Amos 5

1 Listen to this word, which I lift over you in lamentation. The house of Israel has fallen, and it will no longer rise again.

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

2 The virgin of Israel has been thrown onto her land, there is no one who can raise her up.

The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more arise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

3 For thus says the Lord God: In the city from which a thousand departed, a hundred will remain, and in that from which a hundred departed, ten will remain, in the house of Israel.

For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, for the house of Israel.

4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek me and you will live.

For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and ye shall live.

5 But do not be willing to seek Bethel, and do not be willing to enter Gilgal, and you will not cross into Beer-sheba. For Gilgal will be led into captivity, and Bethel will be useless.

And seek not Bethel, neither go to Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

6 Seek the Lord and live. Otherwise, the house of Joseph may be destroyed with fire, and it will devour, and there will be no one who can extinguish Bethel.

Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour [it], and there be none to quench [it] in Bethel.

7 You turn judgment into wormwood, and you abandon justice on earth.

Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth,

8 The Maker of Arcturus and Orion, who turns darkness into daybreak and who changes day into night; who calls forth the waters of the sea and who pours them out over the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.

[seek him] that made the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: Jehovah is his name.

9 It is he who smiles destruction on the healthy, and who brings pillaging upon the powerful.

He causeth destruction to break forth suddenly upon the strong, and bringeth destruction upon the fortress.

10 They held hatred for the one who corrects at the gate, and they have abhorred the one who speaks perfectly.

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

11 Therefore, on his behalf, because you have torn apart the poor and stolen choice prey from him: you will build houses with square stones and you will not dwell in them; you will plant the most delightful vineyards, and you will not drink wine from them.

Forasmuch, therefore, as ye trample upon the poor, and take from him presents of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, and ye shall not drink the wine of them.

12 For I know your many wicked deeds and the strength of your sins, you enemies of the just, accepting bribes, and depriving the poor at the gate.

For I know how manifold are your transgressions and your sins mighty: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside [the right of] the needy in the gate.

13 Therefore, the prudent will be silent at that time, for it is an evil time.

Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in this time; for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good and not evil, so that you may live. And the Lord God of hosts will be with you, just as you have asked.

Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye say.

15 Hate evil and love good, and establish judgment at the gate. Perhaps then the Lord God of hosts may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Sovereign: In all the streets, there will be wailing. And in every place where they are outdoors, they will say, “Woe, woe!” And they will call the farmer to mourn, and those who know mourning to lamentation.

Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all broadways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

17 And in all the vineyards there will be wailing. For I will cross through your midst, says the Lord.

And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.

18 Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord. What is it to you? The day of the Lord is this: darkness and not light.

Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! To what end is the day of Jehovah for you? It shall be darkness and not light:

19 It is as if a man flees from the face of a lion, only to have a bear meet him; or, he enters a house and leans with his hand against the wall, only to have a snake bite him.

as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

21 I hate and have rejected your feasts; and I will not accept the odor from your gatherings.

I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will not smell [a sweet odour] in your solemn assemblies.

22 For if you offer me holocausts and your gifts, I will not receive them; and I will not look upon the vows of your fatness.

For if ye offer up unto me burnt-offerings and your oblations, I will not accept [them]; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fatted beasts.

23 Take away from me the tumult of your songs, and I will not listen to the canticles of your lyre.

Take away from me the noise of thy songs, and I will not hear the melody of thy lutes;

24 And judgment will be revealed like water, and justice like a mighty torrent.

but let judgment roll down as waters, and righteousness as an ever-flowing stream.

25 Was it you who offered victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, house of Israel?

Did ye bring unto me sacrifices and oblations in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

26 And you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch and the image of your idols: the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of your Moloch, and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye had made to yourselves;

27 And I will cause you to go into captivity across Damascus, says the Lord. The God of hosts is his name.

and I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith Jehovah, whose name is the God of hosts.