I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares the Lord. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem; they will come against all her surrounding walls and against all the towns of Judah.

They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns.

“You of this generation, consider the word of the Lord: “Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to you no more’?

On your clothes is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this

In those days the people of Judah will join the people of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.

“Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.” “Yes, we will come to you, for you are the Lord our God.

A lion has come out of his lair; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to lay waste your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant.

a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.”

Look! He advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! We are ruined!

I hear a cry as of a woman in labor, a groan as of one bearing her first child— the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands and saying, “Alas! I am fainting; my life is given over to murderers.”

They have lied about the Lord; they said, “He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine.

Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful

Shepherds with their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents around her, each tending his own portion.”

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.

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, Daughter Zion.”

Put on sackcloth, my people, and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

“Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message: “‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord.

and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things?

Wherever I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life, declares the Lord Almighty.’

We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror.

The snorting of the enemy’s horses is heard from Dan; at the neighing of their stallions the whole land trembles. They have come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all who live there.

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them.

Let them come quickly and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears and water streams from our eyelids.

They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.