| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel: | 1Listen, you people of Israel! Listen to this funeral song I am singing: |
| 2“Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up.” | 2“The virgin Israel has fallen, never to rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, with no one to help her up.” |
| 3For thus says the Lord GOD: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.” | 3The Sovereign LORD says: “When a city sends a thousand men to battle, only a hundred will return. When a town sends a hundred, only ten will come back alive.” |
| 4For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; | 4Now this is what the LORD says to the family of Israel: “Come back to me and live! |
| 5but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.” | 5Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel; don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile, and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.” |
| 6Seek the LORD and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, | 6Come back to the LORD and live! Otherwise, he will roar through Israel like a fire, devouring you completely. Your gods in Bethel won’t be able to quench the flames. |
| 7O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth! | 7You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt. |
| 8He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name; | 8It is the LORD who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The LORD is his name! |
| 9who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. | 9With blinding speed and power he destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses. |
| 10They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. | 10How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth! |
| 11Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. | 11You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent. Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses, you will never live in them. Though you plant lush vineyards, you will never drink wine from them. |
| 12For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. | 12For I know the vast number of your sins and the depth of your rebellions. You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. |
| 13Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. | 13So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time. |
| 14Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. | 14Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed. |
| 15Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. | 15Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people. |
| 16Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: “In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, | 16Therefore, this is what the Lord, the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, says: “There will be crying in all the public squares and mourning in every street. Call for the farmers to weep with you, and summon professional mourners to wail. |
| 17and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD. | 17There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will destroy them all,” says the LORD. Warning of Coming Judgment |
| 18Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light, | 18What sorrow awaits you who say, “If only the day of the LORD were here!” You have no idea what you are wishing for. That day will bring darkness, not light. |
| 19as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. | 19In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion— only to meet a bear. Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house— and he’s bitten by a snake. |
| 20Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? | 20Yes, the day of the LORD will be dark and hopeless, without a ray of joy or hope. |
| 21“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. | 21“I hate all your show and pretense— the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. |
| 22Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. | 22I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. |
| 23Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. | 23Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. |
| 24But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. | 24Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. |
| 25“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? | 25“Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel? |
| 26You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, | 26No, you served your pagan gods—Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan your star god—the images you made for yourselves. |
| 27and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts. | 27So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus, ” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Heaven’s Armies. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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