New International Version NIV
Orthodox Jewish Bible OJB
1 “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin! Flee from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa! Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem! For disaster looms out of the north, even terrible destruction.
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O ye Bnei Binyamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Yerushalayim, and blow the shofar in Tekoa, and kindle the fire signal on Beit HaKerem; for ra’ah (evil, disaster) appeareth out of the tzafon (north), and shever gadol (great destruction).
2 I will destroy Daughter Zion, so beautiful and delicate.
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Bat Tziyon, so beautiful and delicate, I will destroy.
3 Shepherds with their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents around her, each tending his own portion.”
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The ro’im (shepherds) with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their ohalim against her all around; they shall pasture each his portion.
4 “Prepare for battle against her! Arise, let us attack at noon! But, alas, the daylight is fading, and the shadows of evening grow long.
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Prepare ye milchamah against her; arise, and let us go up to attack at noon. Oy unto us! For the yom fadeth away, for the shadows of erev are lengthening.
5 So arise, let us attack at night and destroy her fortresses!”
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Arise, and let us attack ba’lailah, and let us destroy her fortresses.
6 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Cut down the trees and build siege ramps against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; it is filled with oppression.
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For thus hath Hashem Tzva’os said, Cut ye down trees, and throw up a solelah (siege ramp) against Yerushalayim; this is the Ir that must be visited [for punishment]; oshek (oppression) is rampant within her.
7 As a well pours out its water, so she pours out her wickedness. Violence and destruction resound in her; her sickness and wounds are ever before me.
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As a well casteth afresh her waters, so she [Jerusalem] casteth afresh her rah (wickedness); chamas and shod (destruction) is heard in her; before Me tamid (continually) is sickness and wounds.
8 Take warning, Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you and make your land desolate so no one can live in it.”
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Be thou warned, O Yerushalayim, lest My nefesh depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, an eretz not inhabited.
9 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine; pass your hand over the branches again, like one gathering grapes.”
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Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os, They shall thoroughly glean the She’erit Yisroel (the Remnant of Israel) as a gefen (vine); turn back thine yad once again like a grape gatherer over the vine tendrils.
10 To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closedso they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.
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To whom can I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Hinei, their ear is arelah (uncircumcised), and to pay heed is beyond them; hinei, the Devar Hashem is unto them a reproach; they find no pleasure in it.
11 But I am full of the wrath of the LORD, and I cannot hold it in. “Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together; both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years.
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Therefore I am full of the chamat Hashem; I am weary with holding in; I will pour it out upon the olal in the street, and upon the assembly of bocherim together; for even the ish with the isha shall be caught, the zaken, those weighed down with yamim (days).
12 Their houses will be turned over to others, together with their fields and their wives, when I stretch out my hand against those who live in the land,” declares the LORD.
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And their batim (houses) shall be turned over unto others, with their sadot and nashim together; for I will stretch out My yad upon the Yoshvei HaAretz (Inhabitants of the Land), saith Hashem.
13 “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.
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For from the katan of them even unto the gadol of them, every one is given to greediness for unjust gain; and from the navi even unto the kohen, every one doeth sheker (deceit, falsehood).
14 They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.
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They have provided superficial treatment for Ami, saying, Shalom, shalom; v’ein shalom.
15 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD.
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Were they ashamed when they had committed to’evah (abomination)? 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 [in punishment] they shall be brought down, saith Hashem.
16 This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
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Thus saith Hashem, Stand ye in the derakhim (crossroads), and look, and ask for the netivot olam (old paths), where is the derech hatov (good road, way), and walk therein, and ye shall find margo’a (rest) for your nefashot. But they said, We will not walk therein.
17 I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But you said, ‘We will not listen.’
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Also I set tzofim (watchmen) over you, saying, Pay heed to the kol shofar (sound of the shofar). But they said, We will not pay heed.
18 Therefore hear, you nations; you who are witnesses, observe what will happen to them.
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Therefore hear, ye Goyim, and know, O Edah (Congregation), what will happen to them.
19 Hear, you earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law.
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Hear, HaAretz (O Earth); hinei, I will bring ra’ah (evil, disaster) upon HaAm Hazeh, even the p’ri (fruit) of their machsh’vot (schemes), because they have not paid heed unto My devarim, nor to My torah, but rejected it.
20 What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me.”
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To what purpose cometh there to Me frankincense from Sheva [i.e., southwest Arabia], and the sweet cane from a far country? Your olot (burnt offerings) are not acceptable, nor your zevakhim pleasing unto Me.
21 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I will put obstacles before this people. Parents and children alike will stumble over them; neighbors and friends will perish.”
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Therefore thus saith Hashem, Hineni, I will lay michsholim (stumblingblocks) before HaAm HaZeh, and the Avot and the Banim together shall stumble upon them; the shakhen (neighbor) and his re’a (neighbor, friend) shall perish.
22 This is what the LORD says: “Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth.
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Thus saith Hashem, Hinei, Am (an Army, a people) cometh from the eretz tzafon, and a Goy Gadol is aroused from the ends of the earth.
23 They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, Daughter Zion.”
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They shall lay hold of keshet (bow) and kidon (spear); they are cruel, and have no mercy; their kol (voice) roareth like the yam; and they ride upon susim, set in array as ish for milchamah against thee, O Bat Tziyon.
24 We have heard reports about them, and our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
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We have heard the fame thereof; our hands hang limp; tzarah (anguish) hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in labor.
25 Do not go out to the fields or walk on the roads, for the enemy has a sword, and there is terror on every side.
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Go not forth into the sadeh, nor walk by the derech; for the cherev of the oyev (enemy) and magur (fear, terror) is on every side.
26 Put on sackcloth, my people, and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
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O Bat Ami, gird thee with sackcloth, and roll thyself in ashes; make thee evel (mourning), as for a yachid (only son), most bitter lamentation; for the shoded (destroyer) shall suddenly come upon us.
27 “I have made you a tester of metals and my people the ore, that you may observe and test their ways.
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I have set thee for a bachon (tester, assayer) of Ami (My People); that thou mayest know and test their derech (way, conduct).
28 They are all hardened rebels, going about to slander. They are bronze and iron; they all act corruptly.
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They are all maximum rebels, going about as rachil (talebearers, slanderers); they are nechoshet and barzel; they are all corrupt.
29 The bellows blow fiercely to burn away the lead with fire, but the refining goes on in vain; the wicked are not purged out.
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The bellows blow, the oferet (lead) is consumed by the eish; the smelter’s refining is in vain; for the ra’im are not drawn off.
30 They are called rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”
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Nimas kesef (reprobate silver, rejected silver) shall men call them, because Hashem hath rejected them.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.