3
For the Lord God says: The city that marches out a thousand [strong] will have [only] a hundred left, and the one that marches out a hundred [strong] will have [only] ten left in the house of Israel.
Seek God and Live
4 For the Lord says to the house of Israel: Seek Me and live!
5
Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal or journey to Beer-sheba, for Gilgal will certainly go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.
6
Seek Yahweh and live, or He will spread like fire [throughout] the house of Joseph; it will consume [everything,] with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.
7
Those who turn justice into wormwood throw righteousness to the ground.
8
The One who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the earth- Yahweh is His name.
9
He brings destruction on the strong, and it falls on the stronghold.
10
They hate the one who convicts [the guilty] at the city gate and despise the one who speaks with integrity.
11
Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact a grain tax from him, you will never live in the houses of cut stone you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
12
For I know your crimes are many and your sins innumerable. They oppress the righteous, take a bribe, and deprive the poor of justice at the gates.
13
Therefore, the wise person will keep silent at such a time, for the days are evil.