⁷ My people are determined to turn^(A) from me.^(B)
    Even though they call me God Most High,
    I will by no means exalt them.

⁵ Why then have these people turned away?
    Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
They cling to deceit;^(A)
    they refuse to return.^(B)

¹⁴ Seek good, not evil,
    that you may live.^(A)
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
    just as you say he is.
¹⁵ Hate evil,^(B) love good;^(C)
    maintain justice in the courts.^(D)
Perhaps^(E) the Lord God Almighty will have mercy^(F)
    on the remnant^(G) of Joseph.

“Seek^(A) me and live;^(B)
5     do not seek Bethel,
do not go to Gilgal,^(C)
    do not journey to Beersheba.^(D)
For Gilgal will surely go into exile,
    and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.^[a](E)”
⁶ Seek^(F) the Lord and live,^(G)
    or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire;^(H)
it will devour them,
    and Bethel^(I) will have no one to quench it.^(J)

⁴ “I will heal^(A) their waywardness^(B)
    and love them freely,^(C)
    for my anger has turned away^(D) from them.

¹⁶ They do not turn to the Most High;^(A)
    they are like a faulty bow.^(B)
Their leaders will fall by the sword
    because of their insolent^(C) words.
For this they will be ridiculed^(D)
    in the land of Egypt.^(E)