¹Hear this word which I am relating against you as a lamentation, O house of Israel.

²The virgin of Israel has fallen;

She cannot get up again.

She has been left on the ground;

There is no-one to lift her up.’

³For this is what the Lord, the Lord, says:

‘The city that goes out with a thousand

Will be left with a hundred,

And the city that goes out with a hundred

Will be left with ten

Remaining to the house of Israel.’

⁴For this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel:

‘Seek me and live.

⁵But do not seek Beth-El,

And do not go to Gilgal,

And do not cross to Beersheba,

For Gilgal will certainly go into exile,

And Beth-El will be annihilated.

⁶Seek the Lord and live

Lest he advances like a fire over the house of Joseph,

And it consumes it,

And there is no-one to extinguish it in Beth-El,

⁷You who turn judgment to wormwood,

And who lay righteousness down on the ground.

⁸He who makes the Pleiades and Orion,

And turns the shadow of death into morning,

And darkens day into night,

Who calls the water of the sea

And pours it onto the face of the earth

– The Lord is his name –

⁹Who brings sudden destruction on the strong,

And destruction which will come upon the fortification.

¹⁰They have hated him who rebuked at the gate,

And they have loathed him who speaks that which is upright.

¹¹Therefore, because you have trampled on the poor

And taken a cart-load of grain from him,

Although you have built houses of hewn stone,

You will not live in them,

And although you have planted attractive vineyards,

You will not drink their wine.

¹²For I know that your transgressions are many,

And that your sins are enormous.

They are oppressors of the righteous,

And takers of bribes,

And they pervert the justice of the poor at the gate.

¹³Therefore let him who is prudent

Be silent at that time,

For it is an evil time.

¹⁴Seek good and not evil,

In order that you may live,

And it will be the case

That the Lord God of hosts will be with you,

As you have said.

¹⁵Hate evil and love good,

And install justice at the gate;

Maybe the Lord God of hosts will be merciful

To the remnant of Joseph.’

¹⁶Therefore this is what the Lord God of hosts

– The Lord^* – says:

‘There will be mourning in all streets,

And in all open places they will say,

«Woe, Woe»,

And they will call the farmer to lamentation,

And those who know wailing, to mourning.

¹⁷And there will be mourning in all the vineyards,

For I will pass through your precincts,

Says the Lord.

¹⁸Woe to those who long for the day of the Lord.

What is it to you?

The day of the Lord is darkness

And not light.

¹⁹It is like a man fleeing from the lion,

When a bear meets him,

Or when he comes home,

When he rests his arm on a wall,

A serpent bites him.

²⁰Is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light?

And is it not gloomy

With no brightness in it?

²¹I hate, I reject your feasts,

And I do not fragrantly smell your solemn assemblies.

²²Although you offer burnt offerings and your meal-offerings to me,

I will not receive them,

And I will not take pleasure in the peace-offering of your fatted calves.

²³Remove from me the noise of your songs,

For I will not hear the music of your lutes.

²⁴Let judgment roll on like water,

And righteousness like a constant stream.

²⁷So I will deport you to beyond Damascus,

Says the Lord

– The God of hosts is his name.

Reference(s) in Chapter 5: v.18 ↔ Revelation 1:10 ● v.20 ↔ Revelation 1:10 ● v.25 ↔ Acts 7:42 ● v.26 ↔ Acts 7:43 ● v.27 ↔ Acts 7:43.