make thee desolate, a lande not inhabited.

9  ¶ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall throughly gleane the remnant of Israel as a vine: turne backe thine hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.

10  To whome shall I speake and giue warning, that they may heare? Behold, their eare is vncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: beholde, the word of the Lord is vnto them a reproch: they haue no delight in it.

11  Therefore I am full of the furie of the Lord: I am weary with holding in: I will powre it out vpon the children abroad, and vpon the assembly of yong men together: for euen the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of dayes.

12  And their houses shall be turned vnto others, with their fields and wiues together: for I wil stretch out my hand vpon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord.

13  For from the least of them euen vnto the greatest of them, euery one is giuen to couetousnesse, and from the prophet euen vnto the priest, euery one dealeth falsly.

14  They haue healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people sleightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.

15  Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them, they shall bee cast downe, saith the Lord.

16  Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the wayes and see, and aske for the old paths, where is the good way, and walke therein, and ye shall finde rest for your soules: but they said, We will not walke therein.

17  Also I set watchmen ouer you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet: but they said, We wil not hearken.

18  ¶ Therefore heare ye nations, and know, O Congregation what is among them.

19  Heare, O earth, behold, I will bring euill vpon this people, euen the fruit of their thoughts, because they haue not hearkened vnto my wordes, nor to my law, but reiected it.

20  To what purpose cōmeth there to me incense from Sheba? and the sweet cane from a farre countrey? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet vnto me.

21  Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will lay stumbling blockes before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall vpon them: the neighbor and his friend shall perish.

22  Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people commeth from the North countrey, and a great nation shall bee raised from the sides of the earth.

23  They shall lay hold on bowe and speare: they are cruell, and haue no mercie: their voice roareth like the Sea, and they ride vpon horses, set in aray as men for warre against thee, O daughter of Zion.

24  We haue heard the fame thereof, our hands waxe feeble, anguish hath taken hold of vs, and paine as of a woman in trauaile.

25  Goe not forth into the field, nor walke by the way: for the sword of the enemie and feare is on euery side.

26  ¶ O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallowe thy selfe in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an onely sonne, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come vpon vs.

27  I haue set thee for a towre, and a fortresse among my people: that thou mayest know and trie their way.

28  They are all grieuous reuolters, walking with slanders: they are brasse and yron, they are all corrupters.

29  The bellowes are burnt, the lead is consumed of the fire: the founder melteth in vaine: for the wicked are not plucked away.

30  Reprobate siluer shall men call them, because the Lord hath reiected them.