The chat will start when you send the first message.
1Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:[#Ezek 19.1]
2Fallen, no more to rise,[#Isa 51.18; Jer 14.17; 50.32; Am 8.14]
is maiden Israel;
forsaken on her land,
with no one to raise her up.
3For thus says the Lord God :[#Isa 6.13; Am 6.9]
The city that marched out a thousand
shall have a hundred left,
and that which marched out a hundred
shall have ten left.
4For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:[#Isa 55.3; Jer 29.3]
Seek me and live,
5but do not seek Bethel,[#1 Sam 7.16; 11.14; Am 4.4; 8.14]
and do not enter into Gilgal
or cross over to Beer-sheba,
for Gilgal shall surely go into exile,
and Bethel shall come to nothing.
6Seek the Lord and live,[#v 14 ; Deut 4.24; Isa 55.3, 6, 7; Am 3.14]
or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire,
and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.
7Ah, you who turn justice to wormwood
and bring righteousness to the ground!
8The one who made the Pleiades and Orion[#Job 9.9; 12.22; Ps 104.6–9; Isa 42.16; Am 8.9; 9.6]
and turns deep darkness into the morning
and darkens the day into night,
who calls for the water of the sea
and pours it out on the surface of the earth,
the Lord is his name,
9who makes destruction flash out against the strong,
so that destruction comes upon the fortress.
10They hate the one who reproves in the gate,[#1 Kings 22.8; Isa 29.21; 59.15]
and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.
11Therefore because you trample on the poor[#Am 3.9, 15; 6.11; 8.6; Mic 6.15]
and take from them levies of grain,
you have built houses of hewn stone,
but you shall not live in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.
12For I know how many are your transgressions[#Isa 29.21; Am 2.6, 7]
and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe
and push aside the needy in the gate.
13Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time,
for it is an evil time.
14Seek good and not evil,[#v 6 ; Mic 3.11]
that you may live,
and so the Lord , the God of hosts, will be with you,
just as you have said.
15Hate evil and love good,[#Ps 97.10; Joel 2.14; Mic 5.3, 7, 8; Rom 12.9]
and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord , the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16Therefore thus says the Lord , the God of hosts, the Lord:[#2 Chr 35.25; Jer 9.17; Joel 1.11]
In all the squares there shall be wailing,
and in all the streets they shall say, “Alas! Alas!”
They shall call the farmers to mourning
and those skilled in lamentation to wailing;
17in all the vineyards there shall be wailing,[#Isa 16.10; Jer 48.33; Nah 1.2]
for I will pass through the midst of you, says the Lord .
18Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord ![#Isa 5.19; Jer 30.7; Joel 1.15; 2 Pet 3.4]
Why do you want the day of the Lord ?
It is darkness, not light,
19as if someone fled from a lion[#Jer 48.44]
and was met by a bear
or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall
and was bitten by a snake.
20Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light,[#Isa 13.10; Zeph 1.15]
and gloom with no brightness in it?
21I hate, I despise your festivals,[#Lev 26.31; Isa 1.11–16]
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,[#Isa 66.3; Am 4.5; Mic 6.6, 7]
I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
23Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24But let justice roll down like water[#Jer 22.3; Ezek 45.9; Mic 6.8]
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?[#Deut 32.17; Ezek 20.8, 16; Acts 7.42]
26You shall take up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, your images, which you made for yourselves;[#5.26 Heb your images, your star god]
27therefore I will take you into exile beyond Damascus, says the Lord , whose name is the God of hosts.[#2 Kings 17.6; Am 4.13]