| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. | 1Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you: |
| 2The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up. | 2"Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up." |
| 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. | 3This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Israel: "Your city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left; your town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left." |
| 4For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: | 4This is what the LORD says to Israel: "Seek me and live; |
| 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. | 5do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing." |
| 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. | 6Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it. |
| 7Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, | 7There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground. |
| 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: | 8He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land-- the LORD is his name. |
| 9That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. | 9With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin. |
| 10They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. | 10There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. |
| 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. | 11You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. |
| 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. | 12For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. |
| 13Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. | 13Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. |
| 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. | 14Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. |
| 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. | 15Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph. |
| 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. | 16Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says: "There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail. |
| 17And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD. | 17There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst," says the LORD. |
| 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. | 18Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light. |
| 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. | 19It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. |
| 20Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? | 20Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light-- pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? |
| 21I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. | 21"I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. |
| 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. | 22Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. |
| 23Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. | 23Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. |
| 24But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. | 24But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! |
| 25Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? | 25"Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? |
| 26But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. | 26You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god -- which you made for yourselves. |
| 27Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts. | 27Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty. |
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