| Christian Standard Bible | New International Version |
| 1Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament, house of Israel: | 1Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you: |
| 2She has fallen; Virgin Israel will never rise again. She lies abandoned on her land with no one to raise her up. | 2"Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up." |
| 3For the Lord GOD says: The city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left, and the one that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left in the house of Israel. | 3This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Israel: "Your city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left; your town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left." |
| 4For the LORD says to the house of Israel: Seek me and live! | 4This is what the LORD says to Israel: "Seek me and live; |
| 5Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal or journey to Beer-sheba, for Gilgal will certainly go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing. | 5do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing." |
| 6Seek the LORD and live, or he will spread like fire throughout the house of Joseph; it will consume everything with no one at Bethel to extinguish it. | 6Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it. |
| 7Those who turn justice into wormwood also throw righteousness to the ground. | 7There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground. |
| 8The one who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the water of the sea and pours it out over the surface of the earth--the LORD is his name. | 8He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land-- the LORD is his name. |
| 9He brings destruction on the strong, and it falls on the fortress. | 9With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin. |
| 10They hate the one who convicts the guilty at the city gate, and they despise the one who speaks with integrity. | 10There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. |
| 11Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact a grain tax from him, you will never live in the houses of cut stone you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted. | 11You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. |
| 12For I know your crimes are many and your sins innumerable. They oppress the righteous, take a bribe, and deprive the poor of justice at the city gates. | 12For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. |
| 13Therefore, those who have insight will keep silent at such a time, for the days are evil. | 13Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. |
| 14Pursue good and not evil so that you may live, and the LORD, the God of Armies, will be with you as you have claimed. | 14Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. |
| 15Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the city gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. | 15Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph. |
| 16Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: There will be wailing in all the public squares; they will cry out in anguish in all the streets. The farmer will be called on to mourn, and professional mourners to wail. | 16Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says: "There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail. |
| 17There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass among you. The LORD has spoken. | 17There will be wailing in all the vineyards, 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 you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light. |
| 19It will be like a man who flees from a lion only to have a bear confront him. He goes home and rests his hand against the wall only to have a snake bite him. | 19It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. |
| 20Won't the day of the LORD be darkness rather than light, even gloom without any brightness in it? | 20Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light-- pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? |
| 21I hate, I despise, your feasts! I can't stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. | 21"I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. |
| 22Even if you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will have no regard for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle. | 22Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. |
| 23Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. | 23Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. |
| 24But let justice flow like water, and righteousness, like an unfailing stream. | 24But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! |
| 25"House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the wilderness? | 25"Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? |
| 26But you have taken up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, images you have made for yourselves. | 26You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god -- which you made for yourselves. |
| 27So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus." The LORD, the God of Armies, is his name. He has spoken. | 27Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty. |
| The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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