1Hear this word that I take up against you, a song of mourning, house of Israel.
2The virgin of Israel has fallen; she will rise no more. She is left lying on her own land, and there is no one to lift her up.
3For this is what the Lord GOD says: "The city that marched out with a thousand will have a hundred left, and the one that marched out with a hundred will have ten left, for the house of Israel."
4For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: "Seek me, and you will live."
5"But do not seek Bethel, and do not go into Gilgal, and do not cross over to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into captivity, and Bethel will come to nothing."
6Seek the LORD, and you will live. If you do not, he will break out like fire in the house of Joseph and burn it up, and there will be no one in Bethel to put it out.
7You turn justice into bitter wormwood, and you throw righteousness down to the ground.
8Seek him who made the seven stars and Orion, who turns the shadow of death into morning, and darkens the day into night. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the earth. The LORD is his name.
9He makes the plundered strong against the mighty, so that the plundered come against the fortress.
10They hate the man who corrects them at the gate, and they cannot bear the one who speaks honestly.
11Because you trample on the poor and take loads of wheat from him, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not live in them. You have planted fine vineyards, but you will not drink their wine.
12For I know how many your wrongs are, and how great your sins are. You oppress the righteous, you take a bribe, and at the gate you push the poor aside from their rights.
13So the wise will keep quiet at that time, for it is an evil time.
14Seek good, and not evil, so that you may live. Then the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, just as you have said.
15Hate the evil, and love the good, and set up justice at the gate. It may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious to those who are left of Joseph.
16So this is what the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, says: "There will be wailing in all the streets, and in all the roads they will say, 'Alas, alas.' They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skilled at singing laments to wailing."
17"And in all the vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through you," says the LORD.
18How terrible for you who long for the day of the LORD. What good will it be to you? The day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
19It will be as if a man ran away from a lion, and a bear met him; or as if he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.
20Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? Will it not be very dark, with no brightness in it?
21"I hate, I despise your feast days, and I take no delight in your solemn gatherings."
22Even if you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them. I will not look at the peace offerings of your fattened animals.
23Take away from me the noise of your songs, for I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a river that never dries up.
25Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings for forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel?
26But you have carried the tent of your Moloch and Chiun, your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.
27"So I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.