6  “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,

and ^tlack of bread in all your places,

^uyet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

7  “I also ^vwithheld the rain from you

when there were yet three months to the harvest;

^wI would send rain on one city,

and send no rain on another city;

one field would have rain,

and the field on which it did not rain would wither;

8  so two or three cities ^xwould wander to another city

to drink water, and would not be satisfied;

^uyet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

9  ^y“I struck you with blight and mildew;

your many gardens and your vineyards,

your fig trees and your olive trees ^zthe locust devoured;

^uyet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

10  “I sent among you a pestilence ^aafter the manner of Egypt;

I killed your young men with the sword,

and ^bcarried away your horses,¹

and ^cI made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;

^uyet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

11  “I overthrew some of you,

^das when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

and you were ^eas a brand² plucked out of the burning;

^uyet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

12  “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;

because I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

13  For behold, ^fhe who forms the mountains and creates the wind,

and ^gdeclares to man what is his thought,

^hwho makes the morning darkness,

and ⁱtreads on the heights of the earth—

^jthe Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

^m“Seek me and live;

5  but do not seek ⁿBethel,

and do not enter into ⁿGilgal

or cross over to ^oBeersheba;

for ⁿGilgal shall surely go into exile,

and ⁿBethel shall come to nothing.”

6  ^mSeek the Lord and live,

^plest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

and it devour, with none to quench it for ⁿBethel,

7  O ^qyou who turn justice to wormwood¹

and cast down righteousness to the earth!

8  He who made the ^rPleiades and Orion,

and turns deep darkness into the morning

and ^sdarkens the day into night,

who ^tcalls for the waters of the sea

^tand pours them out on the surface of the earth,

^uthe Lord is his name;

9  ^vwho makes destruction flash forth against the strong,

so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

10  ^wThey hate him who reproves ^xin the gate,

and they ^yabhor him who speaks the truth.

11  Therefore because you ^ztrample on² the poor

and you exact taxes of grain from him,

^ayou have built houses of hewn stone,

but you shall not dwell in them;

^ayou have planted pleasant vineyards,

but you shall not drink their wine.

12  For I know how many are your transgressions

and how great are your sins—

you who afflict the righteous, who ^btake a bribe,

and ^cturn aside the needy ^xin the gate.

13  Therefore he who is prudent will ^dkeep silent in such a time,

^efor it is an evil time.

14  ^fSeek good, and not evil,

that you may live;

and so the Lord, ^gthe God of hosts, will be with you,

as you have said.

15  ^hHate evil, and love good,

and establish justice ^xin the gate;

ⁱit may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,

will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

“In all the squares ^jthere shall be wailing,

and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’

They shall call the farmers to mourning

and ^jto wailing those who are skilled in lamentation,

17  and in all vineyards there shall be wailing,

for ^kI will pass through your midst,”

says the Lord.