¶ Hear this word, O ye house of Israel, and why? I must make this moan for you:
The virgin Israel shall fall, and never rise up again: she shall be cast down upon her own ground, and no man shall help her up.
For thus sayeth the Lord GOD: Where as there dwelt a thousand in one city, there shall be left scarce an hundredth therein: and where yer dwelt an hundredth, there shall scarce ten be left for the house of Israel.
¶ Nevertheless, thus sayeth the LORD unto the house of Israel: Seek after me, and ye shall live,
but seek not after Bethel; come not at Gilgal, and go not to Bersaba: for Gilgal shall be carried away captive, and Bethel shall come to naught.
Seek the LORD, that ye may live: lest the house of Ioseph be brent with fire and consumed, and lest there be none to quench Bethel.
Ye turn the law to wormwood, and cast down righteousness into the ground.
The LORD maketh the seven stars and the Orions, he turneth the night into day, and of the day he maketh darkness. He calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the plain ground: the LORD is his name.
He raiseth destruction upon the mighty people, and bringeth down the strong hold:
but they owe him evil will, that reproveth them openly: and who so telleth them the plain truth, they abhor him.
For so much then as ye oppress the poor, and rob him of his best sustenance: therefore, where as ye have builded houses of square stone, ye shall not dwell in them. Marvelous pleasant vineyards shall ye plant, but the wine of them shall ye not drink: and why?
as for the multitude of your wickednesses and your stout sins, I know them right well. Enemies are ye of the righteous, ye take rewards, ye oppress the poor in judgement.
Therefore the wise must now be fain to hold his tongue, so wicked a time is it.
Seek after the thing that is good, and not evil, so shall ye live: yea the LORD God of hosts shall be with you, according to your own desire.
Hate the evil, and love the good: set up right again in the port: and (no doubt) the LORD God of hosts shall be merciful unto the remnant of Ioseph.
¶ If no (sayeth the LORD God, the God of hosts) there shall be mourning in all streets, yea they shall say in every street: alas, alas. They shall call the husband man to lamentation, and such as can mourn, to mourning.
In all vineyards there shall be heaviness, for I will come among you, sayeth the LORD.
Woe be unto them that desire the day of the LORD: Wherefore would ye have it? As for that day of the LORD, it shall be dark and not clear:
Yea like as when a man runneth from a lion, and a bear meeteth with him: or when he cometh into the house, and leaneth his hand upon the wall, a serpent biteth him.
Shall not the day of the LORD be dark, and not clear? shall it not be cloudy, and no shine in it?
¶ I hate and abhor your holy days, and where as ye cense me when ye come together I will not accept it.
And though ye offer me brentofferings and meatofferings, yet have I no pleasure therein. As for your fat thankofferings, I will not look upon them.
Away with that noise of thy songs, I will not hear thy plays of music:
but see that equity flow as the water, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
O ye house of Israel, gave ye me offerings and sacrifices those forty years long in the wilderness?
Yet have ye set up tabernacles to your Moloch, and images of your Idols, yea and the star of your God Rempha, figures which ye made to worship them.
Therefore will I cause you be carried away beyond Damascus, sayeth the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.
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Praise the Everlasting Lord for His Faithful Word.