1 Listen, people of Israel, to this funeral song which I sing over you:
2 Virgin Israel has fallen,Never to rise again!She lies abandoned on the ground,And no one helps her up.
3 The Sovereign Lord says, “A city in Israel sends out a thousand soldiers, but only a hundred return; another city sends out a hundred, but only ten come back.”
4 The Lord says to the people of Israel, “Come to me, and you will live.
5 Do not go to Beersheba to worship. Do not try to find me at Bethel — Bethel will come to nothing. Do not go to Gilgal — her people are doomed to exile.”
6 Go to the Lord, and you will live. If you do not go, he will sweep down like fire on the people of Israel. The fire will burn up the people of Bethel, and no one will be able to put it out.
7 You are doomed, you that twist justice and cheat people out of their rights!