² Fallen, no more to rise,
    is maiden Israel;
forsaken on her land,
    with no one to raise her up.^(B)

³ For thus says the Lord God:
The city that marched out a thousand
    shall have a hundred left,
and that which marched out a hundred
    shall have ten left.^[a](C)

⁴ For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:
Seek me and live,^(D)
5     but do not seek Bethel,
and do not enter into Gilgal
    or cross over to Beer-sheba,
for Gilgal shall surely go into exile,
    and Bethel shall come to nothing.^(E)

⁶ Seek the Lord and live,
    or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire,
    and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.^(F)
7 Ah, you who turn justice to wormwood
    and bring righteousness to the ground!

⁸ The one who made the Pleiades and Orion
    and turns deep darkness into the morning
    and darkens the day into night,
who calls for the water of the sea
    and pours it out on the surface of the earth,
the Lord is his name,^(G)
9 who makes destruction flash out against the strong,
    so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

¹⁰ They hate the one who reproves in the gate,
    and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.^(H)
11 Therefore because you trample on the poor
    and take from them levies of grain,
you have built houses of hewn stone,
    but you shall not live in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
    but you shall not drink their wine.^(I)
12 For I know how many are your transgressions
    and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe
    and push aside the needy in the gate.^(J)
13 Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time,
    for it is an evil time.

¹⁴ Seek good and not evil,
    that you may live,
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
    just as you have said.^(K)
15 Hate 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.^(L)

¹⁶ Therefore 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 those skilled in lamentation to wailing;^(M)
17 in all the vineyards there shall be wailing,
    for I will pass through the midst of you,
            says the Lord.^(N)

²¹ I hate, I despise your festivals,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.^(R)
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
    I will not look upon.^(S)
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
²⁴ But let justice roll down like water
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.^(T)