Lamentation for Israel

5 Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament, v house of Israel:

2 She has fallen;

Virgin Israel w will never rise again. x

She lies abandoned on her land,

with no one to raise her up. y

3 For the Lord God says:

The city that marches out a thousand strong

will have only a hundred left, z

and the one that marches out a hundred strong

will have only ten left a in the house of Israel.

Seek God and Live

4 For the Lord says to the house of Israel:

Seek Me and live! b

5 Do not seek Bethel c

or go to Gilgal d

or journey to Beer-sheba, e

for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,

and Bethel will come to nothing.

6 Seek * Yahweh f and live,

or He will spread like fire g

throughout the house of Joseph;

it will consume everything,

with no one at Bethel to extinguish it. h

7 Those who turn justice into * wormwood i

throw righteousness to the ground.

8 The One who made the Pleiades and Orion, j

who turns darkness k into dawn l

and darkens day into night, m

who summons the waters of the sea n

and pours them out over the face of the earth o—

Yahweh is His name. p

9 He brings destruction q on the strong, r s

and it falls on the stronghold. t

10 They hate the one who convicts the * guilty u

at the city * gate

and despise v the one who speaks with integrity.

11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor w

and exact a grain tax from him,

you will never live in the houses of cut stone x

you have built;

you will never drink the wine

from the lush vineyards

you have planted. y

12 For I know your crimes are many

and your sins innumerable.

They oppress the righteous, z take a bribe,

and deprive the poor of justice a at the gates.

13 Therefore, the wise person will keep silent b c

at such a time,

for the days are evil.

14 Seek good and not evil

so that you may live,

and the Lord, the God of * Hosts,

will be with you,

as you have claimed. d

15 Hate evil and love good; e

establish justice in the gate. f

Perhaps the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be gracious g

to the remnant of Joseph. h

16 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says:

There will be wailing in all the public squares; i

they will cry out in anguish j in all the streets.

The farmer will be called on to mourn, k

and professional mourners l m to wail.

17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards, n

for I will pass among you. o

The Lord has spoken.

The Day of the Lord

18 Woe to you who long for the Day of the Lord! p

What will the Day of the Lord be for you?

It will be darkness and not light. q

19 It will be like a man who flees from a lion r

only to have a bear confront him.

He goes home and rests his hand against the wall

only to have a snake bite him.

20 Won’t the Day of the Lord

be darkness rather than light, s

even gloom without any brightness in it? t

21 I hate, I despise your feasts! u

I can’t stand the stench

of your solemn assemblies. v

22 Even if you offer Me

your * burnt offerings and * grain offerings, w

I will not accept them; x

I will have no regard

for your * fellowship offerings of fattened cattle. y

23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps. z

24 But let justice flow like water,

and righteousness, like an unfailing stream. a

25 “House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to Me during the 40 years in the wilderness? b 26 But you have taken up c Sakkuth d e your king f and Kaiwan g your star god, images you have made for yourselves. h 27 So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.” i Yahweh, the God of Hosts, is His name. j He has spoken.