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¹ Heare ye this word which I take vp against you, euen a lamentation, O house of Israel. ² The virgin of Israel is fallen, she shall no more rise: she is forsaken vpon her land, there is none to raise her vp. ³ For thus saith the Lord God, The citie that went out by a thousand, shall leaue an hundred, and that which went foorth by an hundred, shall leaue ten to the house of Israel.

⁴ For thus saith the Lord vnto the house of Israel, Seeke ye mee, and ye shall liue. ⁵ But seeke not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal and passe not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely goe into captiuitie, and Bethel shal come to nought. ⁶ Seeke the Lord, and ye shall liue, lest hee breake out like fire in the house of Ioseph and deuoure it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel, ⁷ Ye who turne iudgment to wormwood, and leaue off righteousnesse in the earth: ⁸ Seeke him that maketh the seuen starres and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day darke with night: that calleth for the waters of the Sea, and powreth them out vpon the face of the earth: the Lord is his Name. ⁹ That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong: so that the spoiled shall come against the fortresse. ¹⁰ They hate him that rebuketh in the gate: and they abhorre him that speaketh vprightly. ¹¹ Forasmuch therfore as your treading is vpon the poore, and ye take from him burdens of wheate, ye haue built houses of hewen stone, but ye shall not dwell in them: yee haue planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drinke wine of them. ¹² For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sinnes: they afflict the iust, they take a bribe, and they turne aside the poore in the gate from their right. ¹³ Therefore the prudent shall keepe silence in that time, for it is an euill time. ¹⁴ Seeke good and not euill, that ye may liue: and so the Lord, the God of hosts shall be with you, as yee haue spoken. ¹⁵ Hate the euill, and loue the good, and establish iudgement in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hostes will bee gracious vnto the remnant of Ioseph.

¹⁶ Therefore the Lord, the God of hostes, the Lord saith thus: Wailing shall be in all streets, and they shall say in all the high wayes, Alas, Alas: and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation, to wailing. ¹⁷ And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will passe through thee, saith the Lord. ¹⁸ Woe vnto you that desire the day of the Lord: to what ende is it for you? the day of the Lord is darknes and not light. ¹⁹ As if a man did flee from a lyon, and a beare 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 darkenes, and not light? euen very darke, and no brightnesse in it?

²¹ I hate, I despise your feast dayes, and I will not smell in your solemne assemblies. ²² Though ye offer me burnt offerings, and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. ²³ Take thou away from mee the noise of thy songs: for I will not heare the melodie of thy violes. ²⁴ But let iudgement run downe as waters, and righteousnesse as a mightie streame. ²⁵ Haue yee offered vnto mee sacrifices and offerings in the wildernesse fourtie yeeres, O house of Israel? ²⁶ But yee haue borne the tabernacle of your Moloch, and Chiun your images, the starre of your god, which ye made to your selues. ²⁷ Therefore wil I cause you to go into captiuitie beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose Name is the God of hostes.