CHAPTER 5
1 Hear ye this word, for I raise on you a wailing. [Hear ye, house of Israel, this word, that I raise on you a wailing.]
2 The house of Israel fell down, he shall not put to, that it rise again; the virgin of Israel is cast down into her land, none is that shall raise her. [The maiden of Israel fell down, she shall not put to, that she rise again; she is cast down into her earth, there is not that shall raise her up again.]
3 For the Lord God saith these things, The city of which a thousand went out, an hundred shall be left therein; and of which an hundred went out, ten shall be left therein, in the house of Israel.
4 For the Lord saith these things to the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live;
5 and do not ye seek Bethel, and do not ye enter into Gilgal, and ye shall not pass to Beersheba; for why Gilgal shall be led captive, and Bethel shall be unprofitable.
6 Seek ye the Lord, and live ye, lest peradventure the house of Joseph be burnt as fire; and it shall devour Bethel, and there shall none be, that shall quench.
7 Which convert doom into worm-wood, and forsake rightwiseness in the land,
8 and forsake him that maketh Arcturus or Pleiades and Orion, and him that turneth darknesses into the morrowtide, and him that changeth day into night; which calleth waters of the sea, and poureth out them on the face of [the] earth; the Lord is name of him.
9 Which scorneth destroying on the strong, and bringeth robbing on the mighty.
10 They hated a man reproving in the gate, and they loathed a man speaking perfectly.
11 Therefore for that that ye robbed a poor man, and took from him the chosen prey, ye shall build houses with square stone, and ye shall not dwell in them; ye shall plant most loved vineyards, and ye shall not drink the wine of them.
12 For I knew your great trespasses many, and your strong sins; enemies of the rightwise man, taking a gift, and bearing down poor men in the gate.
13 Therefore a prudent man shall be still in that time, for the time is evil.
14 Seek ye good, and not evil, that ye live, and the Lord God of hosts shall be with you, as ye said.
15 Hate ye evil, and love ye good, and ordain ye in the gate doom; if peradventure the Lord God of hosts have mercy on the remnants of Joseph.
16 Therefore the Lord God of hosts, having lordship, saith these things, Wailing shall be in all streets, and in all things that be withoutforth it shall be said, Woe! woe! and they shall call an earth-tiller to mourning, and them that know how to wail, to wailing.
17 And wailing shall be in all ways, for I shall pass forth in the middle of thee, saith the Lord.
18 Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord; whether to desire ye it to you? This day of the Lord shall be darknesses, and not light.
19 As if a man run from the face of a lion, and a bear run to him; and he enter into the house, and lean with his hand on the wall, and a serpent dwelling in shadow bite him.
20 Whether the day of the Lord shall not be darknesses, and not light; and mist, and not shining therein?
21 I hated and casted away your feast days, and I shall not take the odour of your companies.
22 That if ye offer to me your burnt sacrifices, and gifts, I shall not receive, and I shall not behold the avows of your fat things.
23 Do thou away from me the noise of thy songs, and I shall not hear the songs of thine harp.
24 And doom shall be showed as water, and rightwiseness as a strong stream.
25 Whether ye offered to me hosts, and sacrifices in desert forty years, ye house of Israel?
26 And ye have borne tabernacles to Moloch, your god, and image of your idols, the star of your god, which ye made to you.
27 And I shall make you for to pass over Damascus, said the Lord; God of hosts is the name of him.