1
Hear this word of the Lord, even a lamentation, which I take up against you. The house of Israel has fallen; it shall not rise again.
2
The virgin of Israel has fallen; there is none that shall raise her up.
3
Therefore thus says the Lord God: The city out of which there went forth a thousand, [in it] there shall be left a hundred, and [in that] out of which there went forth a hundred, there shall be left ten to the house of Israel.
4
Wherefore thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, Seek Me, and you shall live.
5
But seek not Bethel, and go not into Gilgal, and cross not over to the Well of the Oath: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall be as that which is not.
6
But seek the Lord, and you shall live; lest the house of Joseph blaze as fire, and it devour him, and there shall be none to quench it for the house of Israel.
7
[It is He] that executes judgment in the heights [above], and He has established justice on the earth;
8
who makes all things, and changes [them], and turns darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night; who calls for the water of the sea, and pours it out on the face of the earth: the Lord is His name;
9
who dispenses ruin to strength, and brings distress upon the fortress.
10
They hated him that reproved in the gates, and abhorred holy speech.
11
Therefore because they have smitten the poor with their fists, and you have received of them choice gifts, you have built polished houses, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted desirable vineyards, but you shall not drink the wine of them.
12
For I know your many transgressions, and your sins are great, trampling on the just, taking bribes, and turning aside [the judgment of] the poor in the gates.
13
Therefore the prudent shall be silent at that time; for it is a time of evils.
14
Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord God Almighty shall be with you, as you have said,
15
We have hated evil, and loved good; restore judgment in the gates, so that the Lord God Almighty may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
16
Therefore thus says the Lord God Almighty: In all the streets [shall be] lamentations, and in all the ways shall it be said, Woe, woe! The farmer shall be called to mourning and lamentation, and to them that are skilled in complaining.
17
And [there shall be] lamentation in all the ways, because I will pass through the midst of you, says the Lord.
18
Woe to you that desire the day of the Lord! What is this day of the Lord to you? Seeing that it is darkness, and not light.
19
As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him; and he should spring into his house, and lean his hands upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.
20
Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? And is not this day gloom without brightness?
21
I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell your grain offerings in your general assemblies.
22
Wherefore if you should bring Me your whole burnt sacrifices and grain offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I have respect to your grand peace offerings.
23
Remove from Me the sound of your songs, and I will not hear the music of your instruments.
24
But let judgment roll down as water, and righteousness as an impassable torrent.
25
Have you offered to Me victims and sacrifices, O house of Israel, forty years in the wilderness?
26
Yea, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rephan, the images of them which you made for yourselves.
27
And I will carry you away beyond Damascus, says the Lord, the Almighty God is His name.
