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.

The Day of 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!