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| Photo by Jim Tracy |
1 Listen to this death-song I am singing about you, O house of Israel.
2 The virgin of Israel has fallen. She won't get up any more. She is abandoned in her own land. There is no one to pick her up.
Israel is gonna' to die.
3 Because the God-That-Is says, "The city that sends a thousand soldiers to war will only get a hundred back, and the one that sends out a hundred will only get ten back."
4 Because the I AM says to the nation Israel, "If you will just look for Me you will live."
5 "Don't go looking to (the false idols of ) Bethel, and don't enter (the shrines of ) Gilgal, and don't travel to Beersheba, because Gilgal will certainly go into captivity, and Bethel will cease to exist."
6 Look for the I AM and you will live. If you don't, He will spread like a wild fire in the houses of Joseph, and devour them, and there is no one who can quench it in Bethel.
7 You who turn judgment to wormwood, and treat the righteous like dirt,
Wormwood is a bitter, nasty herb that is used as a bug repellent. These Israelites were turning judgment into something nasty.
8 Seek Him that makes the (constellations of the) Pleiades and Orion, who turns the nighttime into daytime, and makes the day dark with night: who summons the waters of the sea, and pours them out onto the face of the earth: The I AM is His name:
It’s God that controls all the elements of nature. He placed the stars in the sky to form specific constellations, to tell us the Gospel story, even if we don’t have the written Word.
Orion, the Great Hunter, is holding the skin of a lion (“…(Satan) walks about, seeking whom he may devour:” 1 Peter 5:8) in societies older than Greece, with a snake biting His heel and His other foot crushing the head of another snake. He symbolizes God’s protection and provision for us.
God controls the sunrise and sunset, and the water cycle, where water evaporates from the ocean, drifts onto land, and then rains down, running into streams, rivers, and, finally, back to the ocean.
9 He brings ruin onto strong armies and destroys their forts.
9 He brings ruin onto strong armies and destroys their forts.
10 You hate the judges who correct the guilty, and despise those who speak the truth.
11 Because you oppress the poor through high taxes and dishonest business deals, you will never live in the mansions you have built, or drink wine from the grapes you have planted.
12 For I know how big and many your sins are. You oppress the innocent, take bribes, and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
13 So the smart people keep their mouths shut, because its an evil time.
14 Look for good, and not evil, so that you will live! and so the I Am, the Commander of the Angel Armies, helps you, just like you've claimed He does.
15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the courts. It may be that the I AM, Commander of the Angel Armies will be merciful to what's left of Israel.
16 And so the I Am, the Commander of Angel Armies, says this; Crying will be in all streets, and mournings on every road. Call the farmers into town to mourn with you, and hire all the professional mourners.
17 And in all vineyards there will be crying, because I will pass through your country, says the I Am.
18 Those who beg for the I Am to come will be sorry! You don't know what you are wishing for! The I Am's coming will bring darkness, not light!
19 You will be like a man who ran away from a lion, and ran into a bear, then escaped into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20 The "Day of the I Am" will bring darkness, not light. Even very dark, with no brightness in it.
21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not enjoy your religious assemblies.
Israel was still keeping the feasts to God, but because of their sin, God couldn’t even tolerate looking at them, much less accepting their sacrifices.
22 Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I pay attention to the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs; for I will not listen to the melody of your instruments.
24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
As Samuel told Saul, “God doesn’t want sacrifice. He wants obedience.” If Israel will just begin to practice righteous judgment God will forgive them. No amount of ceremonies will bring His favor back.
25 Was it Me you offered sacrifices and offerings to in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?
26 No, you have carried your king-god Moloch and Chiun, the images you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says the I Am, whose name is The Commander of the Angel Armies.