1 O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.
2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.
3 The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
4 Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.
5 Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.
6 For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.
7 As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.
8 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.
9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.
10 To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.
12 And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord.
13 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.
16 Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.
18 Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.
19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.
20 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.
21 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.
22 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.
23 They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.
24 We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
25 Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.
26 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.
27 I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.
28 They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.
29 The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.
30 Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.
<html><b>Gather the sons of Benjamin</b> to go to their cities to guard their fortifications. <b>Beth-hakerem</b> That is a place name. <b>raise a standard</b> a standard to gather and fight for your lives.</html>
<html><b>The comely and the delicate one have I destroyed</b> Heb. דמיתי. Jonathan renders it as an expression related to (25:37) “And the dwellings of peace shall be destroyed (ונדמוּ).” Also (47:5), “Ashkelon has been destroyed (נדמתה).”</html>
<html><b>Shepherds and their flocks</b> Figurative of kings and their armies. <b>they feed bare</b> Heb. רעו, they eat. <b>his place</b> Heb. ידו [lit. his hand.] His place around him.</html>
<html><b>Prepare</b> Heb. קדשו. <b>woe is to us</b> at the time the day declines. <b>for the day has declined</b> When it declined to eventide, they ignited the Temple.</html>
<html><b>Cut the trees</b> Heb. עצה. This is not a ‘mappiq heh,’ yet it is an expression of a tree (עץ), for the expression of cutting is not appropriate for advice, (עצה), and עצה mentioned here is an expression of many trees, as דגה is an expression of many fish. <b>the city whose sins have been visited upon her</b> Heb. הפקד, whose visitation has come.</html>
<html><b>As…lets…flow</b> Heb. כהקיר, an expression of a spring. <b>a well</b> Heb. בַּיִר, equivalent to בְּאֵר. <b>so has she let her evil flow</b> So does their evil flow, constantly increasing and renewing. <b>sickness and wounds</b> Therefore, I brought upon her sickness and wounds.</html>
<html><b>Be corrected</b> Heb. הוסרי. Accept correction. <b>lest…be alienated</b> Heb. תקע, lest it be pulled away. יקע is an expression of joining. Comp. “and hang them up (והוקע)” (Num. 25:4), and it is sometimes an expression of detaching. There are many words that are used in such a manner.</html>
<html><b>thoroughly glean</b> (grappiller in French). After the vineyard has been gathered, and gleanings are left, and the poor come and glean them, so will they spoil and return and spoil. <b>return your hand</b> You, the enemy, return your hand to spoil a second time, like a vintager who returns his hand for the search, who looks and searches for the gleanings. And so it was when he exiled Jehoiakim and slew him, and crowned Jeconiah, he returned three months later and exiled him. He returned eleven years later and exiled Zedekiah. <b>the branches</b> Heb. סלסלות (reverchedures in O.F). Comp. (Prov. 4: 8) “Search for it (סלסלה) and it will exalt you.” So did Dunash (Teshuvoth Dunash p. 21) explain it. Menahem (Machbereth p. 126), however, explains it as an expression of a basket (סל) (paniers in O. F. baskets).</html>
<html><b>and warn</b> Heb. ואעידה, an expression of warning. <b>clogged</b> Heb. ערלה, clogged, and so is every expression of ערלה. <b>a disgrace</b> They deride it.</html>
<html><b>Therefore, I am full of the fury of the Lord</b> My heart is full of the prophecy of the coming of the fury of the Lord upon them. <b>containing</b> Heb. הכיל, like להכיל, to contain ([a]souffrir in O.F.), to tolerate. <b>to pour it out upon the babes</b> to pour it upon the sucklings. <b>in the street</b> in the market. <b>one full of days</b> i.e., one close to death, older than ‘an old man.’</html>
