1
"Head for cover, people of Binyamin, get out of Yerushalayim! Blow the shofar in T'koa, light the beacon on Beit-Hakerem. For disaster threatens from the north, with great destruction.
2
Although she is beautiful and delicate, I am cutting off the daughter of Tziyon."
3
Shepherds advance on her with their flocks; all around her they pitch their tents, each grazing his own plot of pasture.
4
"Prepare for war against her! Get up! Let's attack at noon!" "Woe to us! for the day is waning, evening shadows are lengthening."
5
"Get up! Let's attack at night! Let's destroy her palaces!"
6
For ADONAI-Tzva'ot says this: "Cut down her trees, and raise a siege-ramp against Yerushalayim! This is the city to be punished; in her there is nothing but oppression.
7
Just as a cistern keeps its water fresh, so she keeps her wickedness fresh! Violence and destruction are heard within her, always before me sickness and wounds.
8
Accept correction, Yerushalayim, or I will be estranged from you and turn you into a desolate waste, a land without inhabitants."
9
Thus says ADONAI-Tzva'ot: "They will glean the remnant of Isra'el as thoroughly as in a vineyard - one last time, like a grape-picker, pass your hand over the vines."
10
To whom should I speak? Whom should I warn? Who will listen to me? Their ears are dull, they can't pay attention. For them the word of ADONAI has become unattractive, an object of scorn.