Israel exhorted to seek the Lord and do good that they may live—Their sacrifices to false gods are abhorrent.

 HEAR ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

 ¶ For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, ^aSeek^• ye me, and ye shall live:

 But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and ^aBeth-el^• shall come to nought.

 ^aSeek^• the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el.

 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

 Seek him that maketh ^athe^• seven ^bstars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the ^cmorning^•, and maketh the day ^ddark^• with night: that calleth for the ^ewaters^• of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: ^fThe^• LORD is his name:

 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

 They hate him that rebuketh in the ^agate^•, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have ^abuilt^• houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not ^bdwell^• in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a ^abribe, and they ^bturn^• aside the ^cpoor^• in the gate from their right.

 Therefore the ^aprudent shall keep ^bsilence^• in that time; for it is an evil time.

 Seek ^agood^•, and not ^bevil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

 Hate the evil, and ^alove the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of ^bJoseph^•.

 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.

 Woe unto you that ^adesire^• the ^bday^• of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is ^cdarkness^•, and not light.

 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

 ¶ I hate, I despise your ^afeast^• days, and I will not ^bsmell^• in your ^csolemn assemblies.

 Though ye ^aoffer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not ^baccept^• them: neither will I regard the peace ^cofferings of your fat beasts.

 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

 But let ^ajudgment^• run down as waters, and ^brighteousness as a mighty stream.

 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your ^aMoloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.