Listen! The LORD is calling to the city! It is wise to respect your authority, O LORD! Listen, O nation, and those assembled in the city!

耶和华向这城呼叫，智慧人必敬畏他的名：“你们当听是谁派定刑杖的惩罚。

耶和华向这城呼叫—看重你的名是真智慧—你们当听惩罚和派定惩罚的人。

耶和华向这城呼叫—看重你的名是真智慧—你们当听惩罚和派定惩罚的人。

耶和华在向耶路撒冷呼喊，智者必敬畏祂的名。祂说：“聚在城里的众人啊，你们要听！

听啊！耶和华向这城呼叫，敬畏你的名就是智慧；支派和城里的会众啊！你们要听。

耶和華向這城呼叫，智慧人必敬畏他的名。你們當聽是誰派定刑杖的懲罰。

耶和華向這城呼叫－看重你的名是真智慧－你們當聽懲罰和派定懲罰的人。

耶和華向這城呼叫－看重你的名是真智慧－你們當聽懲罰和派定懲罰的人。

耶和華在向耶路撒冷呼喊，智者必敬畏祂的名。祂說：「聚在城裡的眾人啊，你們要聽！

聽啊！耶和華向這城呼叫，敬畏你的名就是智慧；支派和城裡的會眾啊！你們要聽。

聽啊，永恆主向這城呼叫呢！敬畏他的名是最有效的智慧；這城的支派和議會啊，聽哦！

耶和華之聲、向斯邑而呼、智者必寅畏其名、其聽厥杖、而知為誰所定、

耶和華降命於邑中、撲責斯民、苟有智慧者、無不遵從焉、

主之聲呼邑、爾其聽之、凡有智慧者、必敬畏主之名、凡有智慧者必敬畏主之名或作凡敬畏主名者必為有福爾必受撲責、亦當知定之者誰、

Listen! The Lord is calling to the city— and to fear your name is wisdom—“ Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.

The Lord is calling out to Jerusalem. And it would be wise to pay attention to him. He says,“ Listen, tribe of Judah and you people who are gathered in the city.

The voice of the Lord cries to the city— and it is sound wisdom to fear your name:“ Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it!

Fear the Lord if you are wise! His voice calls to everyone in Jerusalem:“ The armies of destruction are coming; the Lord is sending them.

The voice of the LORD calls out to the city( and it is wise to fear your name):“ Pay attention to the rod and the one who ordained it.

The voice of the Lord will call to the city— And it is sound wisdom to fear Your name:“ Hear, you tribe. Who has designated its time?

The LORD’s voice cries to the city— Wisdom shall see Your name:“ Hear the Rod! Who has appointed it?

The voice of Jehovah crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom will see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

The voice of Yahweh calls out to the city( and it is wise to fear Your name):“ Pay attention to the rod and the One who ordained it.

The LORD’S voice crieth unto the city, and[ the man of] wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

Yahweh’s voice calls to the city, and wisdom sees your name:“ Listen to the rod, and he who appointed it.

She is disobedient; she refuses correction. She does not trust the LORD; she does not seek the advice of her God.

Look, the name of the LORD comes from a distant place in raging anger and awesome splendor. He speaks angrily and his word is like destructive fire.

Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, a cudgel with which I angrily punish.I sent him against a godless nation, I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, to take plunder and to carry away loot, to trample them down like dirt in the streets.

All those I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent!

So I will set Judah on fire, and it will consume Jerusalem’s fortresses.”

When the king heard the words of the law scroll, he tore his clothes.The king ordered Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant,“ Go, seek an oracle from the LORD for me and the people– for all Judah. Find out about the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the LORD’s fury has been ignited against us, because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.”So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shullam son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the supervisor of the wardrobe.( She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh district.) They stated their business,and she said to them:“ This is what the LORD God of Israel says:‘ Say this to the man who sent you to me:“ This is what the LORD says:‘ I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, the details of which are recorded in the scroll which the king of Judah has read.This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made. My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’”Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to seek an oracle from the LORD:“ This is what the LORD God of Israel says concerning the words you have heard:‘ You displayed a sensitive spirit and humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard how I intended to make this place and its residents into an appalling example of an accursed people. You tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the LORD.‘ Therefore I will allow you to die and be buried in peace. You will not have to witness all the disaster I will bring on this place.’”’” Then they reported back to the king.

