¹ Hear this word that I am bearing to you, A lamentation, O house of Israel:

² `Fallen, not again to rise, hath the virgin of Israel, Left on her land -- she hath no raiser up.'

³ For thus said the Lord Jehovah: The city that is going out a thousand, Doth leave an hundred, And that which is going out an hundred, Doth leave ten to the house of Israel.

⁴ For thus said Jehovah to the house of Israel: Seek ye Me, and live,

⁵ And seek not Beth-El, and Gilgal enter not, And Beer-Sheba pass not through, For Gilgal doth utterly remove, And Beth-El doth become vanity.

⁶ Seek ye Jehovah, and live, Lest He prosper as fire [against] the house of Joseph, And it hath consumed, And there is no quencher for Beth-El.

⁷ Ye who are turning to wormwood judgment, And righteousness to the earth have put down,

⁸ The maker of Kimah and Kesil, And the turner to morning of death-shade, And day [as] night He hath made dark, Who is calling to the waters of the sea, And poureth them on the face of the earth, Jehovah [is] His name;

⁹ Who is brightening up the spoiled against the strong, And the spoiled against a fortress cometh.

¹⁰ They have hated a reprover in the gate, And a plain speaker they abominate.

¹¹ Therefore, because of your trampling on the poor, And the tribute of corn ye take from him, Houses of hewn work ye have built, And ye do not dwell in them, Desirable vineyards ye have planted, And ye do not drink their wine.

¹² For I have known -- many [are] your transgressions, And mighty your sins, Adversaries of the righteous, taking ransoms, And the needy in the gate ye turned aside.

¹³ Therefore is the wise at that time silent, For an evil time it [is].

¹⁴ Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live, And it is so; Jehovah, God of Hosts, [is] with you, as ye said.

¹⁵ Hate evil, and love good, And set up judgment in the gate, It may be Jehovah, God of Hosts, doth pity the remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶ Therefore, thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, the Lord, In all broad places [is] lamentation, And in all out-places they say, `Alas, alas,' And called the husbandman to mourning, And to lamentation the skilful of wailing.

¹⁷ And in all vineyards [is] lamentation, For I pass into thy midst, said Jehovah.

¹⁸ Ho, ye who are desiring the day of Jehovah, Why [is] this to you -- the day of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light,

¹⁹ As [when] one fleeth from the face of the lion, And the bear hath met him, And he hath come in to the house, And hath leant his hand on the wall, And the serpent hath bitten him.

²⁰ Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light, Even thick darkness that hath no brightness?

²¹ I have hated -- I have loathed your festivals, And I am not refreshed by your restraints.

²² For though ye cause burnt-offerings and your presents to ascend to Me, I am not pleased, And the peace-offering of your fatlings I behold not.

²³ Turn aside from Me the noise of thy songs, Yea, the praise of thy psaltery I hear not.

²⁴ And roll on as waters doth judgment, And righteousness as a perennial stream.

²⁵ Sacrifices and offering did ye bring nigh to Me, In a wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

²⁶ And ye bare Succoth your king, and Chiun your images, The star of your god, that ye made for yourselves.

²⁷ And I removed you beyond Damascus, Said Jehovah, God of Hosts [is] His name.

¹ In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned hath Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah,

² a son of sixteen years was he in his reigning, and fifty and two years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Jecholiah of Jerusalem,

³ and he doth that which [is] right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that Amaziah his father did,

⁴ only, the high places have not turned aside -- yet are the people sacrificing and making perfume in high places.

⁵ And Jehovah smiteth the king, and he is a leper unto the day of his death, and he dwelleth in a separate house, and Jotham son of the king [is] over the house, judging the people of the land.

⁶ And the rest of the matters of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

⁷ And Azariah lieth with his fathers, and they bury him with his fathers, in the city of David, and reign doth Jotham his son in his stead.

⁸ In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah reigned hath Zechariah son of Jeroboam over Israel, in Samaria, six months,

⁹ and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, as did his fathers, he hath not turned aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin.

¹⁰ And Shallum son of Jabesh conspireth against him, and smiteth him before the people, and putteth him to death, and reigneth in his stead.

¹¹ And the rest of the matters of Zechariah, lo, they are written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

¹² It [is] the word of Jehovah that He spake unto Jehu, saying, `Sons of the fourth [generation] do sit for thee on the throne of Israel;' and it is so.

¹³ Shallum son of Jabesh hath reigned in the thirty and ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigneth a month of days in Samaria;

¹⁴ and go up doth Menahem son of Gadi from Tirzah and cometh in to Samaria, and smiteth Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, and putteth him to death, and reigneth in his stead.

¹⁵ And the rest of the matters of Shallum, and his conspiracy that he made, lo, they are written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

¹⁶ Then doth Menahem smite Tiphsah, and all who [are] in it, and its borders from Tirzah, for it opened not [to him], and he smiteth [it], all its pregnant women he hath ripped up.

¹⁷ In the thirty and ninth year of Azariah king of Judah reigned hath Menahem son of Gadi over Israel -- ten years in Samaria.

¹⁸ And he doth the evil in the eyes of Jehovah, he hath turned not aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin, all his days.

¹⁹ Pul king of Asshur hath come against the land, and Menahem giveth to Pul a thousand talents of silver, for his hand being with him to strengthen the kingdom in his hand.

²⁰ And Menahem bringeth out the silver [from] Israel, [from] all the mighty men of wealth, to give to the king of Asshur, fifty shekels of silver for each one, and the king of Asshur turneth back and hath not stayed there in the land.

²¹ And the rest of the matters of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?

²² And Menahem lieth with his fathers, and reign doth Pekahiah his son in his stead.

²³ In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah hath Pekahiah son of Menahem reigned over Israel, in Samaria -- two years,

²⁴ and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, he hath not turned aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat that he caused Israel to sin.

²⁵ And Pekah son of Remaliah, his captain, doth conspire against him, and smiteth him in Samaria, in the high place of the house of the king with Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men of the sons of the Gileadites, and he putteth him to death, and reigneth in his stead.

²⁶ And the rest of the matters of Pekahiah, and all that he did, lo, they are written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

²⁷ In the fifty and second year of Azariah king of Judah, reigned hath Pekah son of Remaliah over Israel, in Samaria -- twenty years,

²⁸ and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, he hath not turned aside from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, that he caused Israel to sin.

²⁹ In the days of Pekah king of Israel hath Tiglath-Pileser king of Asshur come, and taketh Ijon, and Abel-Beth-Maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and removeth them to Asshur.

³⁰ And make a conspiracy doth Hoshea son of Elah against Pekah son of Remaliah, and smiteth him, and putteth him to death, and reigneth in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah.

³¹ And the rest of the matters of Pekah, and all that he did, lo, they are written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

³² In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel reigned hath Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah.

³³ A son of twenty and five years was he in his reigning, and sixteen years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Jerusha daughter of Zadok,

³⁴ and he doth that which [is] right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that Uzziah his father did he hath done.

³⁵ Only, the high places have not turned aside -- yet are the people sacrificing and making perfume in high places; he hath built the high gate of the house of Jehovah.

³⁶ And the rest of the matters of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

³⁷ In those days hath Jehovah begun to send against Judah Rezin king of Amram and Pekah son of Remaliah.

³⁸ And Jotham lieth with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers, in the city of David his father, and reign doth Ahaz his son in his stead.