Woe to Rebellious Israel

(Acts 7:39–43)

16 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says:

“There will be wailing in all the public squares

and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets.

The farmer will be summoned to mourn,

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!

What will the Day of the LORD be for you?

It will be darkness and not light.

19 It will be like a man who flees from a lion,

only to encounter a bear,

or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall,

only to be bitten by a snake.

20 Will not the Day of the LORD

be darkness and not light,

even gloom with no brightness in it?

21 “I hate, I despise your feasts!

I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.

22 Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

for your peace offerings of fattened cattle

I will have no regard.

23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24 But let justice roll on like a river,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

25 Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings

forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

26 You have taken along Sakkuth your king

and Kaiwan your star god,[fn]

the idols you made for yourselves.

27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,”[fn]

says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.