143 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
143 lines
3.5 KiB
Markdown
Lamentation for Israel
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# Chapter 5
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1. Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament, house of Israel:
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2. She has fallen;
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Virgin Israel will never rise again.
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She lies abandoned on her land
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with no one to raise her up.
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3. For
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the Lord God says:
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The city that marches out a thousand strong
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will have only a hundred left,
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and the one that marches out a hundred strong
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will have only ten left in the house of Israel.
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Seek God and Live
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4. For
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the Lord says to the house of Israel:
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Seek me and live!
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5. Do not seek Bethel
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or go to Gilgal
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or journey to Beer-sheba,
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for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,
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and Bethel will come to nothing.
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6. Seek
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the Lord and live,
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or he will spread like fire
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throughout the house of Joseph;
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it will consume everything
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with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.
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7. Those who turn justice into wormwood
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also throw righteousness to the ground.
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8. The one who made the Pleiades and Orion,
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who turns darkness into dawn
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and darkens day into night,
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who summons the water of the sea
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and pours it out over the surface of the earth--
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the Lord is his name.
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9. He brings destruction on the strong,
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and it falls on the fortress.
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10. They hate the one who convicts the guilty
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at the city gate,
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and they despise the one who speaks with integrity.
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11. Therefore, because you trample on the poor
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and exact a grain tax from him,
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you will never live in the houses of cut stone
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you have built;
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you will never drink the wine
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from the lush vineyards
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you have planted.
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12. For I know your crimes are many
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and your sins innumerable.
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They oppress the righteous, take a bribe,
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and deprive the poor of justice at the city gates.
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13. Therefore, those who have insight will keep silent
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at such a time,
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for the days are evil.
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14. Pursue good and not evil
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so that you may live,
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and
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the Lord, the God of Armies,
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will be with you
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as you have claimed.
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15. Hate evil and love good;
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establish justice at the city gate.
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Perhaps
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the Lord, the God of Armies, will be gracious
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to the remnant of Joseph.
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16. Therefore
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the Lord, the God of Armies,
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the Lord, says:
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There will be wailing in all the public squares;
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they will cry out in anguish in all the streets.
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The farmer will be called on to mourn,
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and professional mourners to wail.
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17. There will be wailing in all the vineyards,
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for I will pass among you.
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The Lord has spoken.The Day of
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the Lord
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18. Woe to you who long for the day of
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the Lord!
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What will the day of
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the Lord be for you?
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It will be darkness and not light.
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19. It will be like a man who flees from a lion
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only to have a bear confront him.
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He goes home and rests his hand against the wall
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only to have a snake bite him.
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20. Won't the day of
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the Lord
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be darkness rather than light,
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even gloom without any brightness in it?
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21. I hate, I despise, your feasts!
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I can't stand the stench
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of your solemn assemblies.
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22. Even if you offer me
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your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
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I will not accept them;
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I will have no regard
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for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.
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23. Take away from me the noise of your songs!
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I will not listen to the music of your harps.
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24. But let justice flow like water,
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and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.
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25. "House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the wilderness?
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26. But you have taken up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, images you have made for yourselves.
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27. So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus."
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The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name. He has spoken.
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