< Amos 5 >
1 Hear you 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.
Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lamentation I take up against you:
2 The virgin of Israel has fallen upon his land; there is none that shall raise her up.
“Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again. She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up.”
3 Therefore thus says 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 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.”
4 Therefore thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, Seek you me, and you shall live.
For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live!
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 seek Bethel or go to Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba, for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.
6 Seek you the Lord, and you 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.
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.
7 [It is he] that executes judgement in the height [above], and he has established justice on the earth:
There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground.
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:
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—
9 who dispenses ruin to strength, and brings distress upon the fortress.
He flashes destruction on the strong, so that fury comes upon the stronghold.
10 They hated him that reproved in the gates, and abhorred holy speech.
There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.
11 Therefore because they have struck the poor with their fists, and you have received of them choice gifts; you have built polished houses, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted desirable vineyards, but you shall not drink the wine of them.
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.
12 For I know your many transgressions, and your sins are great, trampling on the just, taking bribes, and turning aside [the judgement of] the poor in the gates.
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.
13 Therefore the prudent shall be silent at that time; for it is a time of evils.
Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the days are evil.
14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and so the Lord God Almighty shall be with you, as you have said,
Seek good, not evil, so that you may live. And the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed.
15 We have hated evil, and loved good: and restore you judgement in the gates; that the Lord God Almighty may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
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.”
16 Therefore thus says 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.
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.
17 And [there shall be] lamentation in all the ways; because I will pass through the midst of you, says the Lord.
There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,”
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.
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.
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.
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.
20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? and is not this [day] gloom without brightness?
Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness and not light, even gloom with no brightness in it?
21 I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell [your] meat-offerings in your general assemblies.
“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.
22 Therefore if you 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 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.
23 Remove from me the sound of your songs, and I will not hear the music of your instruments.
Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let judgement roll down as water, and righteousness as an impassable torrent.
But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 Have you offered to me victims and sacrifices, O house of Israel, forty years in the wilderness?
Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
26 Yes, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Raephan, the images of them which you made for yourselves.
You have taken along Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, the idols you made for yourselves.
27 And I will carry you away beyond Damascus, says the Lord, the Almighty God is his name.
Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.