3 This is what the Lord God says:“If 1,000 soldiers leave a city,only 100 will return.If 100 soldiers leave a city,only 10 will return.”
4 This is what the Lord says to the nation of Israel:“Come to me and live.
5 But do not look in Bethel.Do not go to Gilgal,and do not go down to Beersheba.The people of Gilgal will be taken away as captives.And Bethel will become nothing.”
6 Come to the Lord and live.If you don’t, he will destroy the descendants of Joseph as a fire would.The fire will burn.But there will be no one to put it out for Bethel.
7 You change the justice of the courts into something unfair.You reject what is right.
8 God is the one who made the star groups Pleiades and Orion.He changes darkness into the morning light.And he changes the day into the dark night.He calls for the waters of the seato pour out on the earth.The Lord is his name.
9 He destroys the protected city.And he ruins the strong, walled city.