Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we use persuasion to men; but to God we are manifest. And I trust also that in your consciences we are manifest.
Strengthen yourselves, ye sons of Benjamin, in the midst of Jerusalem, and sound the trumpet in Thecua, and set up the standard over Bethacarem: for evil is seen out of the north, and a great destruction.
Declare ye in Juda, and make it heard in Jerusalem: speak, and sound with the trumpet in the land. Cry aloud, and say: Assemble yourselves, and let us go into strong cities.
Who shall fear thee, O king of nations, for thine is the glory. Among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like unto thee.
Will not you then fear me? saith the Lord. And will you not repent at my presence? I have set the sand a bound for the sea, an everlasting ordinance which it shall not pass over. And the waves thereof shall toss themselves and shall not prevail: they shall swell, and shall not pass over it.
My bowels, my bowels, are in pain, the senses of my heart are troubled within me. I will not hold my peace, for my soul hath heard the sound of the trumpet, the cry of battle.
For before those days there was no hire for men, neither was there hire for beasts, neither was there peace to him that came in, nor to him that went out, because of the tribulation: and I let all men go every one against his neighbour.
While he was yet speaking to them, the messenger appeared who was coming to him. And he said: Behold, so great an evil is from the Lord. What shall I look for more from the Lord?