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.