Amos 5
1 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.
You people [MTY] of Israel, listen to this funeral song that I will sing about you:
2 The virgin of Israel has fallen upon his land; there is none that shall raise her up.
“You are like [MET] a young woman, but in spite of that, you will certainly be struck down and you will never get up again! You will lie on the ground, abandoned, and there will be no one to help you stand up.”
3 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.
This is what Yahweh the Lord says to the people [MTY] of Israel: [“When your enemies attack you, ] and when 1,000 [of your soldiers] will go [to a battle], there will be only 100 who will survive. When 100 soldiers march out [from a city to fight], there will be only ten who will remain alive.”
4 Wherefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live.
Yahweh continues to say to the people [MTY] of Israel: “You Israeli people, return to me! If you do that, you will continue to remain alive.
5 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.
Do not go to Bethel to seek [my help]; do not go to Gilgal [to worship]; do not [even] go to Beersheba, because [your enemies] will drag away [the people of] Gilgal to other countries, and Bethel will be completely destroyed.”
6 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.
So, come to Yahweh; if you do that, you will remain alive. If you do not do that, Yahweh will descend on you descendants [MTY] of Joseph like [SIM] a fire; that fire will burn everything in Bethel, and (nothing/no one) will be able to save that town.
7 [It is he] that executes judgment in the height [above], and he has established justice on the earth:
You people distort what is fair/right and cause [people to think that] it is something that is very bitter; you treat good things as though they are evil.
8 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:
[Do you know who] created all the groups of stars and put them in their places? [Each morning] he causes the darkness to become the dawn, and [each evening] he causes the daylight to become darkness. He scoops up water from the oceans [to become clouds], and then he dumps the water [from the clouds] onto the earth. The one who does those things is named Yahweh.
9 who dispenses ruin to strength, and brings distress upon the fortress.
He causes strong [soldiers] to be killed, and causes the (high walls around/fortresses of) cities to be torn down.
10 They hated him that reproved in the gates, and abhorred holy speech.
[He is the one who will punish you] because you hate those who challenge anyone who tries to make unjust decisions, and you hate those who tell the truth in your courts.
11 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.
You oppress poor people and force them to pay big taxes. You have built big stone mansions [for yourselves], but you will not be able to live in them. You have planted vineyards, but there will not be any [grapes for you to harvest to make] wine.
12 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.
I know all of your sins and the terrible crimes that you have committed. You oppress righteous/honest people, and you accept bribes. You do not allow judges to treat poor people justly.
13 Therefore the prudent shall be silent at that time; for it is a time of evils.
This is a time when [many people do] evil things, so people who have good sense say nothing [when they hear about such things being done].
14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord God Almighty shall be with you, as ye have said,
In order to remain alive, you must stop doing what is wrong, and start doing what is right. If you do that, the Commander of the armies of angels will be with you like you claim [that he always is].
15 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.
Love what is good, and hate what is evil! Try to cause [judges] in your courts to make decisions that are right/fair! If you do those things, perhaps the Commander of the armies of angels will act mercifully toward [you descendants of] Joseph who are still alive.
16 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.
“Because I, Yahweh, [will punish you for your sins], this is what I have solemnly declared: People will be wailing loudly in every street, and people will be very sorrowful in every plaza. Farmers will be summoned to [come and] weep, along with the other official mourners who will wail [for those who have died].
17 And [there shall be] lamentation in all the ways; because I will pass through the midst of thee, saith the Lord.
People will be wailing in your vineyards, because I will punish you [IDM] severely. [That will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it!”
18 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.
Terrible things will happen to you who desire that it will soon be the day when Yahweh [will punish your enemies], because that will be a day of darkness, not of light.
19 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.
[At that time, ] when you try to run from a lion, you will face a bear. When you run into your house [to be safe], and you put your hand on a wall, it will be bitten by a snake.
20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? and is not this [day] gloom without brightness?
That day, [when he punishes people], will certainly be [RHQ] a very dark day [MET], without even a little bit of light.
21 I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell [your] meat-offerings in your general assemblies.
[Yahweh says], “I hate your religious celebrations and the times when you gather to worship me; I detest them [DOU].
22 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.
Even if you bring me offerings that will be completely burned [on the altar] and offerings of grain, I will no longer accept them. Even if you bring me offerings to renew/maintain fellowship with me, I will not pay any attention to them.
23 Remove from me the sound of thy songs, and I will not hear the music of thine instruments.
So, stop singing noisy/loud songs! I will not listen when you play harps.
24 But let judgment roll down as water, and righteousness as an impassable torrent.
Instead, your continually acting justly/fairly and righteously should be [never stop, ] like [SIM] [the water in] a river that never stops flowing.
25 Have ye offered to me victims and sacrifices, O house of Israel, forty years in the wilderness?
You Israeli people [MTY], your [ancestors] wandered through the desert for 40 years; and during that time, they never brought any sacrifices and offerings to me!
26 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Raephan, the images of them which ye made for yourselves.
But they carried the two idols that they had made— the idols of Succoth, the god [that they considered to be] their king, and Kaiwan, [the image of the] star [that they worshiped].
27 And I will carry you away beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the Almighty God is his name.
Therefore, now I will force you to go to [a country that is] far beyond Damascus! [That will surely happen because] I, the Commander of the armies of angels, have said it!”
