< Amos 5 >
1 Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lamentation I take up against you:
Hear ye this word of the Lord, even a lamentation, which I take up against you. The house of Israel is fallen; it shall no more rise.
2 “Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again. She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up.”
The virgin of Israel has fallen upon his land; there is none that shall raise her up.
3 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.”
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; The city out of which there went forth a thousand, [in it] there shall be left a hundred, and [in that] out of which there went forth a hundred, there shall be left ten to the house of Israel.
4 For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live!
Wherefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live.
5 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.
But seek not Bethel, and go not into Galgala, and cross not over to the Well of the Oath: for Galgala shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall be as that which is not.
6 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.
Seek ye the Lord, and ye shall live; lest the house of Joseph blaze as fire, and it devour him, and there shall be none to quench it for the house of Israel.
7 There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground.
[It is he] that executes judgment in the height [above], and he has established justice on the earth:
8 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—
who makes all things, and changes [them], and turns darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night: who calls for the water of the sea, and pours it out on the face of the earth: the Lord is his name:
9 He flashes destruction on the strong, so that fury comes upon the stronghold.
who dispenses ruin to strength, and brings distress upon the fortress.
10 There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.
They hated him that reproved in the gates, and abhorred holy speech.
11 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.
Therefore because they have smitten the poor with their fists, and ye have received of them choice gifts; ye have built polished houses, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted desirable vineyards, but ye shall not drink the wine of them.
12 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.
For I know your many transgressions, and your sins are great, trampling on the just, taking bribes, and turning aside [the judgment of] the poor in the gates.
13 Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the days are evil.
Therefore the prudent shall be silent at that time; for it is a time of evils.
14 Seek good, not evil, so that you may live. And the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed.
Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord God Almighty shall be with you, as ye have said,
15 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.”
We have hated evil, and loved good: and restore ye judgment in the gates; that the Lord God Almighty may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
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.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God Almighty; In all the streets [shall be] lamentations; and in all the ways shall it be said, Woe, woe! the husbandman shall be called to mourning and lamentation, and to them that are skilled in complaining.
17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,”
And [there shall be] lamentation in all the ways; because I will pass through the midst of thee, saith 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.
Woe to you that desire the day of the Lord! what is this day of the Lord to you? whereas it is 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.
As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him; and he should spring into his house, and lean his hands upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.
20 Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness and not light, even gloom with no brightness in it?
Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? and is not this [day] gloom without brightness?
21 “I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.
I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell [your] meat-offerings in your general 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.
Wherefore if ye should bring me your whole-burnt-sacrifices and meat-offerings, I will not accept [them]: neither will I have respect to your grand peace-offerings.
23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
Remove from me the sound of thy songs, and I will not hear the music of thine instruments.
24 But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
But let judgment roll down as water, and righteousness as an impassable torrent.
25 Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
Have ye offered to me victims and sacrifices, O house of Israel, forty years in the wilderness?
26 You have taken along Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, the idols you made for yourselves.
Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Raephan, the images of them which ye made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.
And I will carry you away beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the Almighty God is his name.