| NET Bible | English Standard Version |
| 1Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, family of Israel: | 1Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel: |
| 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." | 2“Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up.” |
| 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." | 3For thus says the Lord GOD: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.” |
| 4The LORD says this to the family of Israel: "Seek me so you can live! | 4For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; |
| 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." | 5but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.” |
| 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. | 6Seek the LORD and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, |
| 7The Israelites turn justice into bitterness; they throw what is fair and right to the ground. | 7O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth! |
| 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! | 8He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name; |
| 9He flashes destruction down upon the strong so that destruction overwhelms the fortified places.) | 9who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. |
| 10The Israelites hate anyone who arbitrates at the city gate; they despise anyone who speaks honestly. | 10They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. |
| 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. | 11Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. |
| 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. | 12For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. |
| 13For this reason whoever is smart keeps quiet in such a time, for it is an evil time. | 13Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. |
| 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. | 14Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. |
| 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. | 15Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. |
| 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. | 16Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: “In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, |
| 17In all the vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through your midst," says the LORD. | 17and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD. |
| 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. | 18Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light, |
| 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. | 19as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. |
| 20Don't you realize the LORD's day of judgment will bring darkness, not light--gloomy blackness, not bright light? | 20Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? |
| 21"I absolutely despise your festivals! I get no pleasure from your religious assemblies! | 21“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. |
| 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. | 22Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. |
| 23Take away from me your noisy songs; I don't want to hear the music of your stringed instruments. | 23Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. |
| 24Justice must flow like torrents of water, righteous actions like a stream that never dries up. | 24But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. |
| 25You did not bring me sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family of Israel. | 25“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? |
| 26You will pick up your images of Sikkuth, your king, and Kiyyun, your star god, which you made for yourselves, | 26You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, |
| 27and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD. He is called the God who commands armies! | 27and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts. |
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