A Lamentation against Israel

¹Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lamentation I take up against you:

²“Fallen is Virgin Israel,never to rise again.She lies abandoned on her land,with no one to raise her up.”

³This is what the Lord GOD says:“The city that marches out a thousand strongwill have but a hundred left,and the one that marches out a hundred strongwill have but ten left in the house of Israel.”

A Call to Repentance

⁴For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel:“Seek Me and live!

⁵Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal;do not journey to Beersheba,for Gilgal will surely go into exile,and Bethel will come to nothing.

⁶Seek the LORD and live,or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph;it will devour everything,with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.

⁷There are those who turn justice into wormwoodand cast righteousness to the ground.

⁸He who made the Pleiades and Orion,who turns darkness into dawnand darkens day into night,who summons the waters of the seaand pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD is His name—

⁹He flashes destruction on the strong,so that fury comes upon the stronghold.

¹⁰There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gateand despise him who speaks with integrity.

¹¹Therefore, because you trample on the poorand exact from him a tax of grain,you will never livein the stone houses you have built;you will never drink the winefrom the lush vineyards you have planted.

¹²For I know that your transgressions are manyand your sins are numerous.You oppress the righteous by taking bribes;you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.

¹³Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times,for the days are evil.

¹⁴Seek good, not evil,so that you may live.And the LORD, the God of Hosts,will be with you, as you have claimed.

¹⁵Hate evil and love good;establish justice in the gate.Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts,will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

Woe to Rebellious Israel

¹⁶Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says:“There will be wailing in all the public squaresand cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets.The farmer will be summoned to mourn,and the mourners to wail.

¹⁷There will be wailing in all the vineyards,for I will pass through your midst,”says the LORD.

¹⁸Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD!What will the Day of the LORD be for you?It will be darkness and not light.

¹⁹It will be like a man who flees from a lion,only to encounter a bear,or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall,only to be bitten by a snake.

²⁰Will not the Day of the LORDbe darkness and not light,even gloom with no brightness in it?

²¹“I hate, I despise your feasts!I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.

²²Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings,I will not accept them;for your peace offerings of fattened cattleI will have no regard.

²³Take away from Me the noise of your songs!I will not listen to the music of your harps.

²⁴But let justice roll on like a river,and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

²⁵Did you bring Me sacrifices and offeringsforty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

²⁶You have taken along Sakkuth your kingand Kaiwan your star god,the idols you made for yourselves.

²⁷Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,”says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.

Judah’s Rebellion

¹This is the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

²Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,for the LORD has spoken:“I have raised children and brought them up,but they have rebelled against Me.

³The ox knows its owner,and the donkey its master’s manger,but Israel does not know;My people do not understand.”

⁴Alas, O sinful nation,a people laden with iniquity,a brood of evildoers,children who act corruptly!They have forsaken the LORD;they have despised the Holy One of Israeland turned their backs on Him.

⁵Why do you want more beatings?Why do you keep rebelling?Your head has a massive wound,and your whole heart is afflicted.

⁶From the sole of your foot to the top of your head,there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and festering soresneither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil.

⁷Your land is desolate;your cities are burned with fire.Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.

⁸And the Daughter of Zion is abandonedlike a shelter in a vineyard,like a shack in a cucumber field,like a city besieged.

⁹Unless the LORD of Hostshad left us a few survivors,we would have become like Sodom,we would have resembled Gomorrah.

Meaningless Offerings

¹⁰Hear the word of the LORD,you rulers of Sodom;listen to the instruction of our God,you people of Gomorrah!

¹¹“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?”says the LORD.“I am full from the burnt offerings of ramsand the fat of well-fed cattle;I take no delight in the blood of bullsand lambs and goats.

¹²When you come to appear before Me,who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts?

¹³Bring your worthless offerings no more;your incense is detestable to Me.New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations—I cannot endure iniquity in a solemn assembly.

¹⁴I hate your New Moonsand your appointed feasts.They have become a burden to Me;I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵When you spread out your hands in prayer,I will hide My eyes from you;even though you multiply your prayers,I will not listen.Your hands are covered with blood.

¹⁶Wash and cleanse yourselves.Remove your evil deeds from My sight.Stop doing evil!

¹⁷Learn to do right;seek justice and correct the oppressor.Defend the fatherlessand plead the case of the widow.”

¹⁸“Come now, let us reason together,”says the LORD.“Though your sins are like scarlet,they will be as white as snow;though they are as red as crimson,they will become like wool.

¹⁹If you are willing and obedient,you will eat the best of the land.

²⁰But if you resist and rebel,you will be devoured by the sword.”For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

The Corruption of Zion

²¹See how the faithful city has become a harlot!She once was full of justice;righteousness resided within her,but now only murderers!

