| Berean Study Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lamentation I take up against you: | 1"Hear this accusation that I am bringing against you: 'A dirge, house of Israel: |
| 2“Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again. She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up.” | 2Fallen is Israel the virgin—never to rise again! She is abandoned on her own land, with no one to raise her up.' |
| 3This is what the Lord GOD says: “The city that marches out a thousand strong will only see a hundred return, and the one that marches out a hundred strong will have but ten left in the house of Israel.” | 3"For this is what the Lord GOD says: 'The city that is sending out a thousand will have a hundred left; The city that is sending out a hundred will have ten left of the house of Israel.'" |
| 4For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live! | 4"For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: 'Seek me and live, |
| 5Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba, for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing. | 5but don't seek Bethel. Don't go to Gilgal, and don't pass over to Beer-sheba. Because Gilgal will surely go into captivity, and Bethel will come to nothing. |
| 6Seek the LORD and live, or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph; it will devour everything, with no one at Bethel to extinguish it. | 6Seek the LORD and live! Otherwise, he may break out like a fire in the house of Joseph and devour Bethel, and there will be no one to extinguish it. |
| 7There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground. | 7Those of you who are making justice taste bitter, and who have thrown righteousness to the ground: |
| 8He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD is His name— | 8Seek the one who fashions the Pleiades and Orion, who turns the deep darkness into morning, who darkens day into night, who calls out to the waters of the sea, pouring them out onto the surface of the earth— the LORD is his name. |
| 9He flashes destruction on the strong, so that fury comes upon the stronghold. | 9It is he who is raining sudden destruction upon the strong like lightning, so that ruin comes upon the fortress. |
| 10There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity. | 10They have hated those who are presenting their cases in court, detesting the one who speaks truthfully. |
| 11Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted. | 11Therefore, since you trample the poor continuously, taxing his grain, building houses of stone in which you won't live and planting fine vineyards from which you won't drink— |
| 12For I know that your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes; you deprive the poor of justice in the gate. | 12and because I know that your transgressions are many, and your sins are numerous as you oppose the righteous, taking bribes as a ransom, and turning away the poor in court — |
| 13Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the days are evil. | 13therefore the prudent person remains silent at such a time, for the time is evil. |
| 14Seek good, not evil, so that you may live. And the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed. | 14Pursue good and not evil, so that you may live, and this is what will happen: The LORD God of the Heavenly Armies will be with you, as you have been claiming. |
| 15Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” | 15Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in court— perhaps the LORD, the God of the Heavenly Armies, will be gracious to the survivors of Joseph.'" |
| 16Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail. | 16Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of the Heavenly Armies, the Lord, says: 'There will be dirges in all of the streets; and in all of the highways they will cry out in anguish. They will call the farmer to mourning and those who lament to grieve. |
| 17There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD. | 17And in all of the vineyards there will be mourning when I pass through your midst,' says the LORD." |
| 18Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD be for you? It will be darkness and not light. | 18"Woe to those who are craving the Day of the LORD! How is it to your benefit, this Day of the LORD? It's a day of darkness to you, and not light. |
| 19It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake. | 19It will be like a man who runs from a lion, only to encounter a bear; or who comes home, leans his hand against a wall, and a serpent bites him! |
| 20Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness and not light, even gloom with no brightness in it? | 20Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness, and not light— pitch black at that, without a ray of sunshine?" |
| 21“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. | 21"I hate—I despise—your festival days, and your solemn convocations stink. |
| 22Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; for your peace offerings of fattened cattle I will have no regard. | 22And if you send up burnt offerings to me as well as your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I consider your peace offerings of fattened cattle. |
| 23Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. | 23Spare me your noisy singing— I will not listen to your musical instruments. |
| 24But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. | 24"But let justice roll on like many waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing river. |
| 25Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? | 25"Was it to me that you brought offerings and gifts in the desert for 40 years, house of Israel? |
| 26You have taken along Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, the idols you made for yourselves. | 26And you carried the tent of your king — and Saturn, your star god idols that you crafted for yourselves. |
| 27Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts. | 27So I will cause you to be taken captive beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is God of the Heavenly Armies. |
| The Berean Bible (Berean Study Bible (BSB) © 2016, 2018 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
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