Oracle Against Israel
1 Hear this word
which I take up against you,
a lament, O House of Israel.
2 Fallen, no more to rise,
is Virgin Israel.
Pounded on her ground,
no one to raise her up.
3 For thus says the Lord Yahweh,
"The city that went out a thousand,
has a hundred left.
The city that went out a hundred,
has ten left."
4 For thus says Yahweh
to the House of Israel,
"Seek me and live."
5 So do not seek Bethel,
and do not enter Gilgal,
and do not pass over to Beersheba.
For Gilgal will surely be exiled,
and Bethel will be for iniqity.
6 Seek Yahweh and live,
lest he break out like fire
on the House of Jacob,
and destroy it,
and there be no one
to quench for Bethel.
7 Who turns justice into wormwood,
and neglects righteousness in the land.
8 Who makes Kimah and Kacil?
Who turns the shadow of death into morning,
and makes day as dark as night?
Who calls to the waters of the sea,
and pours them out upon the face of the land?
Yahweh is his name.
9 Who strengthens the spoiled against the strong,
so the spoiled come against the fortress?
10 They hate the reprover at
the gate,
and abhor the upright speaker.
11 Therefore, because you tread upon the poor,
and take loads of wheat from him,
You have built houses of stone,
but you shall not dwell in them.
You have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.
12 For I know your many transgressions,
and your numerous sins.
They afflict the righteous,
they take a bribe,
and they turn away the poor at the gate.
13 Therefore, the wise will keep silent at that time,
for it is a time of evil.
14 Seek good and not evil,
that you may live.
And so Yahweh the God of Hosts
may be with you,
as you have said.
15 Hate evil and love good,
establish justice at the gate,
and perhaps Yahweh the God of Hosts
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore,
thus says Yahweh the God of Hosts
the Lord,
"In all the streets, wailing.
In all the highways they will say,
'Alas! Alas!'
And will call the gardner to mourning,
and to wailing those who know lament.
17 And in all the vineyards wailing,
for I will pass through you,"
says Yahweh.
18 Woe to you who desire the Day of Yahweh!
What is this for you, the Day of Yahweh?
It is darkness and not light.
19 As if a man fled from before a lion,
but a bear met him.
Or went into the house
and leaned his hand against a wall,
but a snake bit him.
20 Is not the Day of Yahweh darkness
and not light?
Even very dark,
and not brightness in it?
21 "I hate, despise your feasts,
and I will not smell your festivals.
22 Even though you offer me offerings,
your meat offerings I will not accept,
and the fat of your peace offrering
I will not regard."
23 "Take away from me
the noise of your songs,
and the melody of your harps
I will not hear.
24 But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like a mighty stream."
25 "Did you offer me
sacrifices and offerings
in the wilderness forty years,
O House of Israel?"
26 "But you became the tabernacle of Moleks,
and your idols of Kiyun,
a star was your god,
which you made for yourselves.
27 So I exiled you beyond Damascus,"
says Yahweh the God of Hosts is his name.