Amos 5

1 Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel:

Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lamentation I take up against you:

2 “The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.”

“Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again. She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up.”

3 For the Lord GOD says: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”

This is what the Lord GOD says: “The city that marches out a thousand strong will only see a hundred return, and the one that marches out a hundred strong will have but ten left in the house of Israel.”

4 For the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live;

For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live!

5 but do not seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and do not pass to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.

Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba, for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.

6 Seek the LORD, and you will live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.

Seek the LORD and live, or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph; it will devour everything, with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.

7 You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth!

There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground.

8 Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name,

He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth— the LORD is His name—

9 who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.

He flashes destruction on the strong, so that fury comes upon the stronghold.

10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.

11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.

12 For I know how many are your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts.

For I know that your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes; you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.

13 Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.

Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the days are evil.

14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say.

Seek good, not evil, so that you may live. And the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed.

15 Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that the LORD, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

16 Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: “Wailing will be in all the wide ways. They will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

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 In all vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through the middle of you,” says the LORD.

There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,”

18 “Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light.

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 As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.

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 very dark, and no brightness in it?

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, and I cannot stand your solemn assemblies.

“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.

22 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

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.

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 rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?

Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

26 You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

You have taken along Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, the idols you made for yourselves.

27 Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Armies.

Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.