Then the Babylonian forces will return. They will attack the city and will capture it and burn it down.Moreover, I, the LORD, warn you not to deceive yourselves into thinking that the Babylonian forces will go away and leave you alone. For they will not go away.For even if you were to defeat all the Babylonian forces fighting against you so badly that only wounded men were left lying in their tents, they would get up and burn this city down.”’”

The sound of battle comes from the city; the sound comes from the temple! It is the sound of the LORD paying back his enemies.

The ruined town is shattered; all of the houses are shut up tight.They howl in the streets because of what happened to the wine; all joy turns to sorrow; celebrations disappear from the earth.The city is left in ruins; the gate is reduced to rubble.

If I go out into the countryside, I see those who have been killed in battle. If I go into the city, I see those who are sick because of starvation. For both prophet and priest go about their own business in the land without having any real understanding.’”Then I said,“ LORD, have you completely rejected the nation of Judah? Do you despise the city of Zion? Why have you struck us with such force that we are beyond recovery? We hope for peace, but nothing good has come of it. We hope for a time of relief from our troubles, but experience terror.LORD, we confess that we have been wicked. We confess that our ancestors have done wrong. We have indeed sinned against you.For the honor of your name, do not treat Jerusalem with contempt. Do not treat with disdain the place where your glorious throne sits. Be mindful of your covenant with us. Do not break it!Do any of the worthless idols of the nations cause rain to fall? Do the skies themselves send showers? Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this? So we put our hopes in you because you alone do all this.”

Tell them the LORD who rules over all says,‘ I will do just as Jeremiah has done. I will smash this nation and this city as though it were a potter’s vessel which is broken beyond repair. The dead will be buried here in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.’I, the LORD, say:‘ That is how I will deal with this city and its citizens. I will make it like Topheth.The houses in Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled by dead bodies just like this place, Topheth. For they offered sacrifice to the stars and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the roofs of those houses.’”

“ Micah from Moresheth prophesied during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah,‘ The LORD who rules over all says,“ Zion will become a plowed field. Jerusalem will become a pile of rubble. The temple mount will become a mere wooded ridge.”’

Who is wise? Let him discern these things! Who is discerning? Let him understand them! For the ways of the LORD are right; the godly walk in them, but in them the rebellious stumble.

Here then is what the LORD who rules over all says:‘ Think carefully about what you are doing.You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but are never filled. You drink, but are still thirsty. You put on clothes, but are not warm. Those who earn wages end up with holes in their money bags.’”“ Moreover, the LORD who rules over all says:‘ Pay close attention to these things also.

Then they will know that you alone are the LORD, the sovereign king over all the earth.

Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed up like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the Temple Mount will become a hill overgrown with brush!

The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the LORD by name.The LORD passed by before him and proclaimed:“ The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness,keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

“ But surely I gave you no food to eat in any of your cities; you lacked food everywhere you live. Still you did not come back to me.” The LORD is speaking!“ I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. I gave rain to one city, but not to another. One field would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.People from two or three cities staggered into one city to get water, but remained thirsty. Still you did not come back to me.” The LORD is speaking!“ I destroyed your crops with blight and disease. Locusts kept devouring your orchards, vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees. Still you did not come back to me.” The LORD is speaking!“ I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues. I killed your young men with the sword, along with the horses you had captured. I made the stench from the corpses rise up into your nostrils. Still you did not come back to me.” The LORD is speaking!“ I overthrew some of you the way God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the flames. Still you did not come back to me.” The LORD is speaking!“ Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel. Because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel!

