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¹ Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel:² The virgin of Israel is fallen, she shall no more rise; she is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up.³ For thus saith the Lord GOD: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, of the house of Israel.

⁴ For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel: Seek ye Me, and live;⁵ But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought.⁶ Seek the LORD, and live--lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Bethel--⁷ Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and cast righteousness to the ground;⁸ Him that maketh the Pleiades and Orion, and bringeth on the shadow of death in the morning, and darkeneth the day into night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; the LORD is His name;⁹ That causeth destruction to flash upon the strong, so that destruction cometh upon the fortress.¹⁰ They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.¹¹ Therefore, because ye trample upon the poor, and take from him exactions of wheat; ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them, ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine thereof.¹² For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins; ye that afflict the just, that take a ransom, and that turn aside the needy in the gate.¹³ Therefore the prudent doth keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time.¹⁴ Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as ye say.¹⁵ Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶ Therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: Lamentation shall be in all the broad places, and they shall say in all the streets: 'Alas! alas!' and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and proclaim lamentation to such as are skilful of wailing.¹⁷ And in all vineyards shall be lamentation; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith the LORD. ¹⁸ Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! Wherefore would ye have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light.¹⁹ As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; and 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 feasts, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies.²² Yea, though ye offer me burnt-offerings and your meal-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts.²³ Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs; and let Me not hear the melody of thy psalteries.²⁴ But let justice well up as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.²⁵ Did ye bring unto Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?²⁶ So shall ye take up Siccuth your king and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.²⁷ Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith He, whose name is the LORD God of hosts.