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 this word which I take up for a lamentation over 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 has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one 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 the Lord GOD says: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”

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

For the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will 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 don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall 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.

Seek the LORD, and you will live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.

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

You who turn justice 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 who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name,

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

who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on 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 who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

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.

Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall 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 offences, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts.

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

Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a 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 you may live; and so the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you 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, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to 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 the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “Wailing will be in all the wide ways. They will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skilful in lamentation 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 wailing, for I will pass through the middle 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.

“Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? 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.

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

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

Won’t the day of the LORD 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 can’t stand 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.

Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

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 your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

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

But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

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

“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, 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.

You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which 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.

Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.