1  Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin,

from the midst of Jerusalem!

^rBlow the trumpet in Tekoa,

and ^sraise a signal on Beth-haccherem,

for disaster looms out of the ^tnorth,

and great destruction.

2  The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,

the daughter of Zion.¹

3  ^uShepherds with their flocks shall come against her;

they shall pitch their tents around her;

they shall pasture, each in his place.

4  ^v“Prepare war against her;

arise, and let us attack ^wat noon!

Woe to us, for the day declines,

for the shadows of evening lengthen!

5  Arise, and let us attack by night

and destroy her palaces!”

6  For thus says the Lord of hosts:

^x“Cut down her trees;

^ycast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.

This is the city that must be punished;

there is nothing but oppression within her.

7  As a well keeps its water fresh,

so she keeps fresh her evil;

^zviolence and destruction are heard within her;

sickness and wounds are ever before me.

8  Be warned, O Jerusalem,

lest I ^aturn from you in disgust,

lest I make you a desolation,

an uninhabited land.”

9  Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine

the remnant of Israel;

like a grape gatherer pass your hand again

over its branches.”

10  ^bTo whom shall I speak and give warning,

that they may hear?

Behold, their ^cears are uncircumcised,

they cannot listen;

behold, ^dthe word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;

they take no pleasure in it.

11  Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;

^eI am weary of holding it in.

“Pour it out upon the ^fchildren in the street,

and upon the gatherings of young men, also;

both husband and wife shall be taken,

the elderly and the very aged.

12  Their houses shall be turned over to others,

^gtheir fields and wives together,

for I will stretch out my hand

against the inhabitants of the land,”

declares the Lord.

13  “For ^hfrom the least to the greatest of them,

everyone is greedy for unjust gain;

and from ⁱprophet to priest,

everyone deals falsely.

14  ^jThey have healed the wound of my people lightly,

^ksaying, ‘Peace, peace,’

when there is no peace.

15  ^lWere they ashamed when they committed abomination?

No, they were ^mnot at all ashamed;

they did not know how to blush.

Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”

says the Lord.

16  Thus says the Lord:

“Stand by the roads, and look,

and ask for the ⁿancient paths,

where the good way is; and walk in it,

^oand find rest for your souls.

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

17  I set ^pwatchmen over you, saying,

‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’

But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’

18  Therefore hear, O nations,

and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.

19  Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,

the fruit of their devices,

because they have not paid attention to my words;

and as for my law, they have rejected it.

20  ^qWhat use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba,

or sweet cane from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are ^rnot acceptable,

nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.

21  Therefore thus says the Lord:

‘Behold, I will lay before this people

^sstumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;

fathers and sons together,

neighbor and friend shall perish.’”

22  Thus says the Lord:

“Behold, a people is coming from the north country,

a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.

23  ^tThey lay hold on bow and javelin;

they are cruel and have no mercy;

the sound of them is like the roaring sea;

they ride on horses,

set in array as a man for battle,

against you, O daughter of Zion!”

24  We have ^uheard the report of it;

our hands fall helpless;

anguish has taken hold of us,

pain as of a woman in labor.

25  Go not out into the field,

nor walk on the road,

for the enemy has a sword;

^vterror is on every side.

26  O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth,

and roll in ashes;

make mourning as ^wfor an only son,

most bitter lamentation,

for suddenly the destroyer

will come upon us.

27  “I have made you a ^xtester of metals among my people,

that you may know and test their ways.

28  They are all stubbornly rebellious,

going about with ^yslanders;

^zthey are bronze and iron;

all of them act corruptly.

29  The bellows blow fiercely;

the lead is consumed by the fire;

in vain the ^arefining goes on,

for the wicked are not removed.

30  Rejected silver they are called,

for the Lord has ^brejected them.”

3  “Prepare buckler and shield,

and advance for battle!

4  Harness the horses;

mount, O horsemen!

Take your stations with your helmets,

polish your spears,

put on your armor!

5  Why have I seen it?

They are dismayed

and have turned backward.

Their warriors are beaten down

and have fled in haste;

they look not back—

ⁿterror on every side!

declares the Lord.

6  “The swift cannot flee away,

nor the warrior escape;

in the north by the river Euphrates

they have stumbled and fallen.

7  “Who is this, rising like the Nile,

like rivers whose waters surge?

8  Egypt rises like the Nile,

like rivers whose waters surge.

He said, ‘I will rise, I will cover the earth,

I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.’

9  Advance, O horses,

and rage, O chariots!

Let the warriors go out:

men of Cush and Put who handle the shield,

men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.

10  That day is the ^oday of the Lord God of hosts,

a ^pday of vengeance,

to avenge himself on his foes.

The sword shall devour and be sated

and drink its fill of their blood.

For the Lord God of hosts holds a ^qsacrifice

in the north country by the river Euphrates.

11  Go up to Gilead, and take balm,

O virgin daughter of Egypt!

In vain you have used many medicines;

there is ^rno healing for you.

12  The nations have heard of your shame,

and the earth is full of your cry;

for warrior has stumbled against warrior;

they have both fallen together.”

