Jeremiah

6 Take your goods into safety, ye sons of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, And in Tekoa blow ye a horn, And on Beth-haccherem raise a fire-signal,—For calamity hath looked out from the North, Even a great destruction.

2 To a comely and delicate woman have I likened the daughter of Zion:

3 Against her shall come shepherds with their flocks; They have pitched against her their tents round about, They tend their flocks every one near at hand.

4 Hallow ye against her a war, Arise! and let us go up in broad noon. Woe to us for the day hath turned, for the shadows of evening stretch along.

5 Arise! and let us go up in the night, And let us destroy her palaces.

6 For Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, Cut ye down timber, And cast up against Jerusalem a mound,—That is the city to be punished! There is nothing but oppression in her midst;

7 Like the casting forth by a well of its waters, So hath she cast forth her wickedness,—Violence and destruction are heard in her, Before my face continually are suffering and smiting.

8 Receive thou correction, O Jerusalem, Lest my soul be torn from thee,—Lest I make thee A desolation, A land not habitable.

9 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel,—Turn back thy hand as a grape gatherer over the tendrils.

10 Unto whom can I speak—and bear witness, that they may hear? Lo! uncircumcised is their ear that they cannot attend,—Lo! the word of Yahweh hath become to them a reproach, they take no delight therein.

11 So then with the indignation of Yahweh am I full, I am too weary to hold it in, [I am constrained] to pour it out, upon the boy in the street, and upon the circle of young men together,—For even husband with wife will be captured, The elder with him who is full of days;

12 And their houses shall be turned over to others, Fields and wives together,—For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, Declareth Yahweh.

13 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them Every one graspeth with greed,—And from the prophet even unto the priest Every one dealeth falsely;

14 And so they have healed the grievous wound of my people slightly, Saying Peace, peace, when there was no peace,

15 Were they led to turn pale because an abominable thing they had done! Nay! they did not at all turn pale, Nay! they did not so much as know how to exhibit shame, Therefore shall they fall among them who are falling, In the time when I punish them shall they be overthrown, Saith Yahweh.

16 Thus saith Yahweh—Stand ye at the ways—and see And ask for the paths of age-past times, Where is the good way? And walk therein, And ye shall find rest to your souls. But they said, We will not walk [therein]!

17 Therefore will I raise up over you watchmen, Give ye heed to the sound of a horn,—But they said, We will not give heed!

18 Therefore hear, O ye nations,—And take knowledge, O assembly, Of that which befalleth them:

19 Hear thou—O earth, Lo! I am bringing in Calamity against this people, the fruit of their own devices,—For unto my words have they not given heed, And as for my law they have rejected it.

20 What then is it to me that—Frankincense from Shebah come in, or Sweet cane from a land afar off? Your own ascending-offerings are not acceptable, Nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.

21 Wherefore Thus saith Yahweh, Behold me! laying before this people stumblingblocks,—And fathers and sons together shall stumble against them, The neighbour and his friend shall perish.

22 Thus saith Yahweh, Lo! a people coming in from the land of the North,—Yea a great nation shall be stirred up out of the remote parts of the earth:

23 Bow and javelin shall they grasp, Cruel is he! So they will not have compassion, Their voice like the sea will roar, And on horses will they ride,—Arrayed each one like a man for battle, Against thee, O daughter of Zion!

24 We have heard the report thereof, Relaxed are our hands,—Anguish hath taken hold on us, Pangs as on her that is giving birth.

25 Do not go out into the field, And in the road do not walk,—Because a sword hath the foe,—Terror round about!

26 O daughter of my people, Gird thee with sackcloth and roll thyself in ashes,—The mourning for an only son make thou for thyself, Most bitter lamentation! For suddenly shall the destroyer come upon us.

27 An assayer have I set thee amongst my people of gold-ore,—That thou mayest note and try their way:

28 They all are rebels of rebels, Slander-walkers, [They are] bronze and iron! As for them all corrupters they are!

29 Scorched are the bellows, By fire is lead [wont to be] consumed,—In vain hath he gone on refining, For the wicked have not been drawn out:

30 Rejected silver are they called, For Yahweh hath rejected them.