Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel. 2The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up. 3For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel.

4For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live; 5but seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought. 6Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el. 7Ye who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth, 8seek him that maketh the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth (Jehovah is his name); 9that bringeth sudden destruction upon the strong, so that destruction cometh upon the fortress.