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“Seek Me that You May Live”
Hear this word which I take up for you as a dirge, O house of Israel:
Hear this word which I take up for you as a dirge, O house of Israel:
A Lament for Israel
Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
She has fallen, she will not rise again —
The virgin Israel.
She lies neglected on her land;
There is none to raise her up.
The virgin Israel.
She lies neglected on her land;
There is none to raise her up.
The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
For thus says the Lord GOD,
“The city which goes forth a thousand strong
Will have a hundred left,
And the one which goes forth a hundred strong
Will have ten left to the house of Israel.”
“The city which goes forth a thousand strong
Will have a hundred left,
And the one which goes forth a hundred strong
Will have ten left to the house of Israel.”
For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel,
“Seek Me that you may live.
“Seek Me that you may live.
A Call to Repentance
For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
“But do not resort to Bethel
And do not come to Gilgal,
Nor cross over to Beersheba;
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
And Bethel will come to trouble.
And do not come to Gilgal,
Nor cross over to Beersheba;
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
And Bethel will come to trouble.
But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
“Seek the LORD that you may live,
Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph,
And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel,
Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph,
And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel,
Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
For those who turn justice into wormwood
And cast righteousness down to the earth.”
And cast righteousness down to the earth.”
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
He who made the Pleiades and Orion
And changes deep darkness into morning,
Who also darkens day into night,
Who calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
The LORD is His name.
And changes deep darkness into morning,
Who also darkens day into night,
Who calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
The LORD is His name.
Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
It is He who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong,
So that destruction comes upon the fortress.
So that destruction comes upon the fortress.
That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
They hate him who reproves in the gate,
And they abhor him who speaks with integrity.
And they abhor him who speaks with integrity.
They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
Therefore because you impose heavy rent on the poor
And exact a tribute of grain from them,
Though you have built houses of well-hewn stone,
Yet you will not live in them;
You have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine.
And exact a tribute of grain from them,
Though you have built houses of well-hewn stone,
Yet you will not live in them;
You have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine.
Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.
For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great,
You who distress the righteous and accept bribes
And turn aside the poor in the gate.
You who distress the righteous and accept bribes
And turn aside the poor in the gate.
For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
Therefore at such a time the prudent person keeps silent, for it is an evil time.
Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
Seek good and not evil, that you may live;
And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you,
Just as you have said!
And thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you,
Just as you have said!
Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
Hate evil, love good,
And establish justice in the gate!
Perhaps the LORD God of hosts
May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
And establish justice in the gate!
Perhaps the LORD God of hosts
May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, the Lord,
“There is wailing in all the plazas,
And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’
They also call the farmer to mourning
And professional mourners to lamentation.
“There is wailing in all the plazas,
And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’
They also call the farmer to mourning
And professional mourners to lamentation.
The Coming Judgment
Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
“And in all the vineyards there is wailing,
Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the LORD.
Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the LORD.
And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.
Alas, you who are longing for the day of the LORD,
For what purpose will the day of the LORD be to you?
It will be darkness and not light;
For what purpose will the day of the LORD be to you?
It will be darkness and not light;
Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
As when a man flees from a lion
And a bear meets him,
Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall
And a snake bites him.
And a bear meets him,
Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall
And a snake bites him.
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
Will not the day of the LORD be darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?
Even gloom with no brightness in it?
Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
“I hate, I reject your festivals,
Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.
Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.
I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
“Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.
Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
“Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
“But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
“Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?
Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
“You also carried along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves.
But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.