Amos 5

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

Hear ye this word which I take up against you, as a lamentation, O house of Israel.

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

She is fallen, she will not rise again—the virgin of Israel: she is thrown down upon her land; there is none to 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.”

For thus hath said the Lord Eternal, The city that goeth forth with a thousand shall retain but a hundred, and she that goeth forth with a hundred shall retain but ten, [left] to the house of Israel.

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

For thus hath said the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye for 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 for Beth-el, and into Gilgal enter not, and to Beer-sheba' do not pass over; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Beth-el shall become naught.

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 for the Lord, and ye shall live: so that he come not suddenly like fire over the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el;

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

Ye who change justice into wormwood, and cast down righteousness to 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—

[But] he maketh the seven stars and Orion, and changeth into morning the shadow of death, and maketh the day dark into night; he it is that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out over the face of the earth: The Lord is his name;

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

That causeth wasting to prevail against the strong, so that wasting shall come against the fortress.

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

They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and him that speaketh uprightly they abhor.

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 forasmuch as you tread down upon the poor, and ye take from him onerous contributions of corn: if ye have built houses of hewn stone, ye shall not dwell in them; if ye have planted pleasant vineyards, ye shall not drink their wine.

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 manifold transgressions and your numerous sins: ye are those that are the adversaries of the just, that take a ransom, and that wrest [the cause of] the needy in the gate.

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

Therefore will the intelligent keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

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 for the good, and not the evil, in order that ye may live: and so will the Lord, the God of hosts, 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.”

Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice firmly in the gate: perhaps the Lord the God of hosts will be gracious unto 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 hath said the Eternal, the God of hosts, the Lord, On all public places there is lamentation, and in all the streets they cry, Woe! woe! and they call the husbandman to mourning, and to lamentation those skilled in wailing.

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

And in all vineyards there is lamentation; for I will pass through thy midst, 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 unto you that long for the day of the Lord! for what do you wish the day of the Lord? it is [one of] darkness, and not of 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 were to flee from a lion, and a bear should meet him; and he enter into the house, and lean his hand against 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?

Behold the day of the Lord is [one of] darkness, and not of light; yea, it is obscure, and hath no brightness.

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

I hate, I despise your feast-days, and I will not smell [the sacrifices] on your festive 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.

For though ye should offer me burnt-offerings and your meat-offerings, I will not accept them in favor: and the peace-offerings of your fatted cattle will I not look at.

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

Remove thou from around me the noise of thy songs: and the playing of thy psalteries I will not hear.

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

But let justice roll along like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

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

Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and meat-offerings in the wilderness [during] forty years, O house of Israel?

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

Bear then the canopy of your chief idol, and the figure of your images, the star of your god, which ye have 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 cause you to go into exile far beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, The God of hosts is his name.