A lamentation for Israel.

5:1 Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.

5:2 “The virgin of Israel has fallen;
She shall rise no more.
She is cast down on her land;
there is no one to raise her up.”

5:3 For thus says the Lord Yahweh:

“The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left,
and that which went forth one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”

An exhortation to repentance.

5:4 For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel:

“Seek me, and you will live;

Amos 5:8

5:5 but don’t seek Bethel,
nor enter into Gilgal,
and don’t pass to Beersheba:
for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
and Bethel shall come to nothing.

5:6 Seek Yahweh, and you will live;
lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.

5:7 You who turn justice to wormwood,
and cast down righteousness to the earth:

Deuteronomy 29:18-20

5:8 seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion,
and turns the shadow of death into the morning,
and makes the day dark with night;
who calls for the waters of the sea,
and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name,

Zephaniah 2:3

5:9 who brings sudden destruction on the strong,
so that destruction comes on the fortress.

5:10 They hate him who reproves in the gate,
and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

5:11 Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor,
and take taxes from him of wheat:
You have built houses of cut stone,
but you will not dwell in them.
You have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.

5:12 For I know how many your offenses,
and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the just,
who take a bribe,
and who turn aside the needy in the courts.

5:13 Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time,
for it is an evil time.

5:14 Seek good, and not evil,
that you may live;
and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you,
as you say.

5:15 Hate evil, love good,
and establish justice in the courts.
It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

2 Kings 19:4

5:16 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, the Lord:

“Wailing will be in all the broad ways;
and they will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’
and they will call the farmer to mourning,
and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

5:17 In all vineyards there will be wailing;
for I will pass through the midst of you,”

says Yahweh.

5:18 “Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh!
Why do you long for the day of Yahweh?
It is darkness,
and not light.

Obadiah 1:15

5:19 As if a man fled from a lion,
and a bear met him;
Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall,
and a snake bit him.

5:20 Won’t the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light?
Even very dark, and no brightness in it?

Acts 26:23

God rejects their hypocritical service

5:21 I hate, I despise your feasts,
and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.

5:22 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings,
I will not accept them;
neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

5:23 Take away from me the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.

5:24 But let justice roll on like rivers,
and righteousness like a mighty stream.

5:25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?

Deuteronomy 32:17

5:26 You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

5:27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,”