1  Hear this word, a lamentation, which I take up against you, O house of Israel. 2  The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more arise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up. 3  For 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, for the house of Israel.

4  For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and ye shall live. 5  And seek not Bethel, neither go to Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought. 6  Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel. 7  Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth, 8  seek him that made 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. 9  He causeth destruction to break forth suddenly upon the strong, and bringeth destruction upon the fortress. 10  They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. 11  Forasmuch, therefore, as ye trample upon the poor, and take from him presents of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, and ye shall not drink the wine of them. 12  For I know how manifold are your transgressions and your sins mighty: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the right of the needy in the gate. 13  Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in this time; for it is an evil time. 14  Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye say. 15  Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

16  Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all broadways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing. 17  And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah. 18  Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! To what end is the day of Jehovah for you? It shall be 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 Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

21  I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will not smell a sweet odour in your solemn assemblies. 22  For if ye offer up unto me burnt-offerings and your oblations, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fatted beasts. 23  Take away from me the noise of thy songs, and I will not hear the melody of thy lutes; 24  but let judgment roll down as waters, and righteousness as an ever-flowing stream. 25  Did ye bring unto me sacrifices and oblations in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26  Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of your Moloch, and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye had made to yourselves; 27  and I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith Jehovah, whose name is the God of hosts.

Chapter 6

1  Woe to them that are at ease in Zion and that are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the renowned of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come. 2  Pass unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go to Hamath the great; and go down to Gath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border? 3  Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; 4  that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves from the midst of the stall; 5  that chant to the sound of the lute, and invent them instruments of music, like David; 6  that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments; but are not grieved for the breach of Joseph. 7  Therefore shall they now go captive, with the first that go captive, and the revelry of them that stretched themselves shall pass away.

8  The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by himself, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his palaces; and I will deliver up the city with all that is therein. 9  And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. 10  And a man’s uncle, and he that should burn him, shall take him up to bring out the bones from the house, and shall say unto him that is in the inner parts of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, None. And he will say, Silence! for we may not make mention of Jehovah’s name. 11  For behold, Jehovah commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts. 12  Shall horses run upon the rock? will men plough thereon with oxen? For ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood, 13  —ye that rejoice in a thing of nought, that say, Have we not taken to us power by our own strength? 14  For behold, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah the God of hosts, I will raise up against you a nation; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hamath unto the torrent of the Arabah.