1 Hear ye this word, because I raise up a lamentation upon you, O house of Israel.
2 The virgin of Israel has fallen; she shall not be able to rise again: she was forsaken upon her land; there is no one to raise her up.
3 For thus hath the Lord GOD said: The city that sent out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which sent forth a hundred shall have ten, in the house of Israel.
4 But thus hath the Lord said unto the house of Israel, Seek me, and ye shall live:
5 but do not seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and do not pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
6 Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph and devour it, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.