5
1 Listen
to this word
which I take
up for a
lamentation over
you, O house
of Israel:
2 “The
virgin of Israel
has fallen;
She shall rise
no more.
She is cast
down on her land;
there is no
one to raise
her up.”
3 For
the Lord GOD
says:
“The city that
went out a thousand
shall have a
hundred left,
and that which
went out one
hundred shall have
ten left to
the house of
Israel.”
4 For
the LORD says
to the house
of Israel:
“Seek me, and
you will live;
5 but don’t
seek Bethel,
nor enter into
Gilgal,
and don’t pass
to Beersheba;
for Gilgal shall
surely go into
captivity,
and Bethel shall
come to nothing.
6 Seek
the LORD, and
you will live,
lest he break
out like fire in
the house of
Joseph,
and it devour,
and there be
no one to
quench it in
Bethel.
7 You who turn
justice to
wormwood,
and cast down
righteousness to
the earth!
8 Seek him
who made the
Pleiades and Orion,
and turns the
shadow of death
into the morning,
and makes the
day dark with
night;
who calls for
the waters of
the sea,
and pours them
out on the
surface of
the earth, the
LORD is his
name,
9 who brings sudden
destruction on the
strong,
so that
destruction comes on
the fortress.
10 They
hate him who
reproves in the
gate,
and they abhor
him who speaks
blamelessly.
11 Therefore,
because you trample
on the poor
and take taxes
from him of
wheat,
you have built
houses of cut
stone, but you
will not dwell
in them.
You have planted
pleasant vineyards,
but you shall
not drink their
wine.
12 For
I know how
many are
your offenses,
and how great
are your sins—
you who afflict
the just,
who take a
bribe,
and who turn
away the needy in
the courts.
13 Therefore
a prudent person
keeps silent in
such a time,
for it is
an evil time.
14 Seek
good, and not
evil,
that you may
live;
and so the
LORD, the God
of Armies, will
be with you,
as you say.
15 Hate
evil, love good,
and establish
justice in the
courts.
It may be
that the LORD,
the God of
Armies, will be
gracious to the
remnant of Joseph.”
16 Therefore
the LORD, the
God of Armies,
the Lord, says:
“Wailing will be
in all the wide
ways.
They will say in
all the streets,
‘Alas! Alas!’
They will call
the farmer to
mourning,
and those who
are skillful in
lamentation to
wailing.
17 In
all vineyards
there will be
wailing,
for I will
pass through the
middle of you,”
says the LORD.
18 “Woe
to you who desire
the day of
the LORD!
Why do you
long for the
day of the
LORD?
It is darkness,
and not light.
19 As if
a man fled
from a lion,
and a bear
met him;
or he went
into the house
and leaned his
hand on the
wall,
and a snake
bit him.
20 Won’t the
day of the
LORD be darkness,
and not light?
Even very dark,
and no brightness
in it?
21 I
hate, I despise
your feasts,
and I can’t stand
your solemn
assemblies.
22 Yes,
though you offer
me your burnt
offerings and meal
offerings,
I will not
accept them;
neither will I
regard the peace
offerings of
your fat animals.
23 Take
away from me
the noise of
your songs!
I will not
listen to the
music of your
harps.
24 But let
justice roll on
like rivers,
and righteousness
like a mighty
stream.
25 “Did
you bring to
me sacrifices and
offerings in the
wilderness forty years,
house of Israel?
26 You
also carried
the tent of
your king and
the shrine of your
images, the star
of your god, which
you made for
yourselves.
27 Therefore
I will cause you
to go into
captivity beyond
Damascus,” says the
LORD, whose name
is the God
of Armies.