1. Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
2. The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
3. For 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.
4. For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
5. But 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.
6. Seek 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.
7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,