Blow the trumpet through the land;
    shout aloud^[a] and say,
“Gather together, and let us go
    into the fortified cities!”^(A)
6 Raise a standard toward Zion;
    flee for safety; do not delay,
for I am bringing evil from the north
    and a great destruction.^(B)
7 A lion has gone up from its thicket;
    a destroyer of nations has set out;
    he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
    your cities will be ruins
    without inhabitant.^(C)

¹⁴ Why do we sit still?
Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities
    and perish there,
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
    and has given us poisoned water to drink
    because we have sinned against the Lord.^(A)