Chapter 5

  Hear you this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.  

  The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is cast down on her land; there is none to raise her up.  

  For thus says the Lord Yahweh: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth one hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel.  

  For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel, Seek you me, and you shall live;  

  but don't seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don't pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.  

  Seek Yahweh, and you shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.  

  You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth,  

  [seek him] who makes the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth (Yahweh is his name);  

  who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.  

  They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.  

  Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink the wine of it.  

  For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins-you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the gate [from their right].  

  Therefore he who is prudent shall keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time.  

  Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you say.  

  Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.  

  Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! Alas! and they shall call the farmer to mourning, and such as are skillful in lamentation to wailing.  

  In all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of you, says Yahweh.  

  Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! Why would you have the day of Yahweh? It is darkness, and not light.  

  As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.  

  Shall the day of Yahweh not be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?  

  I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies.  

  Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat animals.  

  Take away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your viols.  

  But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.  

  Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?  

  Yes, you have borne the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.  

  Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says Yahweh, whose name is the God of hosts.