A Lamentation For Israel
1 Hear you this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
2 The virgin of Israel has fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
3 For thus says the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall have left a hundred, and that which went forth by a hundred shall have left ten, to the house of Israel.
4 For thus says the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek me, and you shall live:
5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
6 Seek the LORD, and you shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
7 You who turn justice to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
8 Seek him that makes the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night: that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
9 That strengthens the plundered against the strong, so that the plundered shall come against the fortress.
10 They hate him that rebukes in the gate, and they abhor him that speaks uprightly.
11 Since therefore you tread upon the poor, and you take from him burdens of wheat: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine of them.
12 For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken.
15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
The Day of the LORD Brings Darkness
16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, says thus: Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the farmer to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to wailing.
17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through you, says the LORD.
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not take delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Though you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fatted animals.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
25 Have you offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 But you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch, and Chiun your star god, your images, which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.