A lion has roared! Who is not afraid? The sovereign LORD has spoken! Who can refuse to prophesy?Make this announcement in the fortresses of Ashdod and in the fortresses in the land of Egypt. Say this:“ Gather on the hills around Samaria! Observe the many acts of violence taking place within the city, the oppressive deeds occurring in it.”“ They do not know how to do what is right.”( The LORD is speaking.)“ They store up the spoils of destructive violence in their fortresses.Therefore,” says the sovereign LORD,“ an enemy will encircle the land. He will take away your power; your fortresses will be looted.”This is what the LORD says:“ Just as a shepherd salvages from the lion’s mouth a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear, so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be salvaged. They will be left with just a corner of a bed, and a part of a couch.”Listen and warn the family of Jacob! The sovereign LORD, the God who commands armies, is speaking!“ Certainly when I punish Israel for their covenant transgressions, I will destroy Bethel’s altars. The horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.I will destroy both the winter and summer houses. The houses filled with ivory will be ruined, the great houses will be swept away.” The LORD is speaking!

A voice says,“ Cry out!” Another asks,“ What should I cry out?” The first voice responds:“ All people are like grass, and all their promises are like the flowers in the field.The grass dries up, the flowers wither, when the wind sent by the LORD blows on them. Surely humanity is like grass.The grass dries up, the flowers wither, but the decree of our God is forever reliable.”

The people did not return to the one who struck them, they did not seek reconciliation with the LORD who commands armies.

Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins?נ( Nun)Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the LORD.Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven:“ We have blatantly rebelled; you have not forgiven.”ס( Samek)

The LORD revealed himself; he accomplished justice; the wicked were ensnared by their own actions.( Higgaion. Selah)

When Jonah began to enter the city one day’s walk, he announced,“ At the end of forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!”The people of Nineveh believed in God, and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes.He issued a proclamation and said,“ In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, cattle or sheep, is to taste anything; they must not eat and they must not drink water.Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly to God, and everyone must turn from their evil way of living and from the violence that they do.Who knows? Perhaps God might be willing to change his mind and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we might not die.”When God saw their actions– they turned from their evil way of living!– God relented concerning the judgment he had threatened them with and he did not destroy them.

The voice of the LORD thunders as he leads his army. Indeed, his warriors are innumerable; Surely his command is carried out! Yes, the day of the LORD is awesome and very terrifying– who can survive it?“ Yet even now,” the LORD says,“ return to me with all your heart– with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your garments!”Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and boundless in loyal love– often relenting from calamitous punishment.Who knows? Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve, and leave blessing in his wake– a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the LORD your God!Blow the trumpet in Zion. Announce a holy fast; proclaim a sacred assembly!Gather the people; sanctify an assembly! Gather the elders; gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom and the bride from her private quarters.Let the priests, those who serve the LORD, weep from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. Let them say,“ Have pity, O LORD, on your people; please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked, to become a proverb among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples,“ Where is their God?”Then the LORD became zealous for his land; he had compassion on his people.

Woe to those who live in ease in Zion, to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria. They think of themselves as the elite class of the best nation. The family of Israel looks to them for leadership.

I will say to God,‘ Do not condemn me; tell me why you are contending with me.’

For evil does not come up from the dust, nor does trouble spring up from the ground,but people are born to trouble, as surely as the sparks fly upward.“ But as for me, I would seek God, and to God I would set forth my case.

If you do not obey me, then I will do to this temple what I did to Shiloh. And I will make this city an example to be used in curses by people from all the nations on the earth.’”

O LORD, you are ready to act, but they don’t even notice. They will see and be put to shame by your angry judgment against humankind, yes, fire will consume your enemies.

During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the LORD. The LORD said,“ It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, because he murdered the Gibeonites.”

Mourn over the land of my people, which is overgrown with thorns and briers, and over all the once- happy houses in the city filled with revelry.For the fortress is neglected; the once-crowded city is abandoned. Hill and watchtower are permanently uninhabited. Wild donkeys love to go there, and flocks graze there.

Whoever is wise, let him take note of these things! Let them consider the LORD’s acts of loyal love!

The praise you receive as far away as the ends of the earth is worthy of your reputation, O God. You execute justice!

For the fortified city is left alone; it is a deserted settlement and abandoned like the desert. Calves graze there; they lie down there and eat its branches bare.

“ Therefore, blessed is the man whom God corrects, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

A shrewd person sees danger and hides himself, but the naive keep right on going and suffer for it.

( 14: 1) Samaria will be held guilty, because she rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, their infants will be dashed to the ground– their pregnant women will be ripped open.