1 ¶ Listen to these words of lamentation that I speak against you, O house of Israel.

2 The virgin of Israel will fall; never to rise again: she will lie forsaken on her land; and there will be no one to lift her up.

3 For thus says the Lord GOD; The city that sent a thousand out to war will have a hundred left, and the one that sent out a hundred will have ten left, of the house of Israel.

4 ¶ For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, Seek me, and you will live:

5 But do not seek help from the idol at Bethel, or at Gilgal, and do not journey to Beersheba: for Gilgal will surely go into captivity, and Bethel will deceive you.

6 Seek the LORD, and you will live; otherwise he will break out among the people of Joseph like a consuming fire, and there will be no one in Bethel to put it out.

7 You who pervert judgment into bitter wormwood, and cast righteousness to the ground,

8 Seek him who made the seven stars and Orion, who turns the darkest night into morning, and darkens the day into night: who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth: Jahweh is his name:

9 Who in a flash brings sudden destruction upon the strong, and thus destroys a fortress.

10 You hate the one who condemns sin at the city gate, and detest the one who tells you what is right.

11 For you trample on the poor, and take part of his wheat away: you have built houses of hewn stones, but you will not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you will not drink wine from them.

12 For I know that your sins are many and great: you take bribes, and punish the innocent, in court robbing the poor of what is rightfully theirs.

13 Therefore a wise person will keep quiet in such a time; for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good, and not evil, so that you may live: and so the LORD, the God of armies, will be with you, as you have said.

15 Hate evil, love good, and establish justice at the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be merciful to those of Joseph who remain.

16 ¶ There is a reason why Jahweh, the LORD, the God of hosts, says this; There will be weeping in all the market places; and they will say in all the streets, Woe! woe! and they will call the farmer to mourn, and professional mourners to wail.

17 And there will be weeping in all the vineyards: for I will pass through you, says the LORD.

18 Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! what can it bring you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.

19 It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to meet a bear; or goes into the house, and leans with his hand against the wall, and a serpent bites him.

20 Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? very dark, with nothing bright in it?

21 ¶ I hate, and despise your feast days, and take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

22 Though you offer me burnt offerings and food offerings, I will not accept them: nor will I consider your peace offerings of fattened cattle.

23 Get the noise of your songs away from me; for I will not listen to the music of your lyres.

24 But let justice flow down like water, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

25 Did you offer me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?

26 But you have taken up the tabernacle of Saturn and Kaiwan, the images of your star god, which you made for yourselves.

27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says Jahweh, who is known as The God of hosts.