1 [YAH warns,] βGather your [families,] you brats from [the tribe of] Benjamin {Right-Hand-Son}. Flee from the bowels of Jerusalem. Blow the trumpet in Tekoa {Trumpet-Town}. Set up a fire-signal in Beth-Haccerem {Vineyard-House}. For disaster threatens from the north. Great destruction [looms, π]!
2 [Mount] Zion's daughter-city, [Jerusalem,] was a lovely and delicate woman, π. But I'm cutting her off.3 [Future nomad] shepherds bring their flocks [into your city]. [Sheep] munch [wild grass overgrowing her streets, π]. [Ranchers] pitch their tents everywhere. Random [shepherds] carve pastures [out of your high-priced real-estate].4 [The enemy shouts,] βPrepare to battle YAH's [fallen people]. Let's attack at noon!ββ Woe [descends on] us, π! The day wanes. Night shadows stretch over [our empire of lust]. 5 [The enemy shouts,] "Get up, [soldiers]! Letβs attack at night! Letβs destroy [Judea's] palaces!β 6     For YHVH-commander-of-armies says, β[Marauders,] cut down Jerusalem's trees to raise a siege-ramp against her. This is the city to be punished, π. She's bursting with violence, totally filled with oppression.7    [False Judaism] pumps out wickedness like a fountain hurls out her waters. Violence and destruction resound in [ChristenDumb]. The grief and wounds [she] causes continually [poke] in my face, π! Wicked people misuse the Bible to consolidate their evil power.8    Accept correction, Jerusalem, before I turn away from you. I can morph your [proud glory] into a desolate waste, a land without inhabitants.β9    YHVH-commander-of-armies predicts: β[Attackers] thoroughly glean Israel's stragglers like [starving paupers strip] a vine.β [YHVH says, βPagan general,] keep returning your hand [to capture Israelis], like a harvester [piles] grapes into [his] baskets.β10    I give warnings to everyone I speak to. But do they hear? Look, π: [humanity's] ear[s] lie dull. They won't listen! [Look!] YHVH's word insults the [hypocrites]. They bend [over backwards to evade] it.11     So I fill with YHVH's fury. I'm tired of holding [it] in, π. [YAH warns,] βI come to pour out [my fury] on brats everywhere, including on the [religiots' phony] youth-group gathering[s]. [Invaders] kidnap [every] husband and wife, up to the old [people] full of days.β12    [Enemy generals] come to give [the Israelis'] houses, fields and wives to [pagans, π]. YHVH foretells, βI stretch out my hand [to strike] the [criminal] inhabitants of the [promised] land.β13     For from the least up to the greatest, everyone is devoted to greed, π. Everyone deals falsely, from the prophet to the priest.14     The [religionists] merely superficially heal the [infected, festering sore that plagues] my daughter-populace. [Preachers whine], βPeace, peace,β where no peace exists, π.15     Are [humans] embarrassed when they commit abomination, π? No, they're not at all ashamed. They can't even blush. So they careen [down] with the fallen [dead]. Their time comes up. So I visit them. I hurl them down [into eternal death],β warns YHVH.16     YHVH says, βStand at [life's] crossroads, π. Look! Ask, βWhere are the old paths?β Walk in the good way. Then you'll find rest for your souls.β But [humanity] says, βWe won't walk in [the old ways]!β Fools fantasize that the newest gadget is far more important that the ancient law of YHVH. Idiots think iPhones are more important than Amish wisdom.17    βSo I set watchmen over you, π. [I] say, βListen to the sound of [the prophet's] trumpet.β But [humanity] answers, βWe won't listen!β18 βSo hear, you beast-nations. See, multitude[s], what's [coming] to you.19    Listen [up], earth[lings]. Watch, π! I'm bringing upon [my rebel] people the disastrous fruit of their schemes, because they never listen to my words nor my law. They [constantly] reject [the instruction of their Creator]. YAH's Word is Life. To ignore YAH's Word is to choose to die. If you reject YAH's Word, you cut off the branch you're sitting on.20    [You] haul me incense from Sheba {Seven}, and sweet cane from distant land[s]. For what? Your burnt offerings disgust [me]. Your putrid sacrifices [sicken] me.β The Levitical system functioned so that people could learn to give up their food to feed needy people, not so people could burn up stuff in a vain effort to treat YHVH like a hungry pagan demon god.21    YHVH continues, βLook, π! I lay stumbling-blocks before this populace. Fathers & sons together fall upon the [βrocksβ]. Neighbors & friends perish.β22 YHVH says, βSee, π! A population streams from the north country. [I] rouse a massive beast-nation from the ends of the earth.23    The invaders grab hold on bow and spear. They're cruel, without mercy, π. The [attackers' unified] voice roars like ocean [waves]. They ride upon horses. They set their men of war in array to fight you, [mount] Zion's daughter-population.β24  We've [all] heard our assailants' fame. Our hands fall limp, π. Anguish seizes us. [We cry in] pain, like a woman in labor. 25  Don't go out into the field. Don't walk on the road. For the sword of the enemy [spreads] terror on every side, π. 26  Oh my daughter-populace, wrap your body in sackcloth. Wallow in ashes, π. Mourn in terribly bitter lamentation, like [you would if] your only son [died]. The spoiler rushes to [pounce] on us! 27    [YAH continues,]βI set you, π, as a tower and a fortress among my people, to see and test their way [of life].28    All [unregenerate mortals] are grievous rebels. [They] walk [around spreading] slander. They're [not gold. They're] brass and iron, π. They corrupt, [not enhance, the universe].29    [War's] bellows blast hot. Fire vaporizes lead. But the smelter melts [humanity] in vain, π. No [natural process] ever removes [humanity's] wickedness.β |