2 Virgin Israel has fallen and will not rise again. She is deserted on her land; there is no one to raise her up.
3 For thus says my Lord Yahweh, "The city that marches out [with] a thousand will [only] have a hundred left. And the one that marches out [with] a hundred will [only] have ten left for the house of Israel."
4 For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel, "Seek me so that you may live."
5 But do not seek Bethel or go [to] Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba, for Gilgal will certainly go into exile and Bethel will come to disaster."
6 Seek Yahweh so that you may live, so that he will not break out like a fire [against] the house of Joseph! And it will devour, {with none to quench} [it] for Bethel.
7 [Ah,] you who turn justice into wormwood and hurl righteousness to the ground!
8 The one who made the Pleiades and Orion and who turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens day [into] night, the one who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh [is] his name!
9 The one who makes destruction flash upon [the] fierce, {so that} destruction comes upon [the] fortification.
10 They hate the one who reproves in the gate and they abhor the one who speaks honestly.
11 Therefore, because you trample on [the] poor and you take a grain tax from them, you built houses of dressed stone, but you will not live in them. You built vineyards of delightfulness, but you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know your transgressions [are] many and your sins [are] numerous, [you] foes of [the] righteous, those who take a bribe, and {those who} push aside [the] poor [ones] in the gate!
13 Therefore, whoever has insight will keep silent in that time, for it [is] a time of evil.
14 Seek good and not bad in order that you may live, and so Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said.
15 Hate evil and love good and establish justice in the gate; perhaps Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be gracious [to] the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, my Lord, "In all [of] the public squares [there will be] wailing, and in all [of] the streets [they will say], 'Alas, alas, alas!' They shall call [the] farmers to mourning and [to] wailing, to those who are skilled [in] lamentation.
17 And in all [of the] vineyards [there will be] wailing, because I will pass in your midst," says Yahweh.
18 Alas, those who desire the day of Yahweh, why [is] this for you the day of Yahweh? It [will be] darkness and not light!
19 [It will be] as [if] a man fled from a lion and a bear met him; or he went [into] the house and leaned his hand against the wall and a snake bit him.
20 [Is] not the day of Yahweh darkness and not light, and pitch dark with no brightness in it?
21 "I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your assemblies.
22 Yes, [even] if you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept [them], and I will not look at the fellowship offerings of your fattened animals.
23 Remove from me the noise of your songs, and I do not want to hear the melody of your harps!
24 But let justice roll on like the water, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 Did you bring to me sacrifices and offering those forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
26 And you will take up Sikkuth, your king, and Kaiwan, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves.
27 And I will deport you beyond Damascus," says Yahweh--the God of hosts [is] his name.