• 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.