1 HEAR this word which I take up concerning you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel:

2 The virgin of Israel is fallen, she shall no more rise; she is left lying on the ground, there is none to raise her up.

3 For thus says the LORD God: The city out of which went forth a thousand men, there shall be left in it a hundred men; and that out of which went forth a hundred men, there shall be left in it ten men to the house of Israel.

4 For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: Seek me and you shall live;

5 But do not seek Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity and Beth-el shall come to nought.

6 Seek the LORD and you shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph and devour Beth-el, and there will be none to quench it.

7 You who turn justice into bitterness, and lower righteousness to the ground,

8 They have forsaken him who made Pleiades and Orion, and who turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark into night; who calls the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth; the LORD is his name;

9 Who makes the weak to rule over the mighty, and exalts the meek over the proud.

10 They hate the poor at the gates, and they abhor him who speaks uprightly.

11 Therefore because you have beaten on the head of the poor and have taken from him the choicest gifts; the houses of hewn stone which you have built, you shall not dwell in; and from the pleasant vineyards which you have planted, you shall not drink wine.

12 For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great; you oppress the just, you take a bribe, and you turn aside the cause of the poor in the gate from their right.

13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good and not evil that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken.

15 Hate the evil and love the good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts: In all streets there shall be wailing; and in all broad places they shall say, Alas! alas! and they shall call the farmers to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of you, says the LORD.

18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? The day of the LORD? For it is a day of darkness and not light.

19 As when 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 Such is the day of the LORD; it is darkness and not light; yea, it is a day of thick darkness and no brightness is in it.

21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell the savor of your solemn assemblies.

22 Though you offer me your burnt offerings and your 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 harps.

24 But let justice run down like waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

25 Did you offer to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?

26 But you carried the tabernacle of Malcom and Chiun your idol, the star which you made a god to yourselves.

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