1. Hear this Word which I take up against you, a dirge, O house of Israel.
2. The virgin of Israel has fallen; she shall rise no more; she lies forsaken on her land. There is none to raise her up.
3. For thus says the Lord Jehovah: The city that went out by a thousand shall leave a hundred, and that which went out by a hundred shall have ten left in the house of Israel.
4. For so says Jehovah to the house of Israel: Seek Me, and you shall live.
5. But do not seek Bethel nor enter into Gilgal, and do not pass to Beer-sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
6. Seek Jehovah, and you shall live; lest He break out like a fire on the house of Joseph and devour it, and there be none to put it out in Bethel.
7. You who turn judgment to wormwood and leave off righteousness in the earth,
8. seek Him who created the Pleiades and Orion, and who turned the deep darkness into the morning and He darkened the day into night. Seek Him who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth; Jehovah is His name;
9. who causes destruction to flash out against the strong, and destruction comes against the fortress.
10. They hate him who rebukes in the gate, and they despise him who speaks uprightly.
11. So, because of your trampling on the poor, and you take tribute of grain from him; you have built houses of carved stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted desirable vineyards, but you shall not drink wine from them.
12. For I know your many transgressions and your many sins. They afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate.
13. So the understanding ones shall keep silent in that time; for it is an evil time.
14. Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and so Jehovah, the God of Hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken.
15. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate. It may be that the Lord Jehovah of Hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16. So Jehovah, the God of Hosts, the Master, says this: Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the tiller to mourning, and those who are skillful in mourning to wailing.
17. And there shall be wailing in all vineyards; for I will pass through you, says Jehovah.
18. Woe to those desiring the day of Jehovah! What is this for you? The day of Jehovah is darkness and not light;
19. as if 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 snake bit him.
20. Shall not the day of Jehovah 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 delight in your solemn assemblies.
22. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your food offerings, I will not be pleased. Nor will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.
23. Take the noise of your songs away from Me; for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.
24. But let judgment roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
25. Have you offered sacrifices and offerings to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
26. But you have carried the booth of your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves.
27. So I will cause you to go into exile beyond Damascus, says Jehovah, the God of Hosts is His name.