“Seek Me that You May Live”
Hear this word which I take up for you as a afuneral song, O house of Israel:Jer 7:29; 9:10, 17; Ezek 19:12 She has fallen, she will anot rise again—The bvirgin Israel.She lies neglected on her land;There is cno one to raise her up.Amos 8:14Jer 14:17Is 51:18; Jer 50:323 For thus says the Lord GOD,“The city which goes forth a thousand strongWill have a ahundred left,And the one which goes forth a hundred strongWill have bten left to the house of Israel.”Is 6:13Amos 6:9
4 For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel,“aSeek Me search diligently for Me and regard Me as more essential than food so bthat you may live. 2+@Chr 15:2; Jer 29:13Deut 4:29; 32:46, 47; Jer 29:13Is 55:3
5 “But do not resort to aBethel to worship the golden calfNor enter idolatrous bGilgal,Nor cross over to cBeersheba and its idols;For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity and exile,And Bethel will come to nothing.1 Kin 12:28, 29; Amos 3:14; 4:4; 7:10, 131 Sam 7:16; 11:14Gen 21:31-33; Amos 8:146 “aSeek the LORD search diligently for Him and long for Him as your most essential need so that you may live,Or He will rush down like a devouring bfire, O 1house of Joseph,And there will be no one to quench the flame for idolatrous 2Bethel,A reference to the ten tribes of Israel, the Northern Kingdom. The leading tribe in the north was Ephraim (descendants of Joseph’s second son).The center of pagan worship in the Northern Kingdom.Is 55:3, 6, 7; Amos 5:14Deut 4:247 For those shall be consumed who turn ajustice into wormwood And cast righteousness down to the earth.”Amos 2:3; 5:12; 6:12
8 He who made the cluster of stars called aPleiades and the constellation Orion,Who bturns deep darkness into the morningAnd cdarkens the day into night,Who dcalls for the waters of the seaAnd pours them out on the surface of the earth,The eLORD is His name.Job 9:9; 38:31Job 12:22; 38:12; Is 42:16Ps 104:20Ps 104:6-9; Amos 9:6Amos 4:139 It is He who causes sudden destruction to aflash forth on the strongSo that bdestruction comes on the fortress.Is 29:5; Amos 2:14Mic 5:11
10 They hate the one who areprimands the unrighteous in the court held at the city gate regarding him as unreasonable and rejecting his reprimand,And they bdetest him who speaks the truth with integrity and honesty.Is 29:21; Amos 5:151 Kin 22:8; Is 59:15; Jer 17:16-1811 Therefore, because you impose heavy rent on the poorAnd demand a tribute of grain from them,Though you have built luxurious ahouses of square stone,You will not live in them;You have planted beautiful vineyards, but you will bnot drink their wine.Amos 3:15; 6:11Mic 6:1512 For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great ,You who adistress the righteous and take bribes,And turn away from the poor in the court of the city gate depriving them of justice.Is 1:23; 5:23; Amos 2:613 Therefore, he who is prudent and has insight will akeep silent at such a corrupt and evil time, for it is an evil time when people will not listen to truth and will disregard those of good character.Eccl 3:7; Hos 4:4
14 Seek good and not evil, that you may live;And so may the LORD God of hosts be with you,aJust as you have said!Mic 3:1115 aHate evil and love good,And establish justice in the court of the city gate.Perhaps the LORD God of hostsbWill be gracious to the cremnant of Joseph that is, those who remain after God’s judgment.Ps 97:10; Rom 12:9Joel 2:14Mic 5:3, 7, 8
16 Therefore, thus says the LORD God of hosts, the Lord,“There is awailing in all the public plazas,And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’And they call the bfarmers to mourning for those who have diedAnd cprofessional mourners to wailing.Jer 9:10, 18-20; Amos 8:3Joel 1:112 Chr 35:25; Jer 9:17
17 “And in all avineyards there is wailing,For I will pass through your midst in judgment,” says the LORD. Ex 12:12Is 16:10; Jer 48:33
18 Woe to you who desire the aday of the LORD expecting rescue from the Gentiles!Why would you want the day of the LORD?It is bdarkness and not light and rescue and prosperity;Is 5:19; Jer 30:7; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31Is 5:30; Joel 2:219 It is as if a man aruns from a lion escaping one dangerAnd a bear meets him so he dies anyway,Or goes home, and leans with his hand against the wallAnd a snake bites him.Job 20:24; Is 24:17, 18; Jer 15:2, 3; 48:4420 Will not the day of the LORD be adarkness, instead of light,Even very dark with no brightness in it?Is 13:10; Zeph 1:15
21 “I hate, I adespise and reject your sacred feasts,And I do not take bdelight in your solemn assemblies.Is 1:11-16; 66:3; Amos 4:4, 5; 8:10Lev 26:31; Jer 14:12; Hos 5:622 “Even though you aoffer Me your burnt offerings and your grain offerings,I will not accept them;And I will not even look at the bpeace offerings of your fattened animals.Is 66:3; Mic 6:6, 7Lev 7:11-15; Amos 4:523 “Take the noise of your songs away from Me they are an irritation!I shall not even listen to the melody of your harps.24 “But let ajustice run down like watersAnd righteousness like an ever-flowing stream flowing abundantly.Jer 22:3; Ezek 45:9; Mic 6:8
25 “aDid you bring Me sacrifices and grain offerings during those forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? Certainly not!Deut 32:17; Josh 24:14; Neh 9:18-21; Acts 7:42, 43 26 aYou carried along your king Sikkuth and Kayyun your man-made gods of Saturn, your images of your star-god which you made for yourselves but you brought Me none of the appointed sacrifices.Acts 7:43 27 Therefore, I will send you to go into exile far beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts. Acts 7:42, 43