Lamentation for Israel

1Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament,a house of Israel:

2She has fallen;

Virgin Israelb will never rise again.c

She lies abandoned on her land,

with no one to raise her up.d

3For the Lord GOD says:

The city that marches out a thousand strong

will have only a hundred left,e

and the one that marches out a hundred strong

will have only ten leftf in the house of Israel.

Seek God and Live

4For the LORD says to the house of Israel:

Seek Me and live!g

5Do not seek Bethelh

or go to Gilgali

or journey to Beer-sheba,j

for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,

and Bethel will come to nothing.

6Seek •Yahwehk and live,

or He will spread like firel

throughout the house of Joseph;

it will consume everything,

with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.m

7Those who turn justice into •wormwoodn

throw righteousness to the ground.

8The One who made the Pleiades and Orion,o

who turns darknessp into dawnq

and darkens day into night,r

who summons the waters of the seas

and pours them out over the face of the eartht —

Yahweh is His name.u

9He brings destructionv on the strong,w, x

and it falls on the stronghold.y

10They hate the one who convicts the •guiltyz

at the city •gate

and despiseaa the one who speaks with integrity.

11Therefore, because you trample on the poorab

and exact a grain tax from him,

you will never live in the houses of cut stoneac

you have built;

you will never drink the wine

from the lush vineyards

you have planted.ad

12For I know your crimes are many

and your sins innumerable.

They oppress the righteous,ae take a bribe,

and deprive the poor of justiceaf at the gates.

13Therefore, the wise person will keep silentag, ah

at such a time,

for the days are evil.

14Seek good and not evil

so that you may live,

and the LORD, the God of •Hosts,

will be with you,

as you have claimed.ai

15Hate evil and love good;aj

establish justice in the gate.ak

Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be graciousal

to the remnant of Joseph.am

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

There will be wailing in all the public squares;an

they will cry out in anguishao in all the streets.

The farmer will be called on to mourn,ap

and professional mournersaq, ar to wail.

17There will be wailing in all the vineyards,as

for I will pass among you.at

The LORD has spoken.

The Day of the Lord

18Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD!au

What will the Day of the LORD be for you?

It will be darkness and not light.av

19It will be like a man who flees from a lionaw

only to have a bear confront him.

He goes home and rests his hand against the wall

only to have a snake bite him.

20Won’t the Day of the LORD

be darkness rather than light,ax

even gloom without any brightness in it?ay

21I hate, I despise your feasts!az

I can’t stand the stench

of your solemn assemblies.ba

22Even if you offer Me

your •burnt offerings and •grain offerings,bb

I will not accept them;bc

I will have no regard

for your •fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.bd

23Take away from Me the noise of your songs!

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

24But let justice flow like water,

and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.bf

25“House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to Me during the 40 years in the wilderness?bg 26But you have taken upbh Sakkuthbi, bj your kingbk and Kaiwanbl your star god, images you have made for yourselves.bm 27So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.”bn Yahweh, the God of Hosts, is His name.bo He has spoken.