¹ Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

² The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

³ For thus saith the Lord Yhwh; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

⁴ ¶ For thus saith Yhwh unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

⁵ But seek not 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 Yhwh, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth–el.

⁷ Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

⁸ Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: Yhwh is his name:

⁹ That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.¹

1. spoiled: Heb. spoil.

¹⁰ They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

¹¹ Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.¹

1. pleasant…: Heb. vineyards of desire.

¹² For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.¹

1. a bribe: or, a ransom.

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

¹⁴ Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so Yhwh, the God of Armies, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

¹⁵ Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that Yhwh God of Armies will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶ Therefore Yhwh, the God of Armies, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

¹⁷ And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith Yhwh.

¹⁸ Woe unto you that desire the day of Yhwh! to what end is it for you? the day of Yhwh is darkness, and not light.

¹⁹ As if a man did flee 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 Shall not the day of Yhwh be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

²¹ ¶ I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.¹

1. in…: or, your holy days.

²² Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.¹

1. peace…: or, thank offerings.

²³ Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

²⁴ But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.¹

1. run: Heb. roll.

²⁵ Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

²⁶ But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.¹

1. the tabernacle…: or, Siccuth your king.

²⁷ Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith Yhwh, whose name is The God of Armies.