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 to the words of the funeral song I am singing for you, Israel:

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

Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel! Hurled down upon her own soil she lies, with no one to lift 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 the Lord God says this: The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers has only a hundred left, and the one that marches out with a hundred has only ten left.

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

For the Lord says this to Israel: Seek me and 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.

But do not seek Bethel, do not enter Gilgal, do not go over to Beer-sheba. For Gilgal will enter exile, and Bethel will go to destruction.

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 the Lord and live, or he will cast fire on the house of Joseph, and it will devour and there will be no one to quench it for Bethel.

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

You who turn judgment to bitter wormwood, and cast righteousness into the dirt:

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.

He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns deep darkness into dawn, who darkens day again into night, who summons the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the earth’s surface, the Lord is his name!

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

He causes destruction to burst over the strong. He brings devastation on the fortress.

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

You who hate the arbiters at the city gate, and abhor anyone who speaks the truth:

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 on the weak, and tax their grain, although you have built houses of hewn stone, you will not live in them, although you have planted charming vineyards, you will not drink their wine.

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 many are your crimes, and how great are your sins! You persecutors of the righteous, takers of bribes! You deny the poor their justice at the city gate.

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

It would be wise to keep quiet in such 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 you may live, so the Lord, God of hosts, may be with you, as you have claimed 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, establish justice at the city gate. Perhaps the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to a surviving 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 the Lord, the God of hosts, says: In all the public squares there will be wailing, in every street the sound of mourning. They will summon the farmers to mourning, and professional mourners to wailing.

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

In all vineyards there will be lamenting, when I pass through your midst, 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.

Fools who long for the day of the Lord! What does the day of the Lord mean to you? It is 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.

It is as when one flees from a lion, and is attacked by a bear, as when one reaches home, leans his hand on the wall, and a snake bites him.

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

Won’t the Lord’s day be darkness and not light, murky darkness without a ray of light 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, I will not smell the savor of your festivals,

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.

I will not be pleased with your burnt offerings, your grain offerings, I will not accept the peace offerings of your fattened calves.

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

Spare me the noise of your songs, I will not listen to the melody of your lyres.

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

But let justice roll on as a flood of waters, and righteousness like an unfailing stream.

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

Was it only sacrifices and grain offerings you brought me during the forty years in the wilderness, 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 will lift up your “king” Sikkuth and “star god” Kiyyun, your idols which you have 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.

as I drive you into exile beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.