| 章 |
| 6:1 |
"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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| 6:2 |
I will destroy the Daughter of Zion, so beautiful and delicate.
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| 6:3 |
Shepherds with their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents around her, each tending his own portion."
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| 6:4 |
"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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| 6:5 |
So arise, let us attack at night and destroy her fortresses!"
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| 6:6 |
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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| 6:7 |
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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| 6:8 |
Take warning, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you and make your land desolate so no one can live in it."
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| 6:9 |
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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| 6:10 |
To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.
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| 6:11 |
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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| 6:12 |
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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| 6:13 |
"From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.
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| 6:14 |
They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. `Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace.
|
| 6:15 |
Are they ashamed of their loathsome 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.
|
| 6:16 |
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.
|
| 6:17 |
'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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| 6:18 |
'Therefore hear, O nations; observe, O witnesses, what will happen to them.
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| 6:19 |
Hear, O 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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| 6:20 |
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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| 6:21 |
Therefore this is what the LORD says: "I will put obstacles before this people. Fathers and sons alike will stumble over them; neighbors and friends will perish."
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| 6:22 |
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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| 6:23 |
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, O Daughter of Zion."
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| 6:24 |
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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| 6:25 |
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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| 6:26 |
O my people, put on sackcloth 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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| 6:27 |
"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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| 6:28 |
They are all hardened rebels, going about to slander. They are bronze and iron; they all act corruptly.
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| 6:29 |
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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| 6:30 |
They are called rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them."
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