A Lamentation against Israel
1Give ear to this word, my song of sorrow over you, O children of Israel.+ 2The virgin of Israel has been made low, never again to be lifted up: she is stretched out by herself on her land; there is no one to put her on her feet again.+ 3For these are the words of the Lord God: The town which was able to send out a thousand, will have only a hundred; and that which sent out a hundred, will have only ten, in Israel.+A Call to Repentance
Joel 1:13–20; Zephaniah 2:1–3; Luke 13:1–5
4For these are the words of the Lord to the children of Israel: Let your hearts be turned to me, so that you may have life:+ 5Do not be looking for help to Beth-el, and do not go to Gilgal, or make your way to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal will certainly be taken prisoner, and Beth-el will come to nothing.+ 6Go to the Lord for help so that you may have life; for fear that he may come like fire bursting out in the family of Joseph, causing destruction, and there will be no one to put it out in Beth-el.+ 7You who make the work of judging a bitter thing, crushing down righteousness to the earth;+ 8Go for help to him who makes Orion and the Pleiades, by whom the deep dark is turned into morning, who makes the day black with night; whose voice goes out to the waters of the sea, sending them out over the face of the earth: the Lord is his name;+ 9Who sends sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the walled town.+ 10They have hate for him who makes protest against evil in the public place, and he whose words are upright is disgusting to them.+ 11So because the poor man is crushed under your feet, and you take taxes from him of grain: you have made for yourselves houses of cut stone, but you will not take your rest in them; the fair vine-gardens planted by your hands will not give you wine.+ 12For I have seen how your evil-doing is increased and how strong are your sins, you troublers of the upright, who take rewards and do wrong to the cause of the poor in the public place.+ 13So the wise will say nothing in that time; for it is an evil time.+ 14Go after good and not evil, so that life may be yours: and so the Lord, the God of armies, will be with you, as you say.+ 15Be haters of evil and lovers of good, and let right be done in the public place: it may be that the Lord, the God of armies, will have mercy on the rest of Joseph.+