Daily Bible Reading

¹ Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin,
 from the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
 and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem,
for evil looms out of the north
 and great destruction.
‍² I have likened daughter Zion
 to the loveliest pasture.
‍³ Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her.
 They shall pitch their tents around her;
 they shall pasture, all in their places.
‍⁴ “Prepare war against her;
 up, and let us attack at noon!”
“Woe to us, for the day declines;
 the shadows of evening lengthen!”
‍⁵ “Up, and let us attack by night,
 and destroy her palaces!”
‍⁶ For thus says the Lord of hosts:
Cut down her trees;
 cast up a siege ramp 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 wickedness;
violence and destruction are heard within her;
 sickness and wounds are ever before me.
‍⁸ Take warning, O Jerusalem,
 or I shall turn from you in disgust
and make you a desolation,
 an uninhabited land.
‍⁹ Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Glean thoroughly as a vine
 the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer, pass your hand again
 over its branches.
‍¹⁰ To whom shall I speak and give warning,
 that they may hear?
See, their ears are closed;
 they cannot listen.
The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
 they take no pleasure in it.‍