<html><b>fields and wives together</b> shall be turned over to others.</html>
<html><b>commit robbery</b> rob money.</html>
<html><b>easily</b> It is easy for the false prophets to pronounce with their mouths and to say, “You shall have peace,” and with this thing they heal with their speech the breach destined to come upon them.</html>
<html><b>They should be ashamed</b> Heb. הובישו, they should be ashamed [from Jonathan]. <b>to feel disgrace</b> Heb. הכלים, like להכלים. <b>Neither are they ashamed</b> They are not ashamed of their evil deeds.</html>
<html><b>rest</b> Heb. מרגוע.</html>
<html><b>And I have stationed lookouts over you</b> That is that they station men on the towers at the time of strife. A man looks and sees. If a troop is approaching the city he sounds a shophar and warns the people to arm and to come on the wall. I too appointed prophets who inform you about the impending retribution to alert yourselves and to mend your ways so that you be saved and that is like the shophar sounded by the lookout. Hearken to the sound of this shophar and arm yourselves. <b>And I have stationed</b> Heb. והקמותי. This means: I have already stationed for them. And so did Jonathan render: ואקימית, and I stationed. <b>lookouts</b> (Badetes in O.F.).</html>
<html><b>what is within them</b> i.e., the evil that is in their hands.</html>
<html><b>the fruit of their thoughts</b> the retribution for their thoughts. <b>and they rejected My instruction</b> Heb. ותורתי וימאסו בה. This follows the pattern of (Exodus 15:2) “The strength and destruction of God was my salvation (ויהי לי לישועה),” for he should have said: והיה לי לישועה. So too, here it should have said, ותורתי מאסו בה, but it is the style of Scripture to speak in this manner.</html>
<html><b>Why do I need frankincense</b> that you offer up to Me, that comes from Sheba? <b>are not pleasant</b> Heb. ערבוּ.</html>
<html><b>They will grasp</b> Heb. יחזיקו, they will take. Comp. (Exodus 4:4) “And he stretched out his hand and took it (ויחזק).” Comp. also (infra verse 24) “trouble grasped us (החזיקתנוּ) held us.”</html>
<html><b>there is fear</b> Heb. מגור. Another explanation: An expression of gathering. Comp. (Ezekiel 21: 17) “Gathered (מגורי) to the sword.” And in this manner Jonathan renders it.</html>
<html><b>and roll</b> Heb. והתפלשי. <b>a mourning [as] for an only child</b> A mourning for an only son; one who has only one son and he dies. <b>a bitter lamentation</b> Heb. מספד תמרורים. Since it is the construct state, it is vowelized מספד with a ‘pattah,’ and it is not vowelized מספד with a ‘tzere.’ <b>upon us</b> So to speak, upon Me and upon you.</html>
<html><b>I have made you the strong one</b> This was said to Jeremiah. I have made you the strong one in their midst, and you shall know and test their way, that he tested them and they will not heed. בחון is an expression of strength. Comp. (Isa. 32:14) “rampart and tower (בחן),” also (ibid. 23:13) “they erected its towers (בחוניו).”</html>
<html><b>extremely perverse</b> Turning away from the road. <b>going tale bearing</b> between copper and iron. They introduce hatred between two princes who have the power to provoke one another. That is what I heard. But I say, they are tale bearers, and they are as strong as copper and iron to maintain their falsehood. Jonathan, however, renders this word רכיל as an expression of guile (נוכל). They go with guile as one mixes copper with iron. נוכל is an expression of plot. Comp. (Gen. 37:18) “And they plotted (ויתנכלו) against him to slay him.”</html>
<html><b>The bellows is heated</b> This is an allegory. When they refine silver, they blow with a bellows, and they always put lead into the crucible, which helps for the refining. But you—I have come to refine you. The bellows is heated and parched because of the fire, and the lead is completely consumed. נחר is an expression related to (Job 42:7) “My wrath has been kindled (חרה)”; (ibid. 30:30) “And my bones are burned (חרה) with heat,” (esrast in O.F.). <b>in vain</b> In vain does the founder refine, for it is of no avail <b>and the wicked ones have not been separated</b> from their evil way. That is to say that the prophets toiled to reprove, but it did not avail them. <b>Separated</b> Heb. נתקו, (furent de… in O.F.). (Another version:) and the wicked ones. This is like רשעים.</html>
<html><b>Refuse silver</b> which cannot be refined with any toil.</html>