Jan 26, 2018
8 He who made the
Pleiades and Orion,
who turns midnight into dawn
and darkens day into night,
who calls for the waters of the
sea
and pours them out over the face of the
land—
the Lord is his
name.
9 With a blinding flash he destroys the
stronghold
and brings the fortified city to
ruin.
10 There are
those who hate the one who upholds justice in court
and detest the one who tells the
truth.
11 You levy a
straw tax on the poor
and impose a tax on their grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone
mansions,
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush
vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know how many are your
offenses
and how great your sins.
There are those who
oppress the innocent and take bribes
and deprive the poor of justice in the
courts.
13 Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such
times,
for the times are evil.
14 Seek good, not
evil,
that you may live.
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
15 Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says:
“There will be wailing
in all the streets
and cries of anguish in every public
square.
The farmers will be summoned to
weep
and the mourners to wail.
17 There will be wailing in all the
vineyards,
for I will pass through your
midst,”
says the
Lord.
18 Woe to you who long
for the day of the Lord!
Why do you long for the day of the
Lord?
That day will be darkness, not
light.
19 It will be as though a man fled from a
lion
only to meet a bear,
as though he entered his
house
and rested his hand on the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—
pitch-dark, without a ray of
brightness?
21 “I hate, I
despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to
me.
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings
and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship
offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
23 Away with the noise of your
songs!
I will not listen to the music of your
harps.
24 But let justice roll on like a
river,
righteousness like a never-failing
stream!
25 “Did you bring
me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the wilderness, people of
Israel?
26 You have lifted up the shrine of your
king,
the pedestal of your idols,
the star of your god[a]—
which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will send you into exile
beyond Damascus,”
says the Lord,
whose name is God Almighty.