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.

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

2 The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her land, there is none to 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 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 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 saith the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and you shall live.

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

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

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

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 He that with a smile bringeth destruction upon the strong, and waste upon the mighty.

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

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

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

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.

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

So smart people keep quiet in such evil times.

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.

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 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—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 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.

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

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

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.

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 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 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 Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and 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 festivities: and I will not receive the odour of your assemblies.

I hate, I despise your festivals and take no delight in your religious 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 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 thy songs: and I will not hear the canticles of thy harp.

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

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

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

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 beyond Damascus, saith 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.