< 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 to the words of the funeral song I am singing for you, Israel:
2 The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her land, there is none to 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 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.
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 saith the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and you shall live.
For the Lord says this to 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.
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 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 cast fire on the house of Joseph, and it will devour and there will be no one to quench it for Bethel.
7 You that turn judgment into wormwood, and forsake justice in the land,
You who turn judgment to bitter wormwood, and cast righteousness into the dirt:
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 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 He that with a smile bringeth destruction upon the strong, and waste upon the mighty.
He causes destruction to burst over the strong. He brings devastation on the fortress.
10 They have hated him that rebuketh in the gate: and have abhorred him that speaketh perfectly.
You who hate the arbiters at the city gate, and abhor anyone who speaks the truth:
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 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 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 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 shall keep silence at that time, for it is an evil time.
It would be wise to keep quiet in such an evil time.
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 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 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 at the city gate. Perhaps the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to a surviving 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 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 vineyards there shall be wailing: because I will pass through in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.
In all vineyards there will be lamenting, when I pass through your midst, 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.
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 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 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 Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and 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 festivities: and I will not receive the odour of your assemblies.
I hate, I despise your feasts, I will not smell the savour of your festivals,
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.
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 thy songs: and I will not hear the canticles of thy harp.
Spare me the noise of your songs, I will not listen to the melody of your lyres.
24 But judgment shall be revealed as water, and justice as a mighty torrent.
But let justice roll on as a flood of waters, and righteousness like an unfailing stream.
25 Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel?
Was it only sacrifices and grain offerings you brought me during the forty years in the wilderness, 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 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 beyond Damascus, saith 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.

< Amos 5 >