| New King James Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Hear this word which I take up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel: | 1Listen, you people of Israel! Listen to this funeral song I am singing: |
| 2The virgin of Israel has fallen; She will rise no more. She lies forsaken on her land; There is no one to raise her up. | 2“The virgin Israel has fallen, never to rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, with no one to help her up.” |
| 3For thus says the Lord GOD: “The city that goes out by a thousand Shall have a hundred left, And that which goes out by a hundred Shall have ten left to the house of Israel.” | 3The Sovereign LORD says: “When a city sends a thousand men to battle, only a hundred will return. When a town sends a hundred, only ten will come back alive.” |
| 4For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live; | 4Now this is what the LORD says to the family of Israel: “Come back to me and live! |
| 5But do not seek Bethel, Nor enter Gilgal, Nor pass over to Beersheba; For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, And Bethel shall come to nothing. | 5Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel; don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile, and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.” |
| 6Seek the LORD and live, Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, And devour it, With no one to quench it in Bethel— | 6Come back to the LORD and live! Otherwise, he will roar through Israel like a fire, devouring you completely. Your gods in Bethel won’t be able to quench the flames. |
| 7You who turn justice to wormwood, And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!” | 7You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt. |
| 8He made the Pleiades and Orion; He turns the shadow of death into morning And makes the day dark as night; He calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth; The LORD is His name. | 8It is the LORD who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The LORD is his name! |
| 9He rains ruin upon the strong, So that fury comes upon the fortress. | 9With blinding speed and power he destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses. |
| 10They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, And they abhor the one who speaks uprightly. | 10How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth! |
| 11Therefore, because you tread down the poor And take grain taxes from him, Though you have built houses of hewn stone, Yet you shall not dwell in them; You have planted pleasant vineyards, But you shall not drink wine from them. | 11You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent. Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses, you will never live in them. Though you plant lush vineyards, you will never drink wine from them. |
| 12For I know your manifold transgressions And your mighty sins: Afflicting the just and taking bribes; Diverting the poor from justice at the gate. | 12For I know the vast number of your sins and the depth of your rebellions. You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. |
| 13Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time, For it is an evil time. | 13So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time. |
| 14Seek good and not evil, That you may live; So the LORD God of hosts will be with you, As you have spoken. | 14Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed. |
| 15Hate evil, love good; Establish justice in the gate. It may be that the LORD God of hosts Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. | 15Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people. |
| 16Therefore the LORD God of hosts, the Lord, says this: “There shall be wailing in all streets, And they shall say in all the highways, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmer to mourning, And skillful lamenters to wailing. | 16Therefore, this is what the Lord, the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, says: “There will be crying in all the public squares and mourning in every street. Call for the farmers to weep with you, and summon professional mourners to wail. |
| 17In all vineyards there shall be wailing, For I will pass through you,” Says the LORD. | 17There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will destroy them all,” says the LORD. Warning of Coming Judgment |
| 18Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! For what good is the day of the LORD to you? It will be darkness, and not light. | 18What sorrow awaits you who say, “If only the day of the LORD were here!” You have no idea what you are wishing for. That day will bring darkness, not light. |
| 19It will be as though a man fled from a lion, And a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, Leaned his hand on the wall, And a serpent bit him! | 19In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion— only to meet a bear. Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house— and he’s bitten by a snake. |
| 20Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it? | 20Yes, the day of the LORD will be dark and hopeless, without a ray of joy or hope. |
| 21“I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies. | 21“I hate all your show and pretense— the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. |
| 22Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. | 22I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. |
| 23Take away from Me the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. | 23Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. |
| 24But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream. | 24Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. |
| 25“Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? | 25“Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel? |
| 26You also carried Sikkuth your king And Chiun, your idols, The star of your gods, Which you made for yourselves. | 26No, you served your pagan gods—Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan your star god—the images you made for yourselves. |
| 27Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus,” Says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts. | 27So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus, ” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Heaven’s Armies. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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