5 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

² The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

³ For thus saith the Lord God; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

⁴ For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

⁵ But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

⁶ Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.

⁷ Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

⁸ Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name:

⁹ That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

¹⁰ They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

¹¹ Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

¹² For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

¹³ Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

¹⁴ Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

¹⁵ Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶ Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

¹⁷ And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord.

¹⁸ Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.

¹⁹ 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.

²⁰ Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

²¹ I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

²² Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.

²³ Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

²⁴ But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

²⁵ Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

²⁶ But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

²⁷ Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts.

4 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?

² For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

³ For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

⁴ Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

⁵ But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

⁶ Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,

⁷ Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

⁸ Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

⁹ Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

¹⁰ How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.

¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

¹² And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.

¹³ For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

¹⁴ For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:

¹⁵ Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

86 Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy.

² Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.

³ Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.

⁴ Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

⁵ For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

⁶ Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.

⁷ In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.

⁸ Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.

⁹ All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.

¹⁰ For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.