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"Seek Me that You May Live"

¹ Hear this word which I take up for you as a ^(C1)funeral song, O house of Israel:

² She has fallen, she will ^(C1)not rise again—
The ^(C2)virgin Israel.
She lies neglected on her land;
There is ^(C3)no one to raise her up.

³ For thus says the Lord GOD,
"The city which goes forth a thousand strong
Will have a ^(C1)hundred left,
And the one which goes forth a hundred strong
Will have ^(C2)ten left to the house of Israel."

⁴ For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel,

"^(C1)Seek Me search diligently for Me and regard Me as more essential than food so ^(C2)that you may live. ^(VR1)

⁵ "But do not resort to ^(C1)Bethel to worship the golden calf
Nor enter idolatrous ^(C2)Gilgal,
Nor cross over to ^(C3)Beersheba and its idols;
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity and exile,
And Bethel will come to nothing.

⁶ "^(C1)Seek the LORD search diligently for Him and long for Him as your most essential need so that you may live,
Or He will rush down like a devouring ^(C2)fire, O ^(F1)house of Joseph,
And there will be no one to quench the flame for idolatrous ^(F2)Bethel,

⁷ For those shall be consumed who turn ^(C1)justice into wormwood (bitterness)
And cast righteousness down to the earth."

⁸ He who made the cluster of stars called ^(C1)Pleiades and the constellation Orion,
Who ^(C2)turns deep darkness into the morning
And ^(C3)darkens the day into night,
Who ^(C4)calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
The ^(C5)LORD is His name.

⁹ It is He who causes sudden destruction to ^(C1)flash forth on the strong
So that ^(C2)destruction comes on the fortress.

¹⁰ They hate the one who ^(C1)reprimands the unrighteous in the court held at the city gate regarding him as unreasonable and rejecting his reprimand,
And they ^(C2)detest him who speaks the truth with integrity and honesty.

¹¹ Therefore, because you impose heavy rent on the poor
And demand a tribute (food-tax) of grain from them,
Though you have built luxurious ^(C1)houses of square stone,
You will not live in them;
You have planted beautiful vineyards, but you will ^(C2)not drink their wine.

¹² For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great (shocking, innumerable),
You who ^(C1)distress the righteous and take bribes,
And turn away from the poor in the court of the city gate depriving them of justice.

¹³ Therefore, he who is prudent and has insight will ^(C1)keep silent at such a corrupt and evil time, for it is an evil time when people will not listen to truth and will disregard those of good character.

¹⁴ Seek (long for, require) good and not evil, that you may live;
And so may the LORD God of hosts be with you,
^(C1)Just as you have said!

^15 (C1)Hate evil and love good,
And establish justice in the court of the city gate.
Perhaps the LORD God of hosts
^(C2)Will be gracious to the ^(C3)remnant of Joseph that is, those who remain after God's judgment.

¹⁶ Therefore, thus says the LORD God of hosts, the Lord,

"There is ^(C1)wailing in all the public plazas,
And in all the streets they say, 'Alas! Alas!'
And they call the ^(C2)farmers to mourning for those who have died
And ^(C3)professional mourners to wailing.

¹⁷ "And in all ^(C1)vineyards there is wailing,
For I will pass through your midst in judgment," says the LORD. ^(VR1)

¹⁸ Woe (judgment is coming) to you who desire the ^(C1)day of the LORD expecting rescue from the Gentiles!
Why would you want the day of the LORD?
It is ^(C2)darkness (judgment) and not light and rescue and prosperity;

¹⁹ It is as if a man ^(C1)runs from a lion escaping one danger
And a bear meets him so he dies anyway,
Or goes home, and leans with his hand against the wall
And a snake bites him.

²⁰ Will not the day of the LORD be ^(C1)darkness, instead of light,
Even very dark with no brightness in it?

²¹ "I hate, I ^(C1)despise and reject your sacred feasts,
And I do not take ^(C2)delight in your solemn assemblies.

²² "Even though you ^(C1)offer Me your burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the ^(C2)peace offerings of your fattened animals.

²³ "Take the noise of your songs away from Me they are an irritation!
I shall not even listen to the melody of your harps.

²⁴ "But let ^(C1)justice run down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream flowing abundantly.

²⁵ "^(C1)Did you bring Me sacrifices and grain offerings during those forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? Certainly not!²⁶ "^(C1)You carried along your king Sikkuth and Kayyun your man-made gods of Saturn, your images of your star-god which you made for yourselves but you brought Me none of the appointed sacrifices.²⁷ "Therefore, I will send you to go into exile far beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts. ^(VR1)