⁴ For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live; ⁵ but seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall ^[a]come to nought. ⁶ Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el. ⁷ Ye who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth, ⁸ seek him that maketh the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth ^[b]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 (Jehovah is his name); ⁹ that ^[c]bringeth sudden destruction upon the strong, so that destruction cometh upon the fortress.

¹⁰ They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. ¹¹ Forasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, and take exactions from him 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 the wine thereof. ¹² For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins—ye that afflict the just, that take a bribe, and that turn aside the needy in the gate from their right. ¹³ Therefore he that is prudent shall keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time.

¹⁴ Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be with you, as ye say. ¹⁵ Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.