1“Run for safety, you children of Benjamin,

Out of the midst of Jerusalem!

And blow a trumpet in Tekoa [in Judah]

And raise a signal-fire in Beth-haccherem [near Jerusalem];

For evil is looking down [with eager anticipation] from the north,

And great destruction.

2“I will destroy the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem), the lovely and delicate one [so like a luxurious pasture].

3“Shepherds with their flocks will come against her;

They will pitch their tents all around her;

They will pasture, each one in his place [eating up all her rich grasses].

4“[They shout], ‘Prepare for war against her;

Arise, let us [take her by surprise and] attack her at noon.

But alas, the daylight pales,

The evening shadows grow long.

5‘Arise, let us [awaken to] attack her at night

And destroy her [fortified] palaces!’” 6For the LORD of hosts has said,

“Cut down her trees

And build a siege [mound] against Jerusalem.

This is the city which must be punished;

There is nothing but oppression inside her [walls].

7“As a fountain springs up and pours out its fresh waters,

So she [continually] pours out her fresh wickedness.

Violence and destruction are heard inside her [walls];

Sickness and wounds are always before Me.

8“Be wise and be warned, O Jerusalem,

Or I will be alienated from you,

And make you a desolation,

An uninhabited land.”

9Thus says the LORD of hosts,

“They will thoroughly gather like [fruit on] a vine what is left of Israel;

Pass your hand [over the vine] again and again [Babylon, tool of destruction] like a grape gatherer,

Over the branches [stripping the tendrils off the vine].”

10To whom shall I (Jeremiah) speak and give warning

That they may hear?

Behold, their ears are [a]closed [absolutely deaf to God]

And they cannot listen.

Behold, the word of the LORD has become a reprimand and an object of scorn to them;

They have no delight in it.

11But I am full of the wrath (judgment) of the LORD;

I am tired of restraining it.

“[I will] pour it out on the children in the street

And on the young men gathered together;

For both the husband and wife shall be taken,

The aged and the very old [though full of days they are not exempt from judgment].

12“Their houses shall be turned over to others,

Their fields and their wives together;

For I will stretch out My hand

Against the inhabitants of the land,” says the LORD.

13“For from the least of them even to the greatest of them,

Everyone is greedy for [unfair] gain;

And from the prophet even to the priest

Everyone deals deceitfully.

14“They have treated superficially the [bloody] broken wound of My people,

Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

When there is no peace.

15“Were they ashamed because they had committed disgusting and vile things?

No, they were not at all ashamed;

They did not even know how to blush [at their idolatry].

Therefore they will fall among those who fall;

At the time that I punish them

They will be overthrown,” says the LORD.

16Thus says the LORD,

“Stand by the roads and look; ask for the ancient paths,

Where the good way is; then walk in it,

And you will find rest for your souls.

But they said, ‘We will not walk in it!’

17“I have set watchmen (prophets) over you,

Saying, ‘Listen and pay attention to the [warning] sound of the trumpet!’

But they said, ‘We will not listen.’

18“Therefore hear, O [Gentile] nations,

And see, O congregation, what [vengeful act] is to be done to them.

19“Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people,

The fruit of their schemes,

Because they have not listened and paid attention to My words,

And as for My law, they have rejected it also.

20“For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from [b]Sheba

And the sweet cane from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable

And your sacrifices are not sweet and pleasing to Me.” 21Therefore, thus says the LORD,

“Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people.

The fathers and the sons together

Will stumble against them;

The neighbor and his friend will perish.”

The Enemy from the North