Amos 5

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

Hear this word that I am bearing to you, 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.”

'Fallen, not again to rise, hath the virgin of Israel, Left on her land — she hath no raiser 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 said the Lord Jehovah: The city that is going out a thousand, Doth leave an hundred, And that which is going out an hundred, Doth leave ten to the house of Israel.

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

For thus said Jehovah to the house of Israel: Seek ye 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.

And seek not Beth-El, and Gilgal enter not, And Beer-Sheba pass not through, For Gilgal doth utterly remove, And Beth-El doth become vanity.

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 Jehovah, and live, Lest He prosper as fire [against] the house of Joseph, And it hath consumed, And there is no quencher for Beth-El.

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

Ye who are turning to wormwood judgment, And righteousness to the earth have put down,

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 maker of Kimah and Kesil, And the turner to morning of death-shade, And day [as] night He hath made dark, Who is calling to the waters of the sea, And poureth them on the face of the earth, Jehovah [is] His name;

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

Who is brightening up the spoiled against the strong, And the spoiled against a fortress cometh.

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

They have hated a reprover in the gate, And a plain speaker they abominate.

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 of your trampling on the poor, And the tribute of corn ye take from him, Houses of hewn work ye have built, And ye do not dwell in them, Desirable vineyards ye have planted, And ye do 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 have known — many [are] your transgressions, And mighty your sins, Adversaries of the righteous, taking ransoms, And the needy in the gate ye turned aside.

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

Therefore is the wise at that time silent, For 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 good, and not evil, that ye may live, And it is so; Jehovah, God of Hosts, [is] with you, as ye 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 evil, and love good, And set up judgment in the gate, It may be Jehovah, God of Hosts, doth pity 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 said Jehovah, God of Hosts, the Lord, In all broad places [is] lamentation, And in all out-places they say, 'Alas, alas,' And called the husbandman to mourning, And to lamentation the skilful of wailing.

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

And in all vineyards [is] lamentation, For I pass into thy midst, said Jehovah.

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.

Ho, ye who are desiring the day of Jehovah, Why [is] this to you — the day of Jehovah? 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 [when] one fleeth from the face of the lion, And the bear hath met him, And he hath come in to the house, And hath leant his hand on the wall, And the serpent hath bitten 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 Jehovah darkness and not light, Even thick darkness that hath no brightness?

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

I have hated — I have loathed your festivals, And I am not refreshed by your restraints.

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 cause burnt-offerings and your presents to ascend to Me, I am not pleased, And the peace-offering of your fatlings I behold not.

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

Turn aside from Me the noise of thy songs, Yea, the praise of thy psaltery I hear not.

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

And roll on as waters doth judgment, And righteousness as a perennial stream.

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

Sacrifices and offering did ye bring nigh to Me, In a wilderness 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.

And ye bare Succoth your king, and Chiun your images, The star of your god, that 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 removed you beyond Damascus, Said Jehovah, God of Hosts [is] His name.