Break up your fallow ground,
and sow not among thorns.
⁴ Circumcise yourselves to the LORD,
and take away the foreskins of your heart,
ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem:
lest my fury come forth like fire,
and burn that none can quench it,
because of the evil of your doings.

Blow ye the trumpet in the land:
cry,
gather together,
and say,
Assemble yourselves,
and let us go into the defenced cities.
⁶ Set up the standard toward Zion:
retire,
stay not:
for I will bring evil from the north,
and a great destruction.
⁷ The lion is come up from his thicket,
and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way;
he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate;
and thy cities shall be laid waste,
without an inhabitant.
⁸ For this gird you with sackcloth,
lament and howl:
for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.

¹³ Behold,
he shall come up as clouds,
and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind:
his horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe unto us!
for we are spoiled.
¹⁴ O Jerusalem,
wash thine heart from wickedness,
that thou mayest be saved.
How long [Until when] shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
¹⁵ For a voice declareth from Dan,
and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.
¹⁶ Make ye mention to the nations;
behold,
publish against Jerusalem,
that watchers come from a far country,
and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
¹⁷ As keepers of a field,
are they against her round about;
because she hath been rebellious against me,
saith the LORD.
¹⁸ Thy way and thy doings
have procured these things unto thee;
this is thy wickedness,
because it is bitter,
because it reacheth unto thine heart.

¹⁹ My bowels,
my bowels!
I am pained at my very heart;
my heart maketh a noise in me;
I cannot hold my peace,
because thou hast heard,
O my soul,
the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.
²⁰ Destruction upon destruction is cried;
for the whole land is spoiled:
suddenly are my tents spoiled,
and my curtains in a moment.
²¹ How long [Until when] shall I see the standard,
and hear the sound of the trumpet?

²² For my people is foolish,
they have not known me;
they are sottish children,
and they have none understanding:
they are wise to do evil,
but to do good they have no knowledge.

²³ I beheld [this] the earth,
and, lo, it was without form, and void;
and the heavens,
and they had no light.
²⁴ I beheld the mountains,
lo, they trembled,
and all the hills moved lightly.
²⁵ I beheld,
and, lo, there was no man,
and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
²⁶ I beheld,
and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness,
and all the cities thereof were broken down
at the presence of the LORD,
and by his fierce anger.