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Their fields and their wives together;

For I will stretch out My hand upon the inhabitants of the land,

Saith the Lord.

¹³For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them

Every one is greedy for gain;

And from the prophet even unto the priest

Every one dealeth falsely.

¹⁴They have healed also the hurt of My people lightly,

Saying: 'Peace, peace', when there is no peace.

¹⁵They shall be put to shame because they have committed abomination;

Yea, they are not at all ashamed,

Neither know they how to blush;

Therefore they shall fall among them that fall,

At the time that I punish them they shall stumble,

Saith the Lord.

 

¹⁶Thus saith the Lord:

Stand ye in the ways and see,

And ask for the old paths,

Where is the good way, and walk therein,

And ye shall find rest for your souls.

But they said: 'We will not walk therein.'

¹⁷And I set watchmen over you:

'Attend to the sound of the horn',

But they said: 'We will not attend.'

¹⁸Therefore hear, ye nations,

And know, O congregation, what is against them.

¹⁹Hear, O earth:

Behold, I will bring evil upon this people,

Even the fruit of their thoughts,

Because they have not attended unto My words,

And as for My teaching, they have rejected it.

²⁰To what purpose is to Me the frankincense that cometh from Sheba,

And the sweet cane, from a far country?

Your burnt-offerings are not acceptable,

Nor your sacrifices pleasing unto Me.

²¹Therefore thus saith the Lord:

Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people,

And the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them,

The neighbour and his friend, and they shall perish.

 

²²Thus saith the Lord:

Behold, a people cometh from the north country,

And a great nation shall be roused from the uttermost parts of the earth.

²³They lay hold on bow and spear,

They are cruel, and have no compassion;

Their voice is like the roaring sea,

And they ride upon horses;

Set in array, as a man for war,

Against thee, O daughter of Zion.

 

²⁴'We have heard the fame thereof, our hands wax feeble,

Anguish hath taken hold of us,

And pain, as of a woman in travail.'

²⁵Go not forth into the field,

Nor walk by the way;

For there is the sword of the enemy,

And terror on every side.

²⁶O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth,

And wallow thyself in ashes;

Make thee mourning, as for an only son,

Most bitter lamentation;

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