1 Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin,from the midst of Jerusalem!Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem,for disaster looms out of the north,and great destruction.
2 The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy, the daughter of Zion.
3 Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents around her;they shall pasture, each in his place.
4 “Prepare war against her;arise, and let us attack at noon!Woe to us, for the day declines,for the shadows of evening lengthen!
5 Arise, and let us attack by nightand destroy her palaces!”
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: “Cut down her trees; cast 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; violence and destruction are heard within her;sickness and wounds are ever before me.