5:1 Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, ¹  family ²  of Israel:

5:2 “The virgin ³  Israel has fallen down and will not get up again.

She is abandoned on her own land

with no one to help her get up.” ⁴ 

5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:

“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers ⁵  will have only a hundred left;

the town ⁶  that marches out with a hundred soldiers ⁷  will have only ten left for the family of Israel.” ⁸ 

5:4 The Lord says this to the family ⁹  of Israel:

“Seek me ¹⁰  so you can live!

5:5 Do not seek Bethel! ¹¹ 

Do not visit Gilgal!

Do not journey down ¹²  to Beer Sheba!

For the people of Gilgal ¹³  will certainly be carried into exile; ¹⁴ 

and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.” ¹⁵ 

5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!

Otherwise he will break out ¹⁶  like fire against Joseph’s ¹⁷  family; ¹⁸ 

the fire ¹⁹  will consume

and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ²⁰ 

5:7 The Israelites ²¹  turn justice into bitterness; ²² 

they throw what is fair and right ²³  to the ground. ²⁴ 

5:8 (But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion;

he can turn the darkness into morning

and daylight ²⁵  into night.

He summons the water of the seas

and pours it out on the earth’s surface.

The Lord is his name!

5:9 He flashes ²⁶  destruction down upon the strong

so that destruction overwhelms ²⁷  the fortified places.)

5:10 The Israelites ²⁸  hate anyone who arbitrates at the city gate; ²⁹ 

they despise anyone who speaks honestly.

5:11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops ³⁰ 

and exact a grain tax from them,

you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone,

nor will you drink the wine from the fine ³¹  vineyards you planted. ³² 

5:12 Certainly ³³  I am aware of ³⁴  your many rebellious acts ³⁵ 

and your numerous sins.

You ³⁶  torment the innocent, you take bribes,

and you deny justice to ³⁷  the needy at the city gate. ³⁸ 

5:13 For this reason whoever is smart ³⁹  keeps quiet ⁴⁰  in such a time,

for it is an evil ⁴¹  time.

5:14 Seek good and not evil so you can live!

Then the Lord, the God who commands armies, just might be with you,

as you claim he is.

5:15 Hate what is wrong, love what is right!

Promote ⁴²  justice at the city gate! ⁴³ 

Maybe the Lord, the God who commands armies, will have mercy on ⁴⁴  those who are left from ⁴⁵  Joseph. ⁴⁶ 

5:16 Because of Israel’s sins ⁴⁷  this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, ⁴⁸  says:

“In all the squares there will be wailing,

in all the streets they will mourn the dead. ⁴⁹ 

They will tell the field workers ⁵⁰  to lament

and the professional mourners ⁵¹  to wail.

5:17 In all the vineyards there will be wailing,

for I will pass through ⁵²  your midst,” says the Lord.

5:18 Woe ⁵³  to those who wish for the day of the Lord

Why do you want the Lord’s day of judgment to come?

It will bring darkness, not light.

5:19 Disaster will be inescapable, ⁵⁴ 

as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear,

then escaped ⁵⁵  into a house,

leaned his hand against the wall,

and was bitten by a poisonous snake.

5:20 Don’t you realize the Lord’s day of judgment will bring ⁵⁶  darkness, not light –

gloomy blackness, not bright light?

5:21 “I absolutely despise ⁵⁷  your festivals!

I get no pleasure ⁵⁸  from your religious assemblies!

5:22 Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, ⁵⁹  I will not be satisfied;

I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves. ⁶⁰ 

5:23 Take away from me your ⁶¹  noisy songs;

I don’t want to hear the music of your stringed instruments. ⁶² 

5:24 Justice must flow like torrents of water,

righteous actions ⁶³  like a stream that never dries up.

5:25 You did not bring me ⁶⁴  sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family ⁶⁵  of Israel.

5:26 You will pick up your images ⁶⁶  of Sikkuth, ⁶⁷  your king, ⁶⁸ 

and Kiyyun, ⁶⁹  your star god, which you made for yourselves,

5:27 and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord.

He is called the God who commands armies!