Amos 5

1 Hear this word that I am bearing to you, A lamentation, O house of Israel:

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.

2 “Fallen, not to rise again, has the virgin of Israel, Left on her land—she has none [to] raise [her] up.”

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

3 For thus said Lord YHWH: “The city that is going out one thousand, Leaves one hundred, And that which is going out one hundred, Leaves ten to the house of Israel.”

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.

4 For thus said YHWH to the house of Israel: “Seek Me, and live,

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

5 And do not seek Beth-El, and do not enter Gilgal, And do not pass through Beer-Sheba, For Gilgal utterly removes, And Beth-El becomes vanity.

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.

6 Seek YHWH, and live, Lest He prosper as fire [against] the house of Joseph, And it has consumed, And there is no quencher for Beth-El—

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.

7 You who are turning judgment to wormwood, And have put down righteousness to the earth!”

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

8 The Maker of the Pleiades and Orion, And He who is turning death-shade to the morning—And He has made day [as] dark [as] night—Who is calling to the waters of the sea, And pours them on the face of the earth, YHWH [is] His Name;

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:

9 Who is brightening up the spoiled against the strong, And the spoiled comes against a fortress.

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

10 They have hated a reprover in the gate, And they detest a plain speaker.

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

11 Therefore, because of your trampling on the poor, And the tribute of grain you take from him, Houses of hewn work you have built, And you do not dwell in them, Desirable vineyards you have planted, And you do not drink their wine.

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.

12 For I have known—many [are] your transgressions, And mighty your sins, Adversaries of the righteous, taking ransoms, And you turned aside the needy in the gate.

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

13 Therefore the wise is silent at that time, For it [is] an evil time.

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

14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live, and it is so; YHWH, God of Hosts, [is] with you, as you said.

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

15 Hate evil, and love good, And set up judgment in the gate, It may be YHWH, God of Hosts, pities the remnant of Joseph.

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

16 Therefore, thus said YHWH, God of Hosts, the Lord: “Lamentation is in all broad places, And in all out-places they say, Oh! Oh! And called the farmer to mourning, And the skillful of wailing to lamentation.

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.

17 And in all vineyards [is] lamentation, For I pass into your midst,” said YHWH.

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

18 Behold, you who are desiring the Day of YHWH, Why [is] this to you—the Day of YHWH? It is darkness, and not light,

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.

19 As [when] one flees from the face of the lion, And the bear has met him, And he has come into the house, And has leaned his hand on the wall, And the serpent has bitten him.

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.

20 Is not the Day of YHWH darkness and not light, Even thick darkness that has no brightness?

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

21 “I have hated—I have loathed your festivals, And I am not refreshed by your restraints.

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

22 For though you cause burnt-offerings and your presents to ascend to Me, I am not pleased, And I do not behold the peace-offering of your fatlings.

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.

23 Turn the noise of your songs aside from Me, Indeed, I do not hear the praise of your stringed instruments.

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

24 And judgment rolls on as waters, And righteousness as a perennial stream.

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

25 Did you bring sacrifices and offerings near to Me, In a wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

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

26 And you bore Succoth your king, and Chiun your images, The star of your god, that you made for yourselves.

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

27 And I removed you beyond Damascus,” said YHWH—God of Hosts [is] His Name.

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