Amos 5

1 Heare ye this worde, which I lift vp vpon you, euen a lamentation of the house of Israel.

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

2 The virgine Israel is fallen, and shall no more rise: shee is left vpon her lande, and there is none to raise her vp.

“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 ye Lord God, The citie which went out by a thousand, shall leaue an hundreth: and that which went forth by an hundreth, shall leaue ten to 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 vnto the house of Israel, Seeke ye me, and ye shall liue.

For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live!

5 But seeke not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and go not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall goe into captiuitie, and Beth-el shall come to nought.

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 Seeke the Lord, and yee shall liue, least he breake out like fire in the house of Ioseph and deuoure it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el.

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 They turne iudgement to wormewood, and leaue off righteousnes in the earth.

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

8 He maketh Pleiades, and Orion, and he turneth the shadowe of death into the morning, and he maketh the day darke as night: he calleth the waters of the sea, and powreth them out vpon the open 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 strengtheneth the destroyer against the mightie: and the destroyer shall come against the fortresse.

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

10 They haue hated him, that rebuked in the gate: and they abhorred him that speaketh vprightly.

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

11 Forasmuch then as your treading is vpon the poore, and yee take from him burdens of wheate, ye haue built houses of hewen stone, but ye shall not dwel in them: ye haue plated pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drinke 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 For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mightie sinnes: they afflict the iust, they take rewards, and they oppresse the poore in ye 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 keepe silence in that time, for it is an euill time.

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

14 Seeke good and not euil, that ye may liue: and the Lord God of hostes shalbe with you, as you haue spoken.

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 the euil, and loue the good, and establish iudgement in the gate: it may bee that the Lord God of hostes will be mercifull vnto the remnant of Ioseph.

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 Therfore the Lord God of hosts, the Lord saith thus, Mourning shalbe in all streetes: and they shall say in al the hie wayes, Alas, alas: and they shall call the husbandman to lamentation, and such as can mourne, to mourning.

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 al the vines shalbe lamentation: for I wil passe through thee, saith the Lord.

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

18 Woe vnto you, that desire the day of the Lord: what haue you to do with it? the day of the Lord is darkenes 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 did flee from a lyon, and a beare met him: or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit 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 Shal not the day of the Lord be darkenes, and not light? euen darkenes and no light 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 abhorre your feast dayes, and I wil not smelll in your solemne assemblies.

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

22 Though ye offer me burnt offrings and meat offrings, I wil not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offrings 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 thou away from me the multitude of thy songs (for I wil not heare the melodie of thy violes)

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

24 And let iudgement runne downe as waters, and righteousnesse as a mightie riuer.

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

25 Haue ye offered vnto me sacrifices and offrings in the wildernesse fourtie yeeres, O house of Israel?

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

26 But you haue borne Siccuth your King, and Chiun your images, and the starre of your gods, which ye made to your selues.

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

27 Therefore wil I cause you to goe into captiuitie beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose Name is the God of hostes.

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