Study Desk

A Lament and Call to Repentance

Hear this word, Israel, this lament^(a) I take up concerning you:

"Fallen is Virgin^(b) Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up.^(c)"

This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel: "Your city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left; your town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left.^(d)"

This is what the Lord says to Israel: "Seek^(e) me and live;^(f)

do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal,^(g) do not journey to Beersheba.^(h) For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.^[a](i)"

Seek^(j) the Lord and live,^(k) or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire;^(l) it will devour them, and Bethel^(m) will have no one to quench it.⁽ⁿ⁾

There are those who turn justice into bitterness^(o) and cast righteousness^(p) to the ground.^(q)

He who made the Pleiades and Orion,^(r) who turns midnight into dawn^(s) and darkens day into night,^(t) who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land— the Lord is his name.^(u)

With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin.^(v)

There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court^(w) and detest the one who tells the truth.^(x)

You levy a straw tax on the poor^(y) and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,^(z) you will not live in them;^(aa) though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.^(ab)

For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins.^(ac) There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes^(ad) and deprive the poor^(ae) of justice in the courts.^(af)

Therefore the prudent keep quiet^(ag) in such times, for the times are evil.^(ah)

Seek good, not evil, that you may live.^(ai) Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.

Hate evil,^(aj) love good;^(ak) maintain justice in the courts.^(al) Perhaps^(am) the Lord God Almighty will have mercy^(an) on the remnant^(ao) of Joseph.

Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says: "There will be wailing^(ap) in all the streets^(aq) and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers^(ar) will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail.

There will be wailing^(as) in all the vineyards, for I will pass through^(at) your midst," says the Lord .^(au)

Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord !^(av) Why do you long for the day of the Lord ?^(aw) That day will be darkness,^(ax) not light.^(ay)

It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear,^(az) as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.^(ba)

Will not the day of the Lord be darkness,^(bb) not light— pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?^(bc)

"I hate,^(bd) I despise your religious festivals;^(be) your assemblies^(bf) are a stench to me.

Even though you bring me burnt offerings^(bg) and grain offerings, I will not accept them.^(bh) Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.^(bi)

Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.^(bj)

But let justice^(bk) roll on like a river, righteousness^(bl) like a never-failing stream!^(bm)

"Did you bring me sacrifices^(bn) and offerings forty years^(bo) in the wilderness, people of Israel?

You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols,^(bp) the star of your god^[b]— which you made for yourselves.

Therefore I will send you into exile^(bq) beyond Damascus," says the Lord , whose name is God Almighty.^(br)