| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1"Hear this accusation that I am bringing against you: 'A dirge, house of Israel: | 1Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, family of Israel: |
| 2Fallen is Israel the virgin—never to rise again! She is abandoned on her own land, with no one to raise her up.' | 2"The virgin Israel has fallen down and will not get up again. She is abandoned on her own land with no one to help her get up." |
| 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.'" | 3The sovereign LORD says this: "The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers will have only a hundred left; the town that marches out with a hundred soldiers will have only ten left for the family of Israel." |
| 4"For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: 'Seek me and live, | 4The LORD says this to the family of Israel: "Seek me so you can live! |
| 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. | 5Do not seek Bethel! Do not visit Gilgal! Do not journey down to Beer Sheba! For the people of Gilgal will certainly be carried into exile; and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds." |
| 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. | 6Seek the LORD so you can live! Otherwise he will break out like fire against Joseph's family; the fire will consume and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. |
| 7Those of you who are making justice taste bitter, and who have thrown righteousness to the ground: | 7The Israelites turn justice into bitterness; they throw what is fair and right to the ground. |
| 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. | 8(But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion; he can turn the darkness into morning and daylight into night. He summons the water of the seas and pours it out on the earth's surface. The LORD is his name! |
| 9It is he who is raining sudden destruction upon the strong like lightning, so that ruin comes upon the fortress. | 9He flashes destruction down upon the strong so that destruction overwhelms the fortified places.) |
| 10They have hated those who are presenting their cases in court, detesting the one who speaks truthfully. | 10The Israelites hate anyone who arbitrates at the city gate; they despise anyone who speaks honestly. |
| 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— | 11Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops and exact a grain tax from them, you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone, nor will you drink the wine from the fine vineyards you planted. |
| 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 — | 12Certainly I am aware of your many rebellious acts and your numerous sins. You torment the innocent, you take bribes, and you deny justice to the needy at the city gate. |
| 13therefore the prudent person remains silent at such a time, for the time is evil. | 13For this reason whoever is smart keeps quiet in such a time, for it is an evil time. |
| 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. | 14Seek good and not evil so you can live! Then the LORD, the God who commands armies, just might be with you, as you claim he is. |
| 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.'" | 15Hate what is wrong, love what is right! Promote justice at the city gate! Maybe the LORD, the God who commands armies, will have mercy on those who are left from Joseph. |
| 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. | 16Because of Israel's sins this is what the LORD, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, says: "In all the squares there will be wailing, in all the streets they will mourn the dead. They will tell the field workers to lament and the professional mourners to wail. |
| 17And in all of the vineyards there will be mourning when I pass through your midst,' says the LORD." | 17In all the vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through your midst," says the LORD. |
| 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. | 18Woe to those who wish for the day of the LORD! Why do you want the LORD's day of judgment to come? It will bring darkness, not light. |
| 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! | 19Disaster will be inescapable, as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear, then escaped into a house, leaned his hand against the wall, and was bitten by a poisonous snake. |
| 20Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness, and not light— pitch black at that, without a ray of sunshine?" | 20Don't you realize the LORD's day of judgment will bring darkness, not light--gloomy blackness, not bright light? |
| 21"I hate—I despise—your festival days, and your solemn convocations stink. | 21"I absolutely despise your festivals! I get no pleasure from your religious assemblies! |
| 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. | 22Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, I will not be satisfied; I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves. |
| 23Spare me your noisy singing— I will not listen to your musical instruments. | 23Take away from me your noisy songs; I don't want to hear the music of your stringed instruments. |
| 24"But let justice roll on like many waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing river. | 24Justice must flow like torrents of water, righteous actions like a stream that never dries up. |
| 25"Was it to me that you brought offerings and gifts in the desert for 40 years, house of Israel? | 25You did not bring me sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family of Israel. |
| 26And you carried the tent of your king — and Saturn, your star god idols that you crafted for yourselves. | 26You will pick up your images of Sikkuth, your king, and Kiyyun, your star god, which you made for yourselves, |
| 27So I will cause you to be taken captive beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is God of the Heavenly Armies. | 27and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD. He is called the God who commands armies! |
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