⁶ Lift up a signal flag toward Zion.^(A)
Run for cover! Don’t stand still!
For I am bringing disaster from the north—
a crushing blow.^(B)

6 “Run for cover^(A)
out of Jerusalem, Benjaminites.
Sound the ram’s horn^(B) in Tekoa;^(C)
raise a smoke signal^(D) over Beth-haccherem,^[a]
for disaster threatens from the north,^(E)
even a crushing blow.

Look, water is rising from the north^(A)
and becoming an overflowing wadi.
It will overflow the land and everything in it,^(B)
the cities and their inhabitants.
The people will cry out,
and every inhabitant of the land will wail.

³ For a nation from the north will attack her;^(A)
it will make her land desolate.
No one will be living in it—
both people and animals will escape.^[a](B)

⁹ For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon^(A)
an assembly of great nations from the north country.
They will line up in battle formation against her;^(B)
from there she will be captured.
Their arrows will be like a skilled^[a] warrior
who does not return empty-handed.

⁴¹ Look! A people comes from the north.^(A)
A great nation and many kings will be stirred up
from the remote regions of the earth.^(B)