1Listen to this message, a sad song I sing about you, people of Israel.
2“The pure people of Israel have fallen; they will not rise again. They lie defeated in their own land; no one is there to help them up.”
3For the Lord Yahweh says: “The city that sent out a thousand soldiers will have only a hundred left, and the city that sent out a hundred will have only ten left for the people of Israel.”
4For Yahweh says to the people of Israel: “Look to me, and you will live;
5but don’t look to Bethel, or go into Gilgal, and don’t travel to Beersheba: for Gilgal will surely be taken captive, and Bethel will become nothing.”
6Look to Yahweh, and you will live; otherwise, he will burst forth like fire in the house of Joseph, consuming everything, and no one in Bethel will be able to put it out.
7You are the ones who turn justice into bitterness and throw fairness to the ground.
8Look to the one who made the Pleiades and Orion, who changes the darkest night into morning and darkens the day into night; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the earth—Yahweh is his name.
9He brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes upon their fortress.
10They hate anyone who speaks against them in court, and they despise anyone who speaks honestly.
11Therefore, because you step on the poor and take taxes of wheat from them: You have built houses of finely cut stone, but you will not live in them. You have planted beautiful vineyards, but you will not drink their wine.
12For I know how many your wrongdoings are, and how great your sins are—you who mistreat innocent people, who take bribes, and who deny justice to the needy in court.
13Therefore, a wise person remains silent in such a time, because it is a terrible time.
14Seek good, not evil, so that you may live; and then Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you claim.
15Hate evil, love good, and make sure that justice is done in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will show kindness to the survivors of Joseph.”
16Therefore Yahweh, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: “There will be crying in all the public places; and in all the streets people will say, ‘Oh no! Oh no!’ They will call farmers to mourn, and those skilled in crying out in sorrow to wail.
17There will be wailing in all the vineyards; for I will pass through your midst,” says Yahweh.
18“How terrible for those of you who want the day of Yahweh to come! Why do you wish for the day of Yahweh? It will be darkness, not light.
19It will be like someone running from a lion, only to be met by a bear; or going into a house, leaning a hand on the wall, and being bitten by a snake.
20Won’t the day of Yahweh be darkness, not light? Very dark, with no brightness at all?”
21I hate and despise your religious festivals; I cannot stand your solemn assemblies.
22Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fattened animals.
23Take away the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24Instead, let justice flow on like rivers, and righteousness like a never-failing stream.
25“House of Israel, did you bring me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness for forty years?
26You carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your idols, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.
27Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says Yahweh, whose name is the God of Armies.