²²Your silver has become dross;your fine wine is diluted with water.

²³Your rulers are rebels,friends of thieves.They all love bribesand chasing after rewards.They do not defend the fatherless,and the plea of the widow never comes before them.

²⁴Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts,the Mighty One of Israel, declares:“Ah, I will be relieved of My foesand avenge Myself on My enemies.

²⁵I will turn My hand against you;I will thoroughly purge your dross;I will remove all your impurities.

²⁶I will restore your judges as at first,and your counselors as at the beginning.After that you will be called the City of Righteousness,the Faithful City.”

²⁷Zion will be redeemed with justice,her repentant ones with righteousness.

²⁸But rebels and sinners will together be shattered,and those who forsake the LORD will perish.

²⁹Surely you will be ashamed of the sacred oaksin which you have delighted;you will be embarrassed by the gardensthat you have chosen.

³⁰For you will become like an oak whose leaves are withered,like a garden without water.

³¹The strong man will become tinderand his work will be a spark;both will burn together,with no one to quench the flames.

The Burden against Egypt

¹This is the burden against Egypt:Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud;He is coming to Egypt.The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him,and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.

²“So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian;brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor,city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

³Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them,and I will frustrate their plans,so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead,to mediums and spiritists.

⁴I will deliver the Egyptians into the hands of a harsh master,and a fierce king will rule over them,”declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

⁵The waters of the Nile will dry up,and the riverbed will be parched and empty.

⁶The canals will stink;the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up;the reeds and rushes will wither.

⁷The bulrushes by the Nile,by the mouth of the river,and all the fields sown along the Nile,will wither, blow away, and be no more.

⁸Then the fishermen will mourn,all who cast a hook into the Nile will lament,and those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.

⁹The workers in flax will be dismayed,and the weavers of fine linen will turn pale.

¹⁰The workers in clothwill be dejected,and all the hired workers will be sick at heart.

¹¹The princes of Zoan are mere fools;Pharaoh’s wise counselors give senseless advice.How can you say to Pharaoh,“I am one of the wise,a son of eastern kings”?

¹²Where are your wise men now?Let them tell you and revealwhat the LORD of Hosts has planned against Egypt.

¹³The princes of Zoan have become fools;the princes of Memphisare deceived.The cornerstones of her tribeshave led Egypt astray.

¹⁴The LORD has poured into hera spirit of confusion.Egypt has been led astray in all she does,as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.

¹⁵There is nothing Egypt can do—head or tail, palm or reed.

A Blessing upon the Earth

¹⁶In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear beneath the uplifted hand of the LORD of Hosts, when He brandishes it against them.

¹⁷The land of Judah will bring terror to Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble over what the LORD of Hosts has planned against it.

¹⁸In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of Hosts. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.

¹⁹In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the center of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near her border.

²⁰It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and defender to rescue them.

²¹The LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and on that day Egypt will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and fulfill them.

²²And the LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; He will strike them but heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and He will hear their prayers and heal them.

²³In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.

²⁴In that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing upon the earth.

²⁵The LORD of Hosts will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”

Warnings about the Adulteress

¹My son, keep my wordsand treasure my commandments within you.

²Keep my commandments and live;guard my teachings as the appleof your eye.

³Tie them to your fingers;write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”and call understanding your kinsman,

⁵that they may keep you from the adulteress,from the stranger with seductive words.

⁶For at the window of my houseI looked through the lattice.

⁷I saw among the simple,I noticed among the youths,a young man lacking judgment,

⁸crossing the street near her corner,strolling down the road to her house,

⁹at twilight, as the day was fadinginto the dark of the night.

¹⁰Then a woman came out to meet him,with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart.

¹¹She is loud and defiant;her feet do not remain at home.

¹²Now in the street, now in the squares,she lurks at every corner.

¹³She seizes him and kisses him;she brazenly says to him:

¹⁴“I have made my peace offerings;today I have paid my vows.

¹⁵So I came out to meet you;I sought you, and I have found you.

¹⁶I have decked my bed with coverings,with colored linen from Egypt.

¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,with aloes, and with cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let us take our fill of love till morning.Let us delight in loving caresses!

¹⁹For my husband is not at home;he has gone on a long journey.

²⁰He took with him a bag of moneyand will not return till the moon is full.”

²¹With her great persuasion she entices him;with her flattering lips she lures him.

²²He follows her on impulse,like an ox going to the slaughter,like a deer bounding into a trap,

²³until an arrow pierces his liver,like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life.

²⁴Now, my sons, listen to me,and attend to the words of my mouth.

²⁵Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways;do not stray into her paths.

²⁶For she has brought many down to death;her slain are many in number.

²⁷Her house is the road to Sheol,descending to the chambers of death.