1. Hear this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
2. The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
3. For thus says the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave a hundred, and that which went forth by a hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
4. For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, Seek me, and you shall live:
5. But do not seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and do not pass over to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
6. Seek the LORD, and you shall live, so that he does not break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
7. You who turn judgment to wormwood, and cease to do righteousness in the earth,
8. Seek him who makes the seven stars 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 upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
9. Who strengthens the oppressed against the strong, so that the oppressed shall come against the fortress.
10. They hate him who rebukes in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks uprightly.
11. Seeing therefore that your trampling is upon the poor, and you take from him loads of wheat: you have built houses of cut stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine from them.
12. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
14. Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken.
15. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16. Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, says thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the farmer to mourning, and those that are skilful at lamentation to wailing.
17. And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through you, says the LORD.
18. Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! to what purpose is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
19. As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20. Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21. I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not be pleased with your solemn assemblies.
22. Though you offer me burnt offerings and your food offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23. Take away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.
24. But let justice flow down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
25. Have you offered to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26. But you have carried the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.
27. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.
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