12 For I know your many wicked deeds and the strength of your sins, you enemies of the just, accepting bribes, and depriving the poor at the gate.
13 Therefore, the prudent will be silent at that time, for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil, so that you may live. And the Lord God of hosts will be with you, just as you have asked.
15 Hate evil and love good, and establish judgment at the gate. Perhaps then the Lord God of hosts may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Sovereign: In all the streets, there will be wailing. And in every place where they are outdoors, they will say, "Woe, woe!" And they will call the farmer to mourn, and those who know mourning to lamentation.
17 And in all the vineyards there will be wailing. For I will cross through your midst, says the Lord.
18 Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord. What is it to you? The day of the Lord is this: darkness and not light.