| International Standard Version | King James Bible |
| 1"Hear this accusation that I am bringing against you: 'A dirge, house of Israel: | 1Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. |
| 2Fallen is Israel the virgin—never to rise again! She is abandoned on her own land, with no one to raise her up.' | 2The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up. |
| 3"For this is what the Lord GOD says: 'The city that is sending out a thousand will have a hundred left; The city that is sending out a hundred will have ten left of the house of Israel.'" | 3For 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. |
| 4"For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: 'Seek me and live, | 4For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: |
| 5but don't seek Bethel. Don't go to Gilgal, and don't pass over to Beer-sheba. Because Gilgal will surely go into captivity, and Bethel will come to nothing. | 5But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought. |
| 6Seek the LORD and live! Otherwise, he may break out like a fire in the house of Joseph and devour Bethel, and there will be no one to extinguish it. | 6Seek 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 Bethel. |
| 7Those of you who are making justice taste bitter, and who have thrown righteousness to the ground: | 7Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, |
| 8Seek the one who fashions the Pleiades and Orion, who turns the deep darkness into morning, who darkens day into night, who calls out to the waters of the sea, pouring them out onto the surface of the earth— the LORD is his name. | 8Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name: |
| 9It is he who is raining sudden destruction upon the strong like lightning, so that ruin comes upon the fortress. | 9That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. |
| 10They have hated those who are presenting their cases in court, detesting the one who speaks truthfully. | 10They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. |
| 11Therefore, since you trample the poor continuously, taxing his grain, building houses of stone in which you won't live and planting fine vineyards from which you won't drink— | 11Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. |
| 12and because I know that your transgressions are many, and your sins are numerous as you oppose the righteous, taking bribes as a ransom, and turning away the poor in court — | 12For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. |
| 13therefore the prudent person remains silent at such a time, for the time is evil. | 13Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. |
| 14Pursue good and not evil, so that you may live, and this is what will happen: The LORD God of the Heavenly Armies will be with you, as you have been claiming. | 14Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. |
| 15Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in court— perhaps the LORD, the God of the Heavenly Armies, will be gracious to the survivors of Joseph.'" | 15Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. |
| 16Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of the Heavenly Armies, the Lord, says: 'There will be dirges in all of the streets; and in all of the highways they will cry out in anguish. They will call the farmer to mourning and those who lament to grieve. | 16Therefore 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. |
| 17And in all of the vineyards there will be mourning when I pass through your midst,' says the LORD." | 17And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD. |
| 18"Woe to those who are craving the Day of the LORD! How is it to your benefit, this Day of the LORD? It's a day of darkness to you, and not light. | 18Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. |
| 19It will be like a man who runs from a lion, only to encounter a bear; or who comes home, leans his hand against a wall, and a serpent bites him! | 19As 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. |
| 20Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness, and not light— pitch black at that, without a ray of sunshine?" | 20Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? |
| 21"I hate—I despise—your festival days, and your solemn convocations stink. | 21I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. |
| 22And if you send up burnt offerings to me as well as your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I consider your peace offerings of fattened cattle. | 22Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. |
| 23Spare me your noisy singing— I will not listen to your musical instruments. | 23Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. |
| 24"But let justice roll on like many waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing river. | 24But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. |
| 25"Was it to me that you brought offerings and gifts in the desert for 40 years, house of Israel? | 25Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? |
| 26And you carried the tent of your king — and Saturn, your star god idols that you crafted for yourselves. | 26But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. |
| 27So I will cause you to be taken captive beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is God of the Heavenly Armies. | 27Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. |
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