Amos 5

1 Hear ye this word, which I take up concerning you for a lamentation. The house of Israel is fallen, and it shall rise no more.

Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lamentation I take up against you:

2 The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her land, there is none to 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 For thus saith the Lord God: The city, out of which came forth a thousand, there shall be left in it a hundred: and out of which there came a hundred, there shall be left in it ten, in 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 For thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek ye 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 Galgal, neither shall you pass over to Bersabee: for Galgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall be unprofitable.

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 ye the Lord, and live: lest the house of Joseph be burnt with fire, and it shall devour, and there shall be none to quench Bethel.

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 You that turn judgment into wormwood, and forsake justice in the land,

There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground.

8 Seek him that maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and that turneth darkness into morning, and that changeth day into night: that calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon 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 He that with a smile bringeth destruction upon the strong, and waste upon the mighty.

He flashes destruction on the strong, so that fury comes upon the stronghold.

10 They have hated him that rebuketh in the gate: and have abhorred him that speaketh perfectly.

There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.

11 Therefore because you robbed the poor, and took the choice prey from him: you shall build houses with square stone, and shall not dwell in them: you shall plant most delightful vineyards, and 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 Because I know your manifold crimes, and your grievous sins: enemies of the just, taking bribes, and oppressing the poor in the gate.

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 keep silence at that time, for it is an evil time.

Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the days are evil.

14 Seek ye good, and not evil, that you may live: and the Lord the God of hosts will 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 Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be the Lord the God of hosts 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 saith the Lord the God of hosts the sovereign Lord: In every street there shall be wailing: and in all places that are without, they shall say: Alas, alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful in lamentation to lament.

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 in all vineyards there shall be wailing: because I will pass through in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.

There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,”

18 Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord 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: or enter into the house, and lean with his hand 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 Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and no brightness in it?

Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness and not light, even gloom with no brightness in it?

21 I hate, and have rejected your festivities: and I will not receive the odour of your assemblies.

“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.

22 And if you offer me holocausts, and your gifts, I will not receive them: neither will I regard the vows of your fat beasts.

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 Take away from me the tumult of thy songs: and I will not hear the canticles of thy harp.

Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24 But judgment shall be revealed as water, and justice as a mighty torrent.

But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

25 Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel?

Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

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

You have taken along Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, the idols you made for yourselves.

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

Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.