1 Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel:

2 “The virgin of Israel has fallen;

3 For the Lord GOD says:

4 For the LORD says to the house of Israel:

5 but don’t seek Bethel,

6 Seek the LORD, and you will live,

7 You who turn justice to wormwood,

8 Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion,

9 who brings sudden destruction on the strong,

10 They hate him who reproves in the gate,

11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat,

12 For I know how many are your offenses,

13 Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time,

14 Seek good, and not evil,

15 Hate evil, love good,

16 Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies, the Lord, says:

17 In all vineyards there will be wailing,

18 “Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!

19 As if a man fled from a lion,

20 Won’t the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light?

21 I hate, I despise your feasts,

22 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings,

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs!

24 But let justice roll on like rivers,

25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?

26 You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

27 Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Armies.