Amos 5

1 Hear you this word of the Lord, even a lamentation, which I take up against you. The house of Israel is fallen; it shall no more rise.

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

2 The virgin of Israel has fallen upon his land; there is none that shall raise her up.

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

3 Therefore thus says the Lord God; The city out of which there went forth a thousand, [in it] there shall be left a hundred, and [in that] out of which there went forth a hundred, there shall be left ten to the house of Israel.

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.

4 Therefore thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, Seek you me, and you shall live.

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

5 But seek not Bethel, and go not into Galgala, and cross not over to the Well of the Oath: for Galgala shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall be as that which is not.

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.

6 Seek you the Lord, and you shall live; lest the house of Joseph blaze as fire, and it devour him, and there shall be none to quench it for the house of Israel.

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.

7 [It is he] that executes judgment in the height [above], and he has established justice on the earth:

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

8 who makes all things, and changes [them], and turns darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night: who calls for the water of the sea, and pours it out on the face of the earth: the Lord is his name:

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!

9 who dispenses ruin to strength, and brings distress upon the fortress.

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

10 They hated him that reproved in the gates, and abhorred holy speech.

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

11 Therefore because they have struck the poor with their fists, and you have received of them choice gifts; you have built polished houses, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted desirable vineyards, but you shall not drink the wine of them.

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.

12 For I know your many transgressions, and your sins are great, trampling on the just, taking bribes, and turning aside [the judgment of] the poor in the gates.

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.

13 Therefore the prudent shall be silent at that time; for it is a time of evils.

So smart people keep quiet in such evil times.

14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and so the Lord God Almighty shall be with you, as you have said,

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.

15 We have hated evil, and loved good: and restore you judgment in the gates; that the Lord God Almighty may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

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.

16 Therefore thus says the Lord God Almighty; In all the streets [shall be] lamentations; and in all the ways shall it be said, Woe, woe! the husbandman shall be called to mourning and lamentation, and to them that are skilled in complaining.

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.

17 And [there shall be] lamentation in all the ways; because I will pass through the midst of you, says the Lord.

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

18 Woe to you that desire the day of the Lord! what is this day of the Lord to you? whereas it is darkness, and not light.

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.

19 As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him; and he should spring into his house, and lean his hands upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.

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.

20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? and is not this [day] gloom without brightness?

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

21 I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell [your] meat-offerings in your general assemblies.

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

22 Therefore if you should bring me your whole burnt sacrifices and meat-offerings, I will not accept [them]: neither will I have respect to your grand peace-offerings.

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.

23 Remove from me the sound of your songs, and I will not hear the music of your instruments.

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

24 But let judgment roll down as water, and righteousness as an impassable torrent.

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

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

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

26 Yes, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Raephan, the images of them which you made for yourselves.

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

27 And I will carry you away beyond Damascus, says the Lord, the Almighty God is his name.

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