Amos 5

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

You people [MTY] of Israel, listen to this funeral song that I will sing about you:

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

“You are like [MET] a young woman, but in spite of that, you will certainly be struck down and you will never get up again! You will lie on the ground, abandoned, and there will be no one to help you stand up.”

3 For thus saith 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 Yahweh the Lord says to the people [MTY] of Israel: [“When your enemies attack you, ] and when 1,000 [of your soldiers] will go [to a battle], there will be only 100 who will survive. When 100 soldiers march out [from a city to fight], there will be only ten who will remain alive.”

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

Yahweh continues to say to the people [MTY] of Israel: “You Israeli people, return to me! If you do that, you will continue to remain alive.

5 But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought.

Do not go to Bethel to seek [my help]; do not go to Gilgal [to worship]; do not [even] go to Beersheba, because [your enemies] will drag away [the people of] Gilgal to other countries, and Bethel will be completely destroyed.”

6 Seek the LORD, 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 Beth-el.

So, come to Yahweh; if you do that, you will remain alive. If you do not do that, Yahweh will descend on you descendants [MTY] of Joseph like [SIM] a fire; that fire will burn everything in Bethel, and (nothing/no one) will be able to save that town.

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

You people distort what is fair/right and cause [people to think that] it is something that is very bitter; you treat good things as though they are evil.

8 [Seek him] that maketh the seven stars 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: The LORD [is] his name:

[Do you know who] created all the groups of stars and put them in their places? [Each morning] he causes the darkness to become the dawn, and [each evening] he causes the daylight to become darkness. He scoops up water from the oceans [to become clouds], and then he dumps the water [from the clouds] onto the earth. The one who does those things is named Yahweh.

9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

He causes strong [soldiers] to be killed, and causes the (high walls around/fortresses of) cities to be torn down.

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

[He is the one who will punish you] because you hate those who challenge anyone who tries to make unjust decisions, and you hate those who tell the truth in your courts.

11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading [is] upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

You oppress poor people and force them to pay big taxes. You have built big stone mansions [for yourselves], but you will not be able to live in them. You have planted vineyards, but there will not be any [grapes for you to harvest to make] wine.

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].

I know all of your sins and the terrible crimes that you have committed. You oppress righteous/honest people, and you accept bribes. You do not allow judges to treat poor people justly.

13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it [is] an evil time.

This is a time when [many people do] evil things, so people who have good sense say nothing [when they hear about such things being done].

14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

In order to remain alive, you must stop doing what is wrong, and start doing what is right. If you do that, the Commander of the armies of angels will be with you like you claim [that he always is].

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 unto the remnant of Joseph.

Love what is good, and hate what is evil! Try to cause [judges] in your courts to make decisions that are right/fair! If you do those things, perhaps the Commander of the armies of angels will act mercifully toward [you descendants of] Joseph who are still alive.

16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing [shall be] in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

“Because I, Yahweh, [will punish you for your sins], this is what I have solemnly declared: People will be wailing loudly in every street, and people will be very sorrowful in every plaza. Farmers will be summoned to [come and] weep, along with the other official mourners who will wail [for those who have died].

17 And in all vineyards [shall be] wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.

People will be wailing in your vineyards, because I will punish you [IDM] severely. [That will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it!”

18 Woe unto 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.

Terrible things will happen to you who desire that it will soon be the day when Yahweh [will punish your enemies], because that will be a day of darkness, not of 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.

[At that time, ] when you try to run from a lion, you will face a bear. When you run into your house [to be safe], and you put your hand on a wall, it will 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?

That day, [when he punishes people], will certainly be [RHQ] a very dark day [MET], without even a little bit of light.

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

[Yahweh says], “I hate your religious celebrations and the times when you gather to worship me; I detest them [DOU].

22 Though ye 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 if you bring me offerings that will be completely burned [on the altar] and offerings of grain, I will no longer accept them. Even if you bring me offerings to renew/maintain fellowship with me, I will not pay any attention to them.

23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

So, stop singing noisy/loud songs! I will not listen when you play harps.

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

Instead, your continually acting justly/fairly and righteously should be [never stop, ] like [SIM] [the water in] a river that never stops flowing.

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

You Israeli people [MTY], your [ancestors] wandered through the desert for 40 years; and during that time, they never brought any sacrifices and offerings to me!

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

But they carried the two idols that they had made— the idols of Succoth, the god [that they considered to be] their king, and Kaiwan, [the image of the] star [that they worshiped].

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

Therefore, now I will force you to go to [a country that is] far beyond Damascus! [That will surely happen because] I, the Commander of the armies of angels, have said it!”