¹Listen 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 .”

³For the Lord GOD says :

“The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left ,

and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel .”

⁴For the LORD says to the house of Israel :

“Seek me , and you will live ;

⁵but 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 .

⁶Seek the LORD , 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 .

⁷You who turn justice to wormwood ,

and cast down righteousness to the earth!

⁸Seek 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, the LORD is his name ,

⁹who brings sudden destruction on the strong ,

so that destruction comes on the fortress .

¹⁰They hate him who reproves in the gate ,

and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly .

¹¹Therefore , because 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 .

¹²For I know how many are your offences,

and how great are your sins —

you who afflict the just ,

who take a bribe ,

and who turn away the needy in the courts .

¹³Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time ,

for it is an evil time .

¹⁴Seek good , and not evil ,

that you may live ;

and so the LORD , the God of Armies , will be with you ,

as you say.

¹⁵Hate evil , love good ,

and establish justice in the courts .

It may be that the LORD , the God of Armies , will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph .”

¹⁶Therefore the LORD , the God of Armies , the Lord , says :

“Wailing will be in all the wide ways .

They will say in all the streets , ‘Alas ! Alas !’

They will call the farmer to mourning ,

and those who are skilful in lamentation to wailing .

¹⁷In all vineyards there will be wailing ,

for I will pass through the middle of you ,” says the LORD .

¹⁸“Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD !

Why do you long for the day of the LORD ?

It is darkness ,

and not light.

¹⁹As 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 .

²⁰Won’t the day of the LORD be darkness , and not light ?

Even very dark , and no brightness in it ?

²¹I hate , I despise your feasts ,

and I can ’t stand your solemn assemblies .

²²Yes , 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.

²³Take away from me the noise of your songs !

I will not listen to the music of your harps .

²⁴But 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 ?

²⁶You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images , the star of your god, which you made for yourselves .

²⁷Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus ,” says the LORD , whose name is the God of Armies .