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¹ Hear 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 on her land; there is none to raise her up.³ For thus says the Lord Yahweh: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel.

⁴ For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel, Seek me, and you shall live;⁵ but don't seek Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and don't pass to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nothing.⁶ Seek Yahweh, and you shall live; or else he will break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it will devour, and there will be none to quench it in Beth-el.⁷ You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth,⁸ [seek him] that makes the Pleiades 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 on the face of the earth (Yahweh is his name);⁹ that brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.¹⁰ They hate him that reproves in the gate, and they are disgusted by him that speaks uprightly.¹¹ Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take exactions from him of wheat: you have built houses of cut stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink the wine thereof.¹² For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins-you that afflict the just, that take a bribe, and that turn aside the needy in the gate [from their right].¹³ Therefore he that is prudent shall keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil time.¹⁴ Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you say.¹⁵ Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶ Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! Alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and a wailing for such as are skillful in lamentation.¹⁷ And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of you, says Yahweh.¹⁸ Woe to you that desire the day of Yahweh! Why would you have the day of Yahweh? It is darkness, and not light.¹⁹ As if a man fled 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 Yahweh 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 Yes, though you offer me your burnt-offerings and meal-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts.²³ Take away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your viols.²⁴ But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.²⁵ Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?²⁶ Yes, you have borne the tabernacle of your king and the Kewan-your idols, the star of your god which you made to yourselves.²⁷ Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says Yahweh, whose name is the God of hosts.