1 Listen, you people of Israel! Listen to this funeral song I am singing:
2 “The virgin Israel has fallen,never to rise again!She lies abandoned on the ground,with no one to help her up.”
3 The Sovereign lord says:“When a city sends a thousand men to battle,only a hundred will return.When a town sends a hundred,only ten will come back alive.”
4 Now this is what the lord says to the family of Israel:“Come back to me and live!
5 Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel;don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba.For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile,and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”
6 Come back to the lord and live!Otherwise, he will roar through Israel like a fire,devouring you completely.Your gods in Bethelwon’t be able to quench the flames.