Amos 5

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

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

2 She is fallen, she will not rise again—the virgin of Israel: she is thrown down upon her land; there is none to 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 For thus hath said the Lord Eternal, The city that goeth forth with a thousand shall retain but a hundred, and she that goeth forth with a hundred shall retain but ten, [left] 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 For thus hath said the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye for me, and ye shall live;

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

5 But seek not for Beth-el, and into Gilgal enter not, and to Beer-sheba' do not pass over; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Beth-el shall become naught.

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 for the Lord, and ye shall live: so that he come not suddenly like fire over the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el;

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 Ye who change justice into wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth!

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

8 [But] he maketh the seven stars and Orion, and changeth into morning the shadow of death, and maketh the day dark into night; he it is that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out over 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 That causeth wasting to prevail against the strong, so that wasting shall come against the fortress.

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

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

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

11 Therefore forasmuch as you tread down upon the poor, and ye take from him onerous contributions of corn: if ye have built houses of hewn stone, ye shall not dwell in them; if ye have planted pleasant vineyards, ye shall not drink their wine.

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 manifold transgressions and your numerous sins: ye are those that are the adversaries of the just, that take a ransom, and that wrest [the cause of] the needy in the gate.

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

So smart people keep quiet in such evil times.

14 Seek for the good, and not the evil, in order that ye may live: and so will the Lord, the God of hosts, be with you, as ye 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 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice firmly in the gate: perhaps the Lord the God of hosts will be gracious unto 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 hath said the Eternal, the God of hosts, the Lord, On all public places there is lamentation, and in all the streets they cry, Woe! woe! and they call the husbandman to mourning, and to lamentation those skilled in wailing.

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 in all vineyards there is lamentation; for I will pass through thy midst, saith the Lord.

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

18 Woe unto you that long for the day of the Lord! for what do you wish the day of the Lord? it is [one of] darkness, and not of 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 were to flee from a lion, and a bear should meet him; and he enter into the house, and lean his hand against 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 Behold the day of the Lord is [one of] darkness, and not of light; yea, it is obscure, and hath no brightness.

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

21 I hate, I despise your feast-days, and I will not smell [the sacrifices] on your festive assemblies.

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

22 For though ye should offer me burnt-offerings and your meat-offerings, I will not accept them in favor: and the peace-offerings of your fatted cattle will I not look at.

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 thou from around me the noise of thy songs: and the playing of thy psalteries I will not hear.

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

24 But let justice roll along like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

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

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

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

26 Bear then the canopy of your chief idol, and the figure of your images, the star of your god, which ye have 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 cause you to go into exile far beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, The God of hosts 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.