| Berean Study Bible | NET Bible |
| 1Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lamentation I take up against you: | 1Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, family of Israel: |
| 2“Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again. She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up.” | 2"The virgin Israel has fallen down and will not get up again. She is abandoned on her own land with no one to help her get up." |
| 3This is what the Lord GOD says: “The city that marches out a thousand strong will only see a hundred return, and the one that marches out a hundred strong will have but ten left in the house of Israel.” | 3The sovereign LORD says this: "The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers will have only a hundred left; the town that marches out with a hundred soldiers will have only ten left for the family of Israel." |
| 4For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live! | 4The LORD says this to the family of Israel: "Seek me so you can live! |
| 5Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba, for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing. | 5Do not seek Bethel! Do not visit Gilgal! Do not journey down to Beer Sheba! For the people of Gilgal will certainly be carried into exile; and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds." |
| 6Seek the LORD and live, or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph; it will devour everything, with no one at Bethel to extinguish it. | 6Seek the LORD so you can live! Otherwise he will break out like fire against Joseph's family; the fire will consume and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. |
| 7There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground. | 7The Israelites turn justice into bitterness; they throw what is fair and right to the ground. |
| 8He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD is His name— | 8(But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion; he can turn the darkness into morning and daylight into night. He summons the water of the seas and pours it out on the earth's surface. The LORD is his name! |
| 9He flashes destruction on the strong, so that fury comes upon the stronghold. | 9He flashes destruction down upon the strong so that destruction overwhelms the fortified places.) |
| 10There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity. | 10The Israelites hate anyone who arbitrates at the city gate; they despise anyone who speaks honestly. |
| 11Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted. | 11Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops and exact a grain tax from them, you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone, nor will you drink the wine from the fine vineyards you planted. |
| 12For I know that your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes; you deprive the poor of justice in the gate. | 12Certainly I am aware of your many rebellious acts and your numerous sins. You torment the innocent, you take bribes, and you deny justice to the needy at the city gate. |
| 13Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the days are evil. | 13For this reason whoever is smart keeps quiet in such a time, for it is an evil time. |
| 14Seek good, not evil, so that you may live. And the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed. | 14Seek good and not evil so you can live! Then the LORD, the God who commands armies, just might be with you, as you claim he is. |
| 15Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” | 15Hate what is wrong, love what is right! Promote justice at the city gate! Maybe the LORD, the God who commands armies, will have mercy on those who are left from Joseph. |
| 16Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail. | 16Because of Israel's sins this is what the LORD, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, says: "In all the squares there will be wailing, in all the streets they will mourn the dead. They will tell the field workers to lament and the professional mourners to wail. |
| 17There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD. | 17In all the vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through your midst," says the LORD. |
| 18Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD be for you? It will be darkness and not light. | 18Woe to those who wish for the day of the LORD! Why do you want the LORD's day of judgment to come? It will bring darkness, not light. |
| 19It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake. | 19Disaster will be inescapable, as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear, then escaped into a house, leaned his hand against the wall, and was bitten by a poisonous snake. |
| 20Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness and not light, even gloom with no brightness in it? | 20Don't you realize the LORD's day of judgment will bring darkness, not light--gloomy blackness, not bright light? |
| 21“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. | 21"I absolutely despise your festivals! I get no pleasure from your religious assemblies! |
| 22Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; for your peace offerings of fattened cattle I will have no regard. | 22Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, I will not be satisfied; I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves. |
| 23Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. | 23Take away from me your noisy songs; I don't want to hear the music of your stringed instruments. |
| 24But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. | 24Justice must flow like torrents of water, righteous actions like a stream that never dries up. |
| 25Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? | 25You did not bring me sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family of Israel. |
| 26You have taken along Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, the idols you made for yourselves. | 26You will pick up your images of Sikkuth, your king, and Kiyyun, your star god, which you made for yourselves, |
| 27Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts. | 27and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD. He is called the God who commands armies! |
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