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.

Listen, people of Israel, to this funeral lament that I sing about you!

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

Virgin Israel has fallen, and will never rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, and there is no one to help 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.

This is what the Lord says: From a city that sends out a thousand soldiers, only a hundred will return; from a city that sends out a hundred soldiers, only ten will return.

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

This is what the Lord says to the people of Israel: Look to me so you may 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.

Do not look to the false gods of Bethel, do not go to the pagan shrines of Gilgal or travel to those of Beersheba. For Gilgal will go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.

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.

Look to the Lord so you may live! Otherwise he will explode like fire against the descendants of Joseph and no one from Bethel will be able to quench it.

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

You twist justice and make it bitter, you throw integrity to the ground.

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.

The One who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns the darkness into morning, and daytime into night, who calls for the water of the seas, and pours it down as rain upon the earth—the Lord is his name!

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

In a flash he cuts down the strong and destroys the fortresses.

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

You hate anyone who confronts injustice and loathe anyone who speaks honestly.

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.

Because you trample down the poor and impose a tax on their grain, building for yourselves impressive houses, you will not live in them, and you will not drink wine from the fine vineyards you have planted.

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 the extent of your wrongdoing and your numerous sins. You oppress good people by taking bribes, and you prevent the poor from getting justice in the courts.

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

So smart people keep quiet in such evil times.

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.

Do what is right, and not evil, so you may live. Then the Lord God of power will be with you, as you claim he is.

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 make sure justice wins out in your courts. Maybe the Lord God of power will have mercy on those who are left of Jacob's people.

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.

For this is what the Lord, the Lord God of power says: There will be weeping in the city squares and wailing in the streets. They will call even the farmers to grieve, as well as the professional mourners.

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

There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will pass through the midst of you, says the Lord.

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.

How disastrous it will be for those of you who long for the day of the Lord. Why would you want the day of the Lord to come? It will bring darkness, 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.

It will be like a man running away from a lion only to meet a bear; or a man who goes home and leans his hand on a wall, only to be bitten by a snake.

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

Isn't the day of the Lord darkness without light? Yes, pitch dark without a glimmer of light.

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

I hate, I despise your festivals and take no delight in your religious 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.

Even though you present me with burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. As for your peace offerings of fattened cattle—I will not even look at them.

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

Stop your noisy worship songs. I will not listen to the melody of your harps.

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

Rather let justice flow like a river, and doing right like 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 you bring me sacrifices during those forty years in the desert, people 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.

But now you carry idols of Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god that you made for yourselves.

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

So I will send you into exile in a land beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of power.