Seek me and live!
⁵ But do not seek Bethel.
    Do not go to Gilgal.
    Do not travel to Beersheba,
    because Gilgal surely will go into exile,
    and Bethel will become nothing.

⁶ Seek the Lord and live,
    or he will rush upon the house of Joseph like fire.
    The fire will consume, and no one will extinguish it for Bethel.

⁷ There are some who turn justice into wormwood,^[a]
    who throw righteousness to the ground.

⁸ There is one who made the Pleiades and Orion,
    who turns the shadow of death into morning,
    who darkens day into night,
    who summons the waters of the seas,
    who pours them out upon the face of the earth—
    the Lord is his name.
⁹ He causes destruction to flash against a stronghold,
    and destruction comes upon a fortress.

¹⁰ There are those who hate an arbitrator^[b] in the city gate.^[c]
    They despise anyone who speaks honestly.
¹¹ That is why you trample on the poor,
    and you collect taxes on their grain.
    You have built houses of cut stones,
    but you will not live in them.
    You have planted choice vineyards,
    but you will not drink their wine.
¹² For I know that your rebellious deeds are many,
    and your sins are numerous,
    you who are enemies of a righteous man,
    you who take bribes.
    They thrust away needy people in the city gate.
¹³ That is why a prudent man will be silent in that time,
    because it is an evil time.

¹⁴ Seek good and not evil, so that you may live,
    and then it will be like this for you:
    The Lord, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you claim.
¹⁵ Hate evil and love good.
    Establish justice in the city gate.
    Perhaps the Lord, the God of Armies,
        will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.