Amos 5
1 Listen, people of Israel, to this funeral lament that I sing about you!
Hear ye this word, which, I, am taking up concerning you—even a dirge, 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.
She hath fallen—she cannot again rise, the virgin, Israel, —she lieth forsaken on her soil, 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 My Lord, Yahweh, The city that goeth out a thousand strong, shall have left it a hundred, —And, that which goeth out a hundred strong, shall have left it ten, belonging to 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 Yahweh, to the house of Israel, —Seek me, and 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.
Then do not seek Bethel, and, Gilgal, shall ye not enter, and, unto Beer-sheba, shall ye not cross over, For, Gilgal, shall, surely go into exile, and, Bethel, shall become a trouble.
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 ye Yahweh, and live, —lest he break forth, like a fire, upon the house of Joseph, and it devour with none to quench it, for Bethel.
7 You twist justice and make it bitter, you throw integrity to the ground.
Ye who turn, into, wormwood, justice, and, righteousness—to the ground have let fall.
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] who made the Cluster and the Giant, and turneth, into morning, the shadow of death, and who, day into night, doth darken, Him who calleth to the waters of the sea, and poureth them out on the face of the land, Yahweh, is his name:
9 In a flash he cuts down the strong and destroys the fortresses.
Him who flasheth force on the strong, —and, force, on the fortress, alighteth!
10 You hate anyone who confronts injustice and loathe anyone who speaks honestly.
They hate the man who, in the gate, rebuketh, —and, him who speaketh truthfully, they abhor.
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.
Therefore—because ye have trampled on the poor, and, the gift of corn, ye would take away from him, though, houses of hewn stone, ye have built, Yet shall ye not dwell in them, —Though, delightful vineyards, ye have planted, Yet shall ye 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 numerous are your transgressions, and how surpassing your sins, —ye adversaries of the righteous! ye acceptors of a bribe! Even the needy in the gate, have they turned away!
13 So smart people keep quiet in such evil times.
Therefore, the prudent man, at that time, will be dumb, —Because an evil time, it is!
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 ye right and not wrong, that ye nay live, —that, so, Yahweh God of hosts, may be with you, as ye have said.
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 wrong, and love right, and station, Justice, in the gate, —Peradventure, Yahweh, 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 Yahweh, God of hosts, My Lord, In all broadways, shall be lamentation, and, in all streets, shall they say, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman unto the mourning, and, unto the lamentation, them who know a wailing song;
17 There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will pass through the midst of you, says the Lord.
Ye, in all vineyards, lamentation, —For I will pass along through thy midst, saith Yahweh.
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.
Alas for them who are longing for the day of Yahweh, —What good to you, is the day of Yahweh? it, being 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 should flee from the face of a lion, and there should meet him—a bear! or he should have entered the house, and leaned his hand upon the wall, and there should bite him—a serpent!
20 Isn't the day of the Lord darkness without light? Yes, pitch dark without a glimmer of light.
Shall not the day of Yahweh be, darkness, and not light? yea, thick darkness 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 festivals, —and can scent no fragrance in your solemn feasts.
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.
Nay, though ye cause to ascend unto me ascending-sacrifices, and your meal-offerings, I will not accept [them], —nor, the peace-offering of your fat heifers, will I regard.
23 Stop your noisy worship songs. I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
Take thou away from me, the noise of thy songs, —Even the melody of thy harps, will I not hear.
24 Rather let justice flow like a river, and doing right like an ever-flowing stream.
But let, justice, roll along like water, —and, righteousness, as a torrent over flowing.
25 Did you bring me sacrifices during those forty years in the desert, people of Israel?
The sacrifices and meal-offering, ye brought near unto me, in the desert, for 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.
But ye carried the tent of your king-idol, and your Saturn-images, —the star of your gods, which ye made for yourselves:
27 So I will send you into exile in a land beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of power.
Therefore will I carry you into exile beyond Damascus, —saith Yahweh, God of hosts, is his name.
