Amos 5

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

Listen, people of Israel, to this funeral lament that I sing about you!

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

Virgin Israel has fallen, and will never rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, and there is no one to help 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.”

This is what the Lord says: From a city that sends out a thousand soldiers, only a hundred will return; from a city that sends out a hundred soldiers, only ten will return.

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

This is what the Lord says to the people of Israel: Look to me so you may 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.

Do not look to the false gods of Bethel, do not go to the pagan shrines of Gilgal or travel to those of Beersheba. For Gilgal will go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.

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.

Look to the Lord so you may live! Otherwise he will explode like fire against the descendants of Joseph and no one from Bethel will be able to quench it.

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

You twist justice and make it bitter, you throw integrity to the ground.

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—

The One who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns the darkness into morning, and daytime into night, who calls for the water of the seas, and pours it down as rain upon the earth—the Lord is his name!

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

In a flash he cuts down the strong and destroys the fortresses.

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

You hate anyone who confronts injustice and loathe anyone who speaks honestly.

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.

Because you trample down the poor and impose a tax on their grain, building for yourselves impressive houses, you will not live in them, and you will not drink wine from the fine vineyards you have planted.

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 the extent of your wrongdoing and your numerous sins. You oppress good people by taking bribes, and you prevent the poor from getting justice in the courts.

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

So smart people keep quiet in such evil times.

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.

Do what is right, and not evil, so you may live. Then the Lord God of power will be with you, as you claim he is.

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.”

Hate evil and love good—and make sure justice wins out in your courts. Maybe the Lord God of power will have mercy on those who are left of Jacob's people.

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.

For this is what the Lord, the Lord God of power says: There will be weeping in the city squares and wailing in the streets. They will call even the farmers to grieve, as well as the professional mourners.

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

There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will pass through the midst of you, 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.

How disastrous it will be for those of you who long for the day of the Lord. Why would you want the day of the Lord to come? It will bring darkness, 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.

It will be like a man running away from a lion only to meet a bear; or a man who goes home and leans his hand on a 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?

Isn't the day of the Lord darkness without light? Yes, pitch dark without a glimmer of light.

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

I hate, I despise your festivals and take no delight in your religious 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.

Even though you present me with burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. As for your peace offerings of fattened cattle—I will not even look at them.

23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

Stop your noisy worship songs. I will not listen to the melody of your harps.

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

Rather let justice flow like a river, and doing right like an ever-flowing stream.

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

Did you bring me sacrifices during those forty years in the desert, people of Israel?

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

But now you carry idols of Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god that you made for yourselves.

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

So I will send you into exile in a land beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of power.