Sound the warning

5Announce it in Judah and proclaim it in Jerusalem: Blow the trumpet in the land! Cry out at the top of your voices: Gather together, and let us go into the fortified cities!

6Raise a signal flag toward Zion. Flee for safety; do not delay, for I am bringing disaster and great destruction from the north.

7A lion has come up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out; he has left his place to make your land a desolation. Your cities will be laid waste, with no one living in them.

8Because of this, put on sackcloth; mourn and wail, for the burning anger of Yahweh has not turned away from us.

9On that day, declares Yahweh, the king and the officials will lose heart; the priests will be appalled, and the prophets will be stunned.

10Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while the sword is at our throats!”