A Call to Turn from Sin

5 Hear this word, O people of Israel, this song of sorrow which I sing for you: ² “The young pure woman Israel has fallen, and she will not rise again. She is left alone on her land. There is no one to raise her up.” ³ For the Lord God says, “The city of Israel that sends out a thousand soldiers will have a hundred left. And the one that sends out a hundred will have ten left.”

⁴ The Lord says to the people of Israel, “Look for Me and live. ⁵ But do not look for Bethel. Do not go to Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be taken away to a strange land, and Bethel will come to nothing.” ⁶ Look for the Lord and live, or He will break out like fire in the family of Joseph. It will destroy, and no one in Bethel will be able to stop it. ⁷ You turn what is right into something bitter. You throw what is right and good down to the earth.

⁸ The Lord made the stars of Pleiades and Orion. He changes darkness into morning, and turns day into night. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the earth. The Lord is His name. ⁹ He destroys the strong, so that the strong city is laid waste.

¹⁰ They hate him who speaks strong words in the gate. They hate him who speaks the truth. ¹¹ You crush the poor under foot and make them pay taxes with their grain. Because of this, even though you have built houses of cut stone, you will not live in them and even though you have planted beautiful grape-fields, you will not drink their wine. ¹² For I know that you have done much wrong and your sins are many. You make trouble for those who are right and good, and you take pay in secret for wrong-doing. You will not be fair to the poor. ¹³ The wise man keeps quiet at such a time, for it is a sinful time.

¹⁴ Look for good and not sin, that you may live. Then the Lord God of All will be with you, just as you have said. ¹⁵ Hate sin, and love good. And let what is fair be done at the gate. It may be that the Lord God of All will show kindness to those left of Joseph.

The Day of the Lord

¹⁶ So the Lord, the Lord God of All, says, “There is a loud crying in the city. In all the streets they say, ‘It is bad! It is bad!’ They call the farmers to cry in sorrow. They call those whose work is to cry over the dead to sing songs of sorrow. ¹⁷ And there are cries of sorrow in all the grape-fields, because I will pass among you,” says the Lord.

¹⁸ It is bad for you who want the day of the Lord to come. For what will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light. ¹⁹ It will be as when a man runs away from a lion and is met by a bear. It will be as when a man goes home and rests with his hand against the wall, and gets bitten by a snake. ²⁰ Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, very dark with nothing bright in it?

²¹ “I hate your special suppers. I will have nothing to do with them. And I am not pleased with your religious meetings. ²² Even if you give Me burnt gifts and grain gifts in worship, I will not receive them. I will not even look at the peace gifts of your fat animals. ²³ Take the noise of your songs away from Me. I will not listen to the sound of your harps. ²⁴ But let what is fair roll down like waters. Let what is right and good flow forever like a river.

²⁵ “O people of Israel, was it to Me you gave gifts of animals and grain on the altar for forty years in the desert? ²⁶ You also carried with you Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun your star god, the false gods you made for yourselves. ²⁷ So I will make you go as prisoners to the other side of Damascus,” says the Lord, Whose name is the God of All.

Israel to Be Destroyed

6 It is bad for those who are taking it easy in Zion, and for those who feel safe on the mountain of Samaria, you great men of the most important nation, to whom the people of Israel come! ² Go over to Calneh and look. And go from there to great Hamath. Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these nations? Is their land better than yours? ³ You put off the day of trouble, and bring near the seat of anger.

⁴ How bad it will be for you who lie on beds of ivory and spread out upon your long seats! You eat lambs from the flock and calves from the cattle-house. ⁵ You sing songs to the sound of the harp. Like David you write songs for yourselves. ⁶ You drink wine from the holy dishes, and pour the best oil on yourselves. Yet you are not filled with sorrow because Joseph has been destroyed! ⁷ You will be among the first to be taken away as prisoners to a strange land, and your happy times of rest will pass away.

⁸ The Lord God has promised by Himself. The Lord God of All has said, “I hate the pride of Jacob, and I hate his strong-places, so I will give up the city and everything in it.” ⁹ If ten men are left in one house, they will die. ¹⁰ The dead man’s brother, who is to take care of the body, will lift him up to carry his bones from the house. And he will say to the one inside the house, “Is anyone else with you?” That one will say, “No.” Then he will say, “Keep quiet! For the name of the Lord must not be spoken.” ¹¹ For the Lord is going to say that the great house must be broken apart and the small house into pieces.

¹² Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow them with oxen? Yet you have turned what is fair into poison. You have turned what is right and good into something bitter. ¹³ You who have joy in Lo-debar, and say, “Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?” ¹⁴ The Lord God of All says, “I am going to raise up a nation against you, O people of Israel. And they will bring much suffering upon you from the gate of Hamath to the river of the Arabah.”