¹ Hear ye this word, which I take up concerning you for a lamentation. The house of Israel is fallen, and it shall rise no more.

² The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up.

³ For thus saith the Lord God: The city, out of which came forth a thousand, there shall be left in it a hundred: and out of which there came a hundred, there shall be left in it ten, in the house of Israel.

⁴ For thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and you shall live.

⁵ But seek not Bethel, and go not into Galgal, neither shall you pass over to Bersabee: for Galgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall be unprofitable.

⁶ Seek ye the Lord, and live: lest the house of Joseph be burnt with fire, and it shall devour, and there shall be none to quench Bethel.

⁷ You that turn judgment into wormwood, and forsake justice in the land,

⁸ Seek him that maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and that turneth darkness into morning, and that changeth day into night: that calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.

⁹ He that with a smile bringeth destruction upon the strong, and waste upon the mighty.

¹⁰ They have hated him that rebuketh in the gate: and have abhorred him that speaketh perfectly.

¹¹ Therefore because you robbed the poor, and took the choice prey from him: you shall build houses with square stone, and shall not dwell in them: you shall plant most delightful vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them.

¹² Because I know your manifold crimes, and your grievous sine: enemies of the just, taking bribes, and oppressing the poor in the gate.

¹³ Therefore the prudent shall keep silence at that time, for it is an evil time.

¹⁴ Seek ye good, and not evil, that you may live: and the Lord the God of hosts will be with you, as you have said.

¹⁵ Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be the Lord the God of hosts may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶ Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of hosts the sovereign Lord: In every street there shall be wailing: and in all places that are without, they shall say: Alas, alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to lament.

¹⁷ And in all vineyards there shall be wailing: because I will pass through in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.

¹⁸ Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.

¹⁹ As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him: or enter into the house, and lean with his hand upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.

²⁰ Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and no brightness in it?

²¹ I hate, and have rejected your festivities: and I will not receive the odour of your assemblies.

²² And if you offer me holocausts, and your gifts, I will not receive them: neither will I regard the vows of your fat beasts.

²³ Take away from me the tumult of thy songs: and I will not hear the canticles of thy harp.

²⁴ But judgment shall be revealed as water, and justice as a mighty torrent.

²⁵ Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel?

²⁶ But you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.

²⁷ And I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the God of hosts is his name.

¹ The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

² Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

³ The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib; but Israel doesn't know, my people don't consider."

⁴ Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward.

⁵ Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

⁶ From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven't been closed, neither bandaged, neither soothed with oil.

⁷ Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

⁸ The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city.

⁹ Unless Yahweh of Armies had left to us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom; we would have been like Gomorrah.

¹⁰ Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

¹¹ "What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?," says Yahweh. "I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed animals. I don't delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats.

¹² When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?

¹³ Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can't bear with evil assemblies.

¹⁴ My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵ When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

¹⁶ Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.

¹⁷ Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow."

¹⁸ "Come now, and let us reason together," says Yahweh: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;

²⁰ but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it."

²¹ How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

²² Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.

²³ Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They don't judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

²⁴ Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: "Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself of my enemies;

²⁵ and I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin.

²⁶ I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called 'The city of righteousness, a faithful town.'

²⁷ Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness.

²⁸ But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake Yahweh shall be consumed.

²⁹ For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.

³⁰ For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.

³¹ The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them."