1Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.[ † ]Jeremiah 7:29Jeremiah 9:10-17Ezekiel 19:1 2The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up. 3For 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.
4For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:[ † ]Deuteronomy 4:292 Chronicles 15:2Jeremiah 29:13Isaiah 55:3 5but seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought.[ † ]1 Kings 12:28-29Amos 4:4Genesis 21:31-33Amos 8:14Hosea 4:15 6Seek 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 Beth-el.[ † ]Isaiah 55:3-6, 7Amos 5:14 7Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,[ † ]Amos 6:12 8seek 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:[ † ]Job 9:9Job 38:31Psalms 104:20Job 38:34Amos 4:13 9that strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
10They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.[ † ]Isaiah 29:21Isaiah 66:5Amos 5:151 Kings 22:8Isaiah 59:15Jeremiah 17:16-18 11Forasmuch 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.[ † ]Amos 2:6Deuteronomy 28:30-38, 39Micah 6:15Zephaniah 1:13Haggai 1:6 12For 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 .[ † ]Hosea 5:3Isaiah 1:23Isaiah 5:23Amos 2:6Isaiah 29:21 13Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.[ † ]Amos 6:10
14Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord , the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.[ † ]Micah 3:11 15Hate 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.[ † ]Psalms 97:10Romans 12:9Joel 2:14
16Therefore 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.[ † ]2 Chronicles 35:25Jeremiah 9:17 17And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord .[ † ]Exodus 12:12
18Woe 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.[ † ]Isaiah 5:19Jeremiah 17:15Joel 1:15Joel 2:1-11, 31Isaiah 5:30Joel 2:2 19As 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.[ † ]Job 20:24Isaiah 24:17-18Jeremiah 48:44 20Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.[ † ]Isaiah 1:11-16Amos 4:4-5Amos 8:10Leviticus 26:31Jeremiah 14:12Hosea 5:6 22Though 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.[ † ]Isaiah 66:3Micah 6:6-7
23Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. 24But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.[ † ]Jeremiah 22:3Ezekiel 45:9Hosea 6:6Micah 6:8
25Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?[ † ]Deuteronomy 32:17Joshua 24:14Nehemiah 9:18-21Acts 7:42-43 26But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.[ † ]1 Kings 11:33 27Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord , whose name is The God of hosts.[ † ]2 Kings 17:6Amos 7:11-17Micah 4:10Amos 4:13