Amos 5

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

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

2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken on her land; there is none to raise her up.

“Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again. She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up.”

3 For thus says the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave 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 says the LORD to the house of Israel, Seek you me, and you shall live:

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

5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.

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 Seek the LORD, and you 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.

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 You who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

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

8 Seek him that makes the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night: that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the 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 That strengthens the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

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

10 They hate him that rebukes in the gate, and they abhor him that speaks uprightly.

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

11 For as much therefore as your treading is on the poor, and you take from him burdens of wheat: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink 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 mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

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 keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

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

14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as you have 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 evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

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 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD, says thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the farmer to mourning, and such as are skillful of lamentation to wailing.

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 all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through you, says the LORD.

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

18 Woe to you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, 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 lion, and a bear 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 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness and not light, even gloom with no brightness in it?

21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

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

22 Though you offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings 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 you away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your viols.

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

24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

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

25 Have you offered to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

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

26 But you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.

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

27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.

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