5:1 Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lament I take up concerning you:
5:2 “Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up.”
5:3 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “The city that marches out a thousand strong for Israel will have only a hundred left; the town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left.”
5:4 This is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live;
5:5 do 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.”
5:6 Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through the house of Joseph like a fire; it will devour, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.
5:7 You who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground
5:8 (he who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns blackness 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–
5:9 he flashes destruction on the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin),
5:10 you hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth.
5:11 You trample on the poor and force him to give you 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.
5:12 For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
5:13 Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil.
5:14 Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.
5:15 Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
5:16 Therefore 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.
5:17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD.
5:18 Woe 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.
5:19 It 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.
5:20 Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light–pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?
5:21 “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.
5:22 Even 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.
5:23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
5:24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
5:25 “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
5:26 You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god–which you made for yourselves.
5:27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty.
5:1 Hear this word that I take up as a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.
5:2 Fallen and no more to rise / Is the virgin of Israel; / She has been cast down upon her land; / There is none to raise her up.
5:3 For thus says the Lord Jehovah, The city that sent forth a thousand / Will have a hundred left, And that which sent forth a hundred / Will have ten left, / To the house of Israel.
5:4 For thus says Jehovah to the house of Israel, / Seek Me, and live;
5:5 And do not seek Bethel, / Nor go to Gilgal, / Nor pass on to Beer-sheba; / For Gilgal will surely go into captivity, / And Bethel will become vanity.
5:6 Seek Jehovah, and live; / Lest He rush upon the house of Joseph like fire, / And it devour it, and there be none to extinguish the fire in Bethel.
5:7 They turn justice to wormwood / And thrust righteousness down to the ground.
5:8 He who makes the Pleiades and Orion / And turns the shadow of death into the morning / And darkens the day with the night; / He who calls for the water of the sea / And pours it upon the surface of the earth, / Jehovah is His name,
5:9 Who causes destruction to flash forth upon the strong, / So that destruction comes upon the fortress.
5:10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, / And him who speaks with integrity they abhor.
5:11 Therefore because you trample upon the poor / And take a forced gift of wheat from them; / You have built houses of hewn stone, / But you will not dwell in them; / You have planted desirable vineyards, / But you will not drink their wine.
5:12 For I know that your transgressions are many / And that your sins are mighty, / You who vex the righteous and take ransom payment / And turn aside justice for the needy in the gate.
5:13 Therefore he who has insight will keep silent at this time, for it is an evil time.
5:14 Seek good and not evil, / In order that you may live; / And so Jehovah the God of hosts will be with you, / As you say.
5:15 Hate evil and love good, / And set up justice in the gate. / Perhaps Jehovah the God of hosts will be gracious / To the remnant of Joseph.
5:16 Therefore thus says Jehovah, / The God of hosts, the Lord: / In all the open plazas there will be wailing, / And in all the streets they will say, Alas! Alas! / And they will call the farmer to mourning, / And for wailing to those skilled in lamentation.
5:17 In all the vineyards there will be wailing, / For I will pass through your midst, says Jehovah.
5:18 Woe to you who desire / The day of Jehovah! / What good is the day of Jehovah to you? / It will be darkness and not light,
5:19 As when a man flees from before a lion / And encounters a bear, / Or goes into the house and leans his hand against the wall, / And a serpent bites him.
5:20 Will not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light, / Even deep darkness and no brightness to it?
5:21 I hate, I despise, your feasts, / And I will not delight in your solemn assemblies.
5:22 For if you offer up to Me burnt offerings / And your meal offerings, I will not accept them; / Nor will I regard the peace offerings of your fatted animals.
5:23 Take the noise of your songs away from Me, / For I will not hear the melody of your harps.
5:24 But let justice roll down like water, / And righteousness, like an ever-flowing river.
5:25 Did you bring Me sacrifices and meal offerings / In the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?
5:26 Indeed, you took up Sikkuth your king / And Kiyyun your images, the star of your gods that you made for / yourselves.
5:27 Thus I will bring you into captivity / Beyond Damascus, says Jehovah; / The God of hosts is His name.