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5 [1] **Hear this word that I recite as a lamentation for you, house of Israel: **
[2] **Fallen, the virgin of Israel will rise no longer; she is abandoned upon her land, with no one to lift her. **
[3] **For so said the Lord God: The city from which one thousand go out,** which has one thousand residents,** will leave one hundred, **meaning that only one hundred will remain;** and that from which one hundred **people** go out will leave **only** ten of the house of Israel. **
[4] **For so said the Lord to the house of Israel: **You have only one recourse to save yourselves. **Seek Me, and **then you will be allowed to** live; **
[5] **do not seek Beit El, do not come to Gilgal, **also a place of worship,** and do not pass to Beersheba,**** **where apparently idols were also worshipped, **as Gilgal will be exiled and Beit El will become nothingness [*****aven*****].** The prophets frequently referred to Beit El as Beit Aven, since *aven *means sin and Beit El was a center of idolatry. In addition, *aven* can mean* *naught, an allusion to the destruction and desolation Beit El will ultimately suffer as a punishment for the sins of its inhabitants.
[6] **Seek the Lord and live, lest He burn the house of Joseph with fire;** **it** **shall consume, with none to extinguish **it** for Beit El. **
[7] These catastrophes will befall a people **who turn justice into wormwood,**** **a bitter plant,** and lay righteousness on the ground. **These people are indifferent to righteousness.
[8] **He made **the** **constellations of** Pleiades**** and Orion, transforms the shadow of death into morning, and darkens the day into night. **He is also the One** who calls the waters of the sea and pours them upon the face of the earth, the Lord is His name;**
[9] **who empowers the **lowly, weak, and** plundered**** **to triumph **over the mighty, and the plundered will come against the fortress. **God can overturn the normal course of nature.
[10] Retribution will befall those who will be punished because **they hated the admonisher at the gate, **the prophet or the elders who sit at the entrance to the city,** and they would spurn a speaker of uprightness. **
[11] **Therefore **you will be punished **because of your incitement against the impoverished, and **because of **the portions of grain **for which he toiled** that you would take from him,** **you built** beautiful** houses of hewn stone **with the profits of your corrupt actions** but you will not **merit to** live in them; you planted delightful vineyards, but you will not drink their wine. **
[12] **For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are enormous; you are afflicters of the righteous, **you are **takers of bribes **instead of judging evildoers properly, **and **you** cheated the indigent at the gate,** the location of the courts. Your judges are entirely corrupt.
[13] **Therefore, the prudent, **who are aware of this corruption and might have rebuked others in a different era,** at that time shall be silent **to protect themselves, **as it is an evil time. **
[14] **Seek good and not evil, so that you will live, and the Lord, God of hosts, will indeed be with you, as you said. **You claim to believe in God and wish to be loyal to Him. After all, your rulers are from the family of Yehu, who eradicated idolatry from the land, and even those of you who worship the golden calves maintain that they follow God. If so, do what God commands:
[15] **Hate evil, love good, and display justice at the gate; perhaps **then **the Lord, God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. **
[16] **Therefore, so said the Lord, God of hosts, the Lord: Lamentation will be in all the squares and in all the streets. They will say: Woe, woe, and **likewise in the fields as well,** they will call the farmer to mourning, and the skilled at wailing to lamentation. **
[17] Even **in all vineyards, **which are generally joyous places, due to their association with wine,** **there will be** lamentation, as I will pass in your midst **to punish you,** said the Lord.**** **
[18] In the Kingdom of Israel, some long for the day of the Lord, when the world will be redeemed. The prophet addresses those individuals: **Woe! Those who crave the day of the Lord: Why is this for you the day of the Lord? **It will come, but** it is darkness and not light. **It will be a terrifying time of judgment, at least at first.
[19] Your situation will be as** when a man flees from before the lion and a bear encounters him, or he** has fled and **comes home **exhausted,** and leans his hand on the wall, and **then **a serpent **hiding in the wall of the house** bites him; **
[20] **isn’t the day of the Lord darkness and not light, blackness, and no glimmer in it? **This will mainly be a day of painful judgment. Do not expect any salvation or consolation on that day.
[21] **I hate, I despise your festivals, and I will not appreciate the aroma of **the sacrifices that you offer** **at** your assemblies.**
[22] **For if you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your meal offerings, I will not be propitiated, and the peace offering [*****shelem*****]**** of your fatlings **that you bring **I will not regard.** Alternatively, the final clause means: I will not regard your payments [*tashlumim*] for your fat beasts.
[23] **Remove from Me the sound of, **or the multitude of,** your **holy** songs, and I will not heed the melody of your lyres. **I am uninterested in any songs you might sing to Me.** **
[24] Rather, **let justice **instead **be revealed like water. **Justice will be as clear as spreading water,** and righteousness **will flow on the ground** like a constant stream, **whose waters run unceasingly.
[25] **Did you present Me sacrifices and meal offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel? **During Israel’s long years in the wilderness, few offerings were brought in the Tabernacle, and God’s relationship with the people did not depend upon them. Consequently, says God, on what do you base your assumption that your offerings rectify and atone for all your sins? The idols you have worshipped will not help you either, as they will suffer the same fate as you.
[26] **But you would carry** **Sikut, your king, and Kiyun,****your image, **and also **Kokhav is your god; **these are names of gods **that you made for yourselves.**
[27] Therefore** I will exile you **together with your idols to the** **north, **beyond Damascus, said the Lord, God of hosts is His name. **
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center