Amos 5
1 Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel:
You people [MTY] of Israel, listen to this funeral song that I will sing about 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.”
“You are like [MET] a young woman, but in spite of that, you will certainly be struck down and you will never get up again! You will lie on the ground, abandoned, and there will be no one to help you stand 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 Yahweh the Lord says to the people [MTY] of Israel: [“When your enemies attack you, ] and when 1,000 [of your soldiers] will go [to a battle], there will be only 100 who will survive. When 100 soldiers march out [from a city to fight], there will be only ten who will remain alive.”
4 For the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live;
Yahweh continues to say to the people [MTY] of Israel: “You Israeli people, return to me! If you do that, you will continue to remain alive.
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 go to Bethel to seek [my help]; do not go to Gilgal [to worship]; do not [even] go to Beersheba, because [your enemies] will drag away [the people of] Gilgal to other countries, and Bethel will be completely destroyed.”
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.
So, come to Yahweh; if you do that, you will remain alive. If you do not do that, Yahweh will descend on you descendants [MTY] of Joseph like [SIM] a fire; that fire will burn everything in Bethel, and (nothing/no one) will be able to save that town.
7 You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth!
You people distort what is fair/right and cause [people to think that] it is something that is very bitter; you treat good things as though they are evil.
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,
[Do you know who] created all the groups of stars and put them in their places? [Each morning] he causes the darkness to become the dawn, and [each evening] he causes the daylight to become darkness. He scoops up water from the oceans [to become clouds], and then he dumps the water [from the clouds] onto the earth. The one who does those things is named Yahweh.
9 who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.
He causes strong [soldiers] to be killed, and causes the (high walls around/fortresses of) cities to be torn down.
10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.
[He is the one who will punish you] because you hate those who challenge anyone who tries to make unjust decisions, and you hate those who tell the truth in your courts.
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.
You oppress poor people and force them to pay big taxes. You have built big stone mansions [for yourselves], but you will not be able to live in them. You have planted vineyards, but there will not be any [grapes for you to harvest to make] wine.
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.
I know all of your sins and the terrible crimes that you have committed. You oppress righteous/honest people, and you accept bribes. You do not allow judges to treat poor people justly.
13 Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.
This is a time when [many people do] evil things, so people who have good sense say nothing [when they hear about such things being done].
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.
In order to remain alive, you must stop doing what is wrong, and start doing what is right. If you do that, the Commander of the armies of angels will be with you like you claim [that he always is].
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.”
Love what is good, and hate what is evil! Try to cause [judges] in your courts to make decisions that are right/fair! If you do those things, perhaps the Commander of the armies of angels will act mercifully toward [you descendants of] Joseph who are still alive.
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.
“Because I, Yahweh, [will punish you for your sins], this is what I have solemnly declared: People will be wailing loudly in every street, and people will be very sorrowful in every plaza. Farmers will be summoned to [come and] weep, along with the other official mourners who will wail [for those who have died].
17 In all vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through the middle of you,” says the LORD.
People will be wailing in your vineyards, because I will punish you [IDM] severely. [That will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it!”
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.
Terrible things will happen to you who desire that it will soon be the day when Yahweh [will punish your enemies], because that will be a day of darkness, not of 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.
[At that time, ] when you try to run from a lion, you will face a bear. When you run into your house [to be safe], and you put your hand on a wall, it will 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?
That day, [when he punishes people], will certainly be [RHQ] a very dark day [MET], without even a little bit of light.
21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I cannot stand your solemn assemblies.
[Yahweh says], “I hate your religious celebrations and the times when you gather to worship me; I detest them [DOU].
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 if you bring me offerings that will be completely burned [on the altar] and offerings of grain, I will no longer accept them. Even if you bring me offerings to renew/maintain fellowship with me, I will not pay any attention to them.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
So, stop singing noisy/loud songs! I will not listen when you play harps.
24 But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Instead, your continually acting justly/fairly and righteously should be [never stop, ] like [SIM] [the water in] a river that never stops flowing.
25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?
You Israeli people [MTY], your [ancestors] wandered through the desert for 40 years; and during that time, they never brought any sacrifices and offerings to me!
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.
But they carried the two idols that they had made— the idols of Succoth, the god [that they considered to be] their king, and Kaiwan, [the image of the] star [that they worshiped].
27 Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Armies.
Therefore, now I will force you to go to [a country that is] far beyond Damascus! [That will surely happen because] I, the Commander of the armies of angels, have said it!”
