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Chapter 5 |
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1 | Hear ye this word which I take up
against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. |
| 2 | The virgin of
Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there
is none to raise her up. |
| 3 | 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. |
| 4 | For thus saith
the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: |
| 5 |
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.
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| 6 | 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.
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| 7 | Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the
earth, |
| 8 |
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: |
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9 | That strengtheneth the spoiled against
the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. |
| 10 |
They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh
uprightly. |
| 11
| 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. |
| 12 | 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. |
| 13 | Therefore the prudent shall
keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. |
| 14 | 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. |
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15 | 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. |
| 16 | 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. |
| 17 | And
in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the
LORD. |
| 18 |
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. |
| 19 | 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. |
| 20 | Shall not
the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no
brightness in it? |
| 21 | I hate, I despise your feast days, and I
will not smell in your solemn assemblies. |
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22 | 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. |
| 23 | Take thou
away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy
viols. |
| 24
| But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as
a mighty stream. |
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25 | Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in
the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? |
| 26 | But ye have
borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your
god, which ye made to yourselves. |
| 27 | Therefore will I cause you to
go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of
hosts. |
