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[1] Hear ye this word of the Lord, even a lamentation, which I take up against you. The house of Israel is fallen; it shall no more rise.
[2] The virgin of Israel has fallen upon his land; there is none that shall raise her up.
[3] Therefore thus saith the Lord God; The city out of which there went forth a thousand, in it there shall be left a hundred, and in that out of which there went forth a hundred, there shall be left ten to the house of Israel.
[4] Wherefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live.
[5] But seek not Bethel, and go not into Galgala, and cross not over to the Well of the Oath: for Galgala shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall be as that which is not.
[6] Seek ye the Lord, and ye shall live; lest the house of Joseph blaze as fire, and it devour him, and there shall be none to quench it for the house of Israel.
[7] It is he that executes judgment in the height above, and he has established justice on the earth:
[8] who makes all things, and changes them, and turns darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night: who calls for the water of the sea, and pours it out on the face of the earth: the Lord is his name:
[9] who dispenses ruin to strength, and brings distress upon the fortress.
[10] They hated him that reproved in the gates, and abhorred holy speech.
[11] Therefore because they have smitten the poor with their fists, and ye have received of them choice gifts; ye have built polished houses, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted desirable vineyards, but ye shall not drink the wine of them.
[12] For I know your many transgressions, and your sins are great, trampling on the just, taking bribes, and turning aside the judgment of the poor in the gates.
[13] Therefore the prudent shall be silent at that time; for it is a time of evils.
[14] Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord God Almighty shall be with you, as ye have said,
[15] We have hated evil, and loved good: and restore ye judgment in the gates; that the Lord God Almighty may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
[16] Therefore thus saith the Lord God Almighty; In all the streets shall be lamentations; and in all the ways shall it be said, Woe, woe! the husbandman shall be called to mourning and lamentation, and to them that are skilled in complaining.
[17] And there shall be lamentation in all the ways; because I will pass through the midst of thee, saith the Lord.
[18] Woe to you that desire the day of the Lord! what is this day of the Lord to you? whereas it is darkness, and not light.
[19] As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him; and he should spring into his house, and lean his hands upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.
[20] Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? and is not this day gloom without brightness?
[21] I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell your meat-offerings in your general assemblies.
[22] Wherefore if ye should bring me your whole-burnt-sacrifices and meat-offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I have respect to your grand peace-offerings.
[23] Remove from me the sound of thy songs, and I will not hear the music of thine instruments.
[24] But let judgment roll down as water, and righteousness as an impassable torrent.
[25] Have ye offered to me victims and sacrifices, O house of Israel, forty years in the wilderness?
[26] Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Raephan, the images of them which ye made for yourselves.
[27] And I will carry you away beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the Almighty God is his name.
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