Amos 5

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

Hear ye this word, which, I, am taking up concerning you—even a dirge, 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 hath fallen—she cannot again rise, the virgin, Israel, —she lieth forsaken on her soil, 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, saith My Lord, Yahweh, The city that goeth out a thousand strong, shall have left it a hundred, —And, that which goeth out a hundred strong, shall have left it ten, belonging to the house of Israel.

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

For, thus, saith Yahweh, to the house of Israel, —Seek me, and 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.

Then do not seek Bethel, and, Gilgal, shall ye not enter, and, unto Beer-sheba, shall ye not cross over, For, Gilgal, shall, surely go into exile, and, Bethel, shall become a trouble.

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 Yahweh, and live, —lest he break forth, like a fire, upon the house of Joseph, and it devour with none to quench it, for Bethel.

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

Ye who turn, into, wormwood, justice, and, righteousness—to the ground have let fall.

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—

[Seek him] who made the Cluster and the Giant, and turneth, into morning, the shadow of death, and who, day into night, doth darken, Him who calleth to the waters of the sea, and poureth them out on the face of the land, Yahweh, is his name:

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

Him who flasheth force on the strong, —and, force, on the fortress, alighteth!

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

They hate the man who, in the gate, rebuketh, —and, him who speaketh truthfully, 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—because ye have trampled on the poor, and, the gift of corn, ye would take away from him, though, houses of hewn stone, ye have built, Yet shall ye not dwell in them, —Though, delightful vineyards, ye have planted, Yet shall ye 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 how numerous are your transgressions, and how surpassing your sins, —ye adversaries of the righteous! ye acceptors of a bribe! Even the needy in the gate, have they turned away!

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

Therefore, the prudent man, at that time, will be dumb, —Because an evil time, it is!

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 ye right and not wrong, that ye nay live, —that, so, Yahweh God of hosts, may 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 wrong, and love right, and station, Justice, in the gate, —Peradventure, Yahweh, 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, saith Yahweh, God of hosts, My Lord, In all broadways, shall be lamentation, and, in all streets, shall they say, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman unto the mourning, and, unto the lamentation, them who know a wailing song;

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

Ye, in all vineyards, lamentation, —For I will pass along through thy midst, saith Yahweh.

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.

Alas for them who are longing for the day of Yahweh, —What good to you, is the day of Yahweh? it, being 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 there should meet him—a bear! or he should have entered the house, and leaned his hand upon the wall, and there should bite him—a serpent!

20 Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness and not light, even gloom with no brightness in it?

Shall not the day of Yahweh be, darkness, and not light? yea, thick darkness and no brightness in it?

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

I hate, I despise your festivals, —and can scent no fragrance in your solemn feasts.

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.

Nay, though ye cause to ascend unto me ascending-sacrifices, and your meal-offerings, I will not accept [them], —nor, the peace-offering of your fat heifers, will I regard.

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

Take thou away from me, the noise of thy songs, —Even the melody of thy harps, will I 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, as a torrent over flowing.

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

The sacrifices and meal-offering, ye brought near unto me, in the desert, for 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.

But ye carried the tent of your king-idol, and your Saturn-images, —the star of your gods, 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.

Therefore will I carry you into exile beyond Damascus, —saith Yahweh, God of hosts, is his name.