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5 <1> People of Israel, listen to this song. This funeral song is about you.
<2> The virgin[54] of Israel has fallen.
She will not get up any more.
She was left alone, lying in the dirt.
There is no one to lift her up.
<3> This is what the Lord my Master says:
"Officers leaving the city with 1000 men
will return with only 100 men.
Officers leaving the city with 100 men
will return with only ten men."
<4> The Lord says this to the nation[55] of Israel:
"Come looking for me and live.
<5> But don't look in Bethel.
Don't go to Gilgal.
Don't cross the border
and go down to Beersheba.[56]
The people of Gilgal will be taken away as prisoners,[57]
and Bethel will be destroyed.[58]
<6> Come to the Lord and live.
If you don't go to him, a fire will start at Joseph's house,[59]
and no one in Bethel[60] can stop it.
<7-9> You should go to the Lord for help.
He is the one who made the Pleiades and Orion.[61]
He changes darkness into the morning light.
He changes the day into the dark night.
He calls for the waters of the sea,
and pours them out on the earth.
His name is Yahweh[62]!
He keeps one strong city safe,
and he lets another strong city be destroyed."
You change goodness to poison.[63]
You killed justice,
and let it fall to the ground.
<10> [Prophets] go to the public places
and speak against the evil the people are doing,
and the people hate them.
They teach good, simple truths,
and the people hate them.
<11> You take unfair taxes[64] from the poor.
You take loads of wheat from them.
You build fancy houses with cut stone,
but you will not live in them.
You plant beautiful vineyards,[65]
but you will not drink the wine from them.
<12> This is because I know about your many sins.
You have done some very bad things:
You hurt people who do right,
you accept money to do wrong,
and you keep the poor from receiving justice in court.
<13> At that time wise teachers will be quiet,
because it is a bad time.
<14> You say [that God is with you],
so you should do good things, not evil.
Then you will live,
and the Lord God All-Powerful will be with you.
<15> Hate evil and love goodness.
Bring justice back into the courts.
Maybe then the Lord God All-Powerful
will be kind to the survivors[66] from Joseph's family.
<16> My Master, God All-Powerful, says,
"People will be crying in the public places.
They will be crying in the streets.
They will hire the professional criers.[67]
<17> People will be crying in the vineyards,[68]
because I will pass through and punish you."
This is what the Lord said.
<18> Some of you want to see
the Lord's special day of judgment.
Why do you want to see that day?
His special day will bring darkness, not light.
<19> You will be like someone
who escapes a lion only to be attacked by a bear,
or like someone who goes into the safety of his house,
leans against the wall, and is bitten by a snake.
<20> The Lord's special day will be
a day of darkness, not light- a day of gloom, without a ray of light.
<21> "I hate your festivals;
I will not accept them.
I don't enjoy your religious meetings.
<22> Even if you offer me burnt offerings[69] and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
I will not even look at the fat animals
you give as fellowship offerings.[70]
<23> Take your noisy songs away from here.
I will not listen to the music from your harps.
<24> But let justice flow like a river,
and let goodness flow like a stream that never becomes dry.
<25> Israel, you offered me sacrifices
and offerings in the desert for 40 years.[71]
<26> But you also carried statues
of Sakkuth, your king, and Kaiwan.[72]
There was also that star god[73]
that you made for yourselves.
<27> So I will send you as captives,
far beyond Damascus."
This is what the Lord says.
His name is God All-Powerful.
© Copyright 2004 World Bible Translation Center.