14  “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in ^sMigdol;

proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;

say, ‘Stand ready and be prepared,

for the sword shall devour around you.’

15  Why are your mighty ones face down?

They do not stand¹

because the Lord thrust them down.

16  He made many stumble, and they fell,

and they said one to another,

‘Arise, and let us go back to our own people

and to the land of our birth,

^tbecause of the sword of the oppressor.’

17  Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,

‘Noisy one who lets the hour go by.’

18  “As I live, declares the ^uKing,

whose name is the Lord of hosts,

like Tabor among the mountains

and like Carmel by the sea, shall one come.

19  Prepare yourselves baggage for exile,

O inhabitants of Egypt!

For Memphis shall become a waste,

a ruin, without inhabitant.

20  “A beautiful heifer is Egypt,

but a biting fly from the north has come upon her.

21  Even her hired soldiers in her midst

are like fattened calves;

yes, they have turned and fled together;

they did not stand,

for the day of their calamity has come upon them,

the time of their punishment.

22  “She makes a sound like a serpent gliding away;

for her enemies march in force

and come against her with axes

like those who fell trees.

23  They shall cut down her forest,

declares the Lord,

though it is impenetrable,

because they are ^vmore numerous than locusts;

they are without number.

24  The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame;

she shall be delivered into the hand of a people from the north.”

27  ^z“But ^afear not, O Jacob my servant,

nor be dismayed, O Israel,

for behold, I will save you from far away,

and your offspring from the land of their captivity.

Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,

and ^bnone shall make him afraid.

28  Fear not, O Jacob my servant,

declares the Lord,

for I am with you.

I will make a full end of all the nations

to which I have driven you,

but ^cof you I will not make a full end.

I will ^ddiscipline you in just measure,

and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”

2  “Thus says the Lord:

Behold, ^fwaters are rising out of the north,

and shall become an overflowing torrent;

they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,

the city and those who dwell in it.

Men shall cry out,

and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.

3  At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,

at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,

the fathers look not back to their children,

so feeble are their hands,

4  because of the day that is coming to destroy

all the Philistines,

to cut off from Tyre and Sidon

every helper that remains.

For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,

the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.

5  ^gBaldness has come upon Gaza;

Ashkelon has perished.

O remnant of their valley,

how long will you ^hgash yourselves?

6  Ah, ⁱsword of the Lord!

How long till you are quiet?

Put yourself into your scabbard;

rest and be still!

7  How can it² be quiet

when the Lord has given it a charge?

Against Ashkelon and against the seashore

he has appointed it.”

1  ⁿBless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, ^oyou are very great!

You are ^pclothed with splendor and majesty,

2  ^qcovering yourself with light as with a garment,

^rstretching out the heavens like a tent.

3  He lays the beams of his ^schambers on the waters;

he makes the clouds his chariot;

he rides on the wings of the wind;

4  ^the makes his messengers winds,

his ministers a flaming fire.

5  He set the earth on its foundations,

so that it should never be moved.

6  You covered it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood ^uabove the mountains.

7  At your rebuke they fled;

at the ^vsound of your thunder they took to flight.

8  ^wThe mountains rose, the valleys sank down

to the place that you appointed for them.

9  You ^xset a boundary that they may not pass,

^yso that they might not again cover the earth.

10  You make springs gush forth in the valleys;

they flow between the hills;

11  they ^zgive drink to every beast of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12  Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;

they sing among the branches.

13  From your lofty abode you water the mountains;

the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

14  You cause the grass to grow for the livestock

and ^aplants for man to cultivate,

that he may bring forth food from the earth

15  and wine to gladden the heart of man,

oil to make his face shine

and bread to strengthen man’s heart.

16  The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

17  In them the birds build their nests;

the stork has her home in the fir trees.

18  The high mountains are for the wild goats;

the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

19  He made the moon ^bto mark the seasons;¹

the sun knows its time for setting.

20  You make darkness, and it is night,

when all the beasts of the forest creep about.

21  The young lions roar for their prey,

^cseeking their food from God.

22  When the sun rises, they steal away

and lie down in their dens.

23  Man goes out to his work

and to his ^dlabor until the evening.

24  O Lord, how manifold are your works!

^eIn wisdom have you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

25  Here is the sea, great and wide,

which teems with creatures innumerable,

living things both small and ^fgreat.

26  There go the ships,

and ^gLeviathan, which you formed to play in it.²

27  ^hThese all look to you,

to give them their food in due season.

28  When you give it to them, they gather it up;

when you ⁱopen your hand, they are ^jfilled with good things.

29  When you ^khide your face, they are dismayed;

when you ^ltake away their breath, they die

and ^mreturn to their dust.

30  When you send forth your Spirit,³ they are created,

and you renew the face of the ground.

31  May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

may the Lord ⁿrejoice in his works,

32  who looks on the earth and it trembles,

who ^otouches the mountains and they smoke!

33  I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

^pI will sing praise to my God while I have being.

34  ^qMay my meditation be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.

35  Let sinners be consumed from the earth,

and let the wicked be no more!

^rBless the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!