< Amos 5 >
1 You people [MTY] of Israel, listen to this funeral song that I will sing about you:
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 “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.”
The virgin of Israel has fallen upon his land; there is none that shall raise her up.
3 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.”
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 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.
Therefore thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, Seek you me, and you shall live.
5 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.”
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 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.
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 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.
[It is he] that executes judgment in the height [above], and he has established justice on the earth:
8 [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.
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 He causes strong [soldiers] to be killed, and causes the (high walls around/fortresses of) cities to be torn down.
who dispenses ruin to strength, and brings distress upon the fortress.
10 [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.
They hated him that reproved in the gates, and abhorred holy speech.
11 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.
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 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.
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.
13 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].
Therefore the prudent shall be silent at that time; for it is a time of evils.
14 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].
Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and so the Lord God Almighty shall be with you, as you have said,
15 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.
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.
16 “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].
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 People will be wailing in your vineyards, because I will punish you [IDM] severely. [That will surely happen because] I, Yahweh, have said it!”
And [there shall be] lamentation in all the ways; because I will pass through the midst of you, says the Lord.
18 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.
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 [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.
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 That day, [when he punishes people], will certainly be [RHQ] a very dark day [MET], without even a little bit of light.
Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? and is not this [day] gloom without brightness?
21 [Yahweh says], “I hate your religious celebrations and the times when you gather to worship me; I detest them [DOU].
I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell [your] meat-offerings in your general assemblies.
22 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.
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 So, stop singing noisy/loud songs! I will not listen when you play harps.
Remove from me the sound of your songs, and I will not hear the music of your instruments.
24 Instead, your continually acting justly/fairly and righteously should be [never stop, ] like [SIM] [the water in] a river that never stops flowing.
But let judgment roll down as water, and righteousness as an impassable torrent.
25 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!
Have you offered to me victims and sacrifices, O house of Israel, forty years in the wilderness?
26 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].
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 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!”
And I will carry you away beyond Damascus, says the Lord, the Almighty God is his name.