Amos 5

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

Hear this word, a lamentation, which I take up against you, O house of Israel.

2 Virgin Israel has fallen, and will never rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, and there is no one to help her up.

The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more arise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

3 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.

For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, for the house of Israel.

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

For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and ye shall live.

5 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.

And seek not Bethel, neither go to Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

6 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.

Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour [it], and there be none to quench [it] in Bethel.

7 You twist justice and make it bitter, you throw integrity to the ground.

Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth,

8 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!

[seek him] that made the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: Jehovah is his name.

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

He causeth destruction to break forth suddenly upon the strong, and bringeth destruction upon the fortress.

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

They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

11 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.

Forasmuch, therefore, as ye trample upon the poor, and take from him presents of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, and ye shall not drink the wine of them.

12 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.

For I know how manifold are your transgressions and your sins mighty: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside [the right of] the needy in the gate.

13 So smart people keep quiet in such evil times.

Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in this time; for it is an evil time.

14 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.

Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye say.

15 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.

Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

16 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.

Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all broadways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

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

And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.

18 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.

Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! To what end is the day of Jehovah for you? It shall be darkness and not light:

19 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.

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

20 Isn't the day of the Lord darkness without light? Yes, pitch dark without a glimmer of light.

Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

21 I hate, I despise your festivals and take no delight in your religious assemblies.

I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will not smell [a sweet odour] in your solemn assemblies.

22 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.

For if ye offer up unto me burnt-offerings and your oblations, I will not accept [them]; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fatted beasts.

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

Take away from me the noise of thy songs, and I will not hear the melody of thy lutes;

24 Rather let justice flow like a river, and doing right like an ever-flowing stream.

but let judgment roll down as waters, and righteousness as an ever-flowing stream.

25 Did you bring me sacrifices during those forty years in the desert, people of Israel?

Did ye bring unto me sacrifices and oblations in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

26 But now you carry idols of Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god that you made for yourselves.

Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of your Moloch, and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye had made to yourselves;

27 So I will send you into exile in a land beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of power.

and I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith Jehovah, whose name is the God of hosts.