5 aHear ye this word which I btake up against you,

Even ba lamentation, O house of Israel.

2  cThe virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise:

She dis forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

3  For thus saith the Lord God;

The city that ewent out by a thousand shall leave an hundred,

And that which ewent forth by an hundred fshall leave ten,

To the house of Israel.

4  For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel,

gSeek ye me, and hye shall live:

5  But seek not iBeth-el, nor enter into iGilgal,

And pass not to kBeer-sheba:

For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,

And iBeth-el shall come to lnought.

6  gSeek the Lord, and ye shall live;

Lest he mbreak out like fire in the house of Joseph,

And devour it, and there be none to quench it in iBeth-el.

7  nYe who turn judgment to owormwood,

And pleave off righteousness in the earth,

8  Seek him that maketh qthe seven stars and qrOrion,

And sturneth tthe shadow of death into the morning,

And uwmaketh the day dark with night:

vThat calleth for the waters of the sea,

vAnd poureth them out upon the face of the earth:

vwThe Lord is his name:

9  That strengtheneth the †spoiled against the strong,

So that the †spoiled shall come against the fortress.

10  xThey hate yhim that zrebuketh zzin the gate,

And athey abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

11  Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor,

And ye take from him bburdens of wheat:

cYe have built houses of hewn stone,

But ye shall not dwell in them;

cYe have planted †pleasant vineyards,

But ye shall not drink wine of them.

12  For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins:

They afflict the just, they take ||a bribe,

And they dturn aside the poor zzein the gate from their right.

13  Therefore the prudent fshall keep silence in that time;

gFor it is an evil time.

14  hSeek good, and not evil, that ye may live:

And so the Lord, ithe God of hosts, shall be with you, kas ye have spoken.

15  lHate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment ein the gate:

mIt may be that the Lord iGod of hosts will be gracious unto nthe remnant of Joseph.

16  Therefore the Lord, ithe God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus;

nnWailing shall be in all streets;

And they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas!

And they shall call the husbandman to mourning,

And osuch as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

17  And in all vineyards shall be wailing:

For pI will pass through thee, saith the Lord.

18  qWoe unto you that desire rthe day of the Lord!

To what end is it for you?

sThe day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.

19  tAs if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him;

Or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and ua serpent bit him.

20  sShall not rthe day of the Lord be darkness, and not light?

vEven very dark, and no brightness in it?

21  wI hate, I despise your feast days,

And xI will not ||smell in your ysolemn assemblies.

22  wThough ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, zI will not accept them:

wNeither will I regard the ||apeace offerings of your fat beasts.

23  Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs;

For bI will not hear the melody of thy cviols.

24  dBut let judgment †run down as waters,

And righteousness as ea mighty stream.

25  fHave ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

26  But ye have gborne ||the tabernacle of your hMoloch and Chiun your images,

The star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

27  Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity ibeyond kDamascus,

Saith lthe Lord, whose name is mThe God of hosts.