The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
King James Version KJV
1 Hear this word that I take up against you in lament, house of Isra'el:
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Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
2 The virgin of Isra'el has fallen; she will not rise again. She lies abandoned on her own soil with no one to lift her up.
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The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
3 For thus says Adonai ELOHIM: "The city from which a thousand marched will be left with a hundred, and the one from which a hundred marched will be left with ten from the house of Isra'el."
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For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
4 For here is what ADONAI says to the house of Isra'el: "If you seek me, you will survive;
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For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
5 but don't seek Beit-El, or enter Gilgal or pass on into Be'er-Sheva; for Gilgal will certainly go into exile, and Beit-El will come to nothing."
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But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
6 If you seek ADONAI, you will survive. Otherwise, he will break out against the house of Yosef like fire, devouring Beit-El, with no one to quench the flames.
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Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
7 You who turn justice to bitter wormwood and throw righteousness to the ground!
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Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who brings deathlike shadows over the morning, who darkens the day into night, who calls for the water in the sea and with it floods the earth - ADONAI is his name
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Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
9 he flashes destruction on the strong, so that destruction overcomes the fortress.
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That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
10 They hate anyone promoting justice at the city gate, they detest anyone who speaks the truth.
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They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and extort from them levies of grain; although you have built houses of cut stone, you will not live in them; and though you have planted pleasant vineyards, you will not drink their wine.
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Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.
12 For I know how numerous are your crimes and how outrageous your sins - bullying the innocent, extorting ransoms pushing the poor aside at the gate.
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For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
13 At times like these a prudent person stays silent, for it is an evil time.
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Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil, so that you will survive. Then Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot will be with you, as you say he is.
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Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
15 Hate evil, love good, and uphold justice at the gate. Maybe Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot will take pity on the survivors of Yosef.
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Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore thus says Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot, Adonai: "In all public squares there will be lamentation, in all the streets they will cry, 'Oh, no!' They will summon farmers to mourn and professional mourners to wail.
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Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
17 There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will pass through among you," says ADONAI.
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And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.
18 Woe to you who want the Day of ADONAI! Why do you want it, this Day of ADONAI? It is darkness, not light;
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Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
19 as if someone were to run from a lion, just to be met by a bear; as if he entered a house, put his hand on the wall, just to be bitten by a snake.
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As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20 Won't the Day of ADONAI be darkness, not light, completely dark, with no brightness at all?
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Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21 "I hate, I utterly loathe your festivals; I take no pleasure in your solemn assemblies.
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I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
22 If you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; nor will I consider the peace offerings of your stall-fed cattle.
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Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23 Spare me the noise of your songs! I don't want to hear the strumming of your lutes!
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Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
24 Instead, let justice well up like water, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
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But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
25 Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings in the desert forty years, house of Isra'el?
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Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 No, but now you will bear Sikkut as your king and Kiyun, your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves;
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But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
27 as I exile you beyond Dammesek," says Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot - that is his name.
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Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The King James Version is in the public domain.