2. Virgin Israel has fallen,Never to rise again!She lies abandoned on the ground,And no one helps her up.
3. The Sovereign Lord says, “A city in Israel sends out a thousand soldiers, but only a hundred return; another city sends out a hundred, but only ten come back.”
4. The Lord says to the people of Israel, “Come to me, and you will live.
5. Do not go to Beersheba to worship. Do not try to find me at Bethel — Bethel will come to nothing. Do not go to Gilgal — her people are doomed to exile.”
6. Go to the Lord, and you will live. If you do not go, he will sweep down like fire on the people of Israel. The fire will burn up the people of Bethel, and no one will be able to put it out.
7. You are doomed, you that twist justice and cheat people out of their rights!
8. The Lord made the stars,the Pleiades and Orion.He turns darkness into daylight,and day into night.He calls for the waters of the seaand pours them out on the earth.His name is the Lord.
9. He brings destruction on the mighty and their strongholds.
10. You people hate anyone who challenges injustice and speaks the whole truth in court.
11. You have oppressed the poor and robbed them of their grain. And so you will not live in the fine stone houses you build or drink wine from the beautiful vineyards you plant.
12. I know how terrible your sins are and how many crimes you have committed. You persecute good people, take bribes, and prevent the poor from getting justice in the courts.
13. And so, keeping quiet in such evil times is the clever thing to do!
14. Make it your aim to do what is right, not what is evil, so that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty really will be with you, as you claim he is.
15. Hate what is evil, love what is right, and see that justice prevails in the courts. Perhaps the Lord will be merciful to the people of this nation who are still left alive.