“Seek Me that You May Live”

1 Hear this word which I take up for you as a adirge, O house of Israel:

2 She has fallen, she will anot rise again—

The bvirgin Israel.

She lies neglected on her land;

There is cnone to raise her up.

3 For thus says the Lord 1God,

“The city which goes forth a thousand strong

Will have a ahundred left,

And the one which goes forth a hundred strong

Will have bten left to the house of Israel.”

4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel,

“aSeek Me bthat you may live.

5 “But do not 1resort to aBethel

And do not come to bGilgal,

Nor cross over to cBeersheba;

For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity

And Bethel will 2come to trouble.

6 “aSeek the Lord that you may live,

Or He will break forth like a bfire, 1O house of Joseph,

And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel,

7 For those who turn ajustice into wormwood

And 1cast righteousness down to the earth.”

8 He who made the aPleiades and Orion

And bchanges deep darkness into morning,

1Who also cdarkens day into night,

Who dcalls for the waters of the sea

And pours them out on the surface of the earth,

The eLord is His name.

9 It is He who aflashes forth with destruction upon the strong,

So that bdestruction comes upon the fortress.

10 They hate him who areproves in the 1gate,

And they babhor him who speaks with integrity.

11 Therefore because you 1impose heavy rent on the poor

And exact a tribute of grain from them,

Though you have built ahouses of well-hewn stone,

Yet you will not live in them;

You have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will bnot drink their wine.

12 For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great,

You who adistress the righteous and accept bribes

And 1turn aside the poor in the 2gate.

13 Therefore at 1such a time the prudent person akeeps silent, for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good and not evil, that you may live;

And thus may the Lord God of hosts be with you,

aJust as you have said!

15 aHate evil, love good,

And establish justice in the 1gate!

Perhaps the Lord God of hosts

bMay be gracious to the cremnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord,

“There is awailing in all the plazas,

And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’

They also call the bfarmer to mourning

And 1cprofessional mourners to lamentation.

17 “And in all the avineyards there is wailing,

Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord.