1. Listen, you people of Israel! Listen to this funeral song I am singing:
2. “The virgin Israel has fallen,never to rise again!She lies abandoned on the ground,with no one to help her up.”
3. The Sovereign lord says:“When a city sends a thousand men to battle,only a hundred will return.When a town sends a hundred,only ten will come back alive.”
4. Now this is what the lord says to the family of Israel:“Come back to me and live!
5. Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel;don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba.For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile,and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”
6. Come back to the lord and live!Otherwise, he will roar through Israel like a fire,devouring you completely.Your gods in Bethelwon’t be able to quench the flames.