| 1 | Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel. |
| 2 | "The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one 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 one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel." |
| 4 | For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel: "Seek me, and you will live; |
| 5 | but don't seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don't pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing. |
| 6 | Seek Yahweh, and you will live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel. |
| 7 | You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth: |
| 8 | seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name, |
| 9 | who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress. |
| 10 | They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly. |
| 11 | Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. |
| 12 | For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins-- you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the courts. |
| 13 | Therefore a prudent person keeps 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 Armies, will be with you, as you say. |
| 15 | Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph." |
| 16 | Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, the Lord: "Wailing will be in all the broad ways; and they will say in all the streets, 'Alas! Alas!' and they will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing. |
| 17 | In all vineyards there will be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of you," says Yahweh. |
| 18 | "Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! Why do you long for 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 he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him. |
| 20 | Won't 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 can't stand 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 animals. |
| 23 | Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. |
| 24 | But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream. |
| 25 | "Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel? |
| 26 | You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves. |
| 27 | Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus," says Yahweh, whose name is the God of Armies. |
