A Lament for Israel
1 Listen to this word that I am taking up
as a lamentation over you, O house of Israel,
2 “The virgin of Israel has fallen,
She shall not rise again.
She is cast down on her land,
and there is no one to raise her up.”
3 For 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.”
A Call to Repentance
4 For the Lord says to the house of Israel,
“Seek me, and you will live,
5 but do not seek Bethel
nor enter into Gilgal,
and do not pass to Beersheba,
for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
and Bethel shall come to nothing.
6 Seek the Lord, and you will live,
lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
and devour Bethel,
and there be no one to quench it.
7 Those who turn justice to wormwood,
cast righteousness down to the ground,
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–
the Lord is his name.
9 He brings sudden destruction on the strong,
and destruction falls upon the fortress.
10 They hate him who reproves at the city gate,
and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.
11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor,
and tax him on his wheat,
you have built houses of cut stone,
but you will not dwell in them.
You have planted lovely vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.
12 For I know how many are your offenses,
and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the just,
who take a bribe,
and who turn away the needy in the courts.
13 Therefore the prudent keep silent in such a 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,
will be with you, as you have said.
15 Hate evil. Love good.
Establish justice in the courts.
It may be that the Lord, the God of Hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
The Coming Judgement
16 Therefore the Lord, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says:
“There will be wailing in all the public squares,
and sorrowful cries in all the streets,
and they will call the farmer to mourning,
and the mourners, to wailing.
17 In all vineyards there will 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!
Why do you long for the day of the Lord?
It is darkness and not light.
19 It will be 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 Will the day of the Lord not be darkness, and not light?
Pitch darkness, with no brightness in it?
21 I hate–I despise–your feasts,
and I cannot stand your solemn assemblies.
22 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
nor will I regard the peace offerings of your fattened animals.
23 Remove the noise of your songs from me!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice role like a river,
and righteousness like a mighty stream.
25 Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings
in the wilderness 40 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 I will send you into captivity
beyond Damascus,” says the Lord,
whose name is the God of Hosts.