1
Hear this word which I take up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel:
2
The virgin of Israel has fallen; She will rise no more. She lies forsaken on her land; There is no one to raise her up.
3
For thus says the Lord God: "The city that goes out by a thousand Shall have a hundred left, And that which goes out by a hundred Shall have ten left to the house of Israel."
4
For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: "Seek Me and live;
5
But do not seek Bethel, Nor enter Gilgal, Nor pass over to Beersheba; For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, And Bethel shall come to nothing.
6
Seek the Lord and live, Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, And devour it, With no one to quench it in Bethel--
7
You who turn justice to wormwood, And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!"
8
He made the Pleiades and Orion; He turns the shadow of death into morning And makes the day dark as night; He calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth; The Lord is His name.
9
He rains ruin upon the strong, So that fury comes upon the fortress.
10
They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, And they abhor the one who speaks uprightly.