Amos 5
1 You people [MTY] of Israel, listen to this funeral song that I will sing about you:
Hear ye this word, which, I, am taking up concerning you—even a dirge, O house of Israel.
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.”
She hath fallen—she cannot again rise, the virgin, Israel, —she lieth forsaken on her soil, there is none to 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.”
For, thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh, The city that goeth out a thousand strong, shall have left it a hundred, —And, that which goeth out a hundred strong, shall have left it ten, belonging 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.
For, thus, saith Yahweh, to the house of Israel, —Seek me, and 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.”
Then do not seek Bethel, and, Gilgal, shall ye not enter, and, unto Beer-sheba, shall ye not cross over, For, Gilgal, shall, surely go into exile, and, Bethel, shall become a trouble.
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 ye Yahweh, and live, —lest he break forth, like a fire, upon the house of Joseph, and it devour with none to quench it, for Bethel.
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.
Ye who turn, into, wormwood, justice, and, righteousness—to the ground have let fall.
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.
[Seek him] who made the Cluster and the Giant, and turneth, into morning, the shadow of death, and who, day into night, doth darken, Him who calleth to the waters of the sea, and poureth them out on the face of the land, Yahweh, is his name:
9 He causes strong [soldiers] to be killed, and causes the (high walls around/fortresses of) cities to be torn down.
Him who flasheth force on the strong, —and, force, on the fortress, alighteth!
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 hate the man who, in the gate, rebuketh, —and, him who speaketh truthfully, they abhor.
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 ye have trampled on the poor, and, the gift of corn, ye would take away from him, though, houses of hewn stone, ye have built, Yet shall ye not dwell in them, —Though, delightful vineyards, ye have planted, Yet shall ye 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 how numerous are your transgressions, and how surpassing your sins, —ye adversaries of the righteous! ye acceptors of a bribe! Even the needy in the gate, have they turned away!
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 man, at that time, will be dumb, —Because an evil time, it is!
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 ye right and not wrong, that ye nay live, —that, so, Yahweh God of hosts, may be with you, as ye 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.
Hate wrong, and love right, and station, Justice, in the gate, —Peradventure, Yahweh, God of hosts, will be gracious unto 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, saith Yahweh, God of hosts, My Lord, In all broadways, shall be lamentation, and, in all streets, shall they say, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman unto the mourning, and, unto the lamentation, them who know a wailing song;
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!”
Ye, in all vineyards, lamentation, —For I will pass along through thy midst, saith Yahweh.
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.
Alas for them who are longing for the day of Yahweh, —What good to you, is the day of Yahweh? it, being 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 there should meet him—a bear! or he should have entered the house, and leaned his hand upon the wall, and there should bite him—a serpent!
20 That day, [when he punishes people], will certainly be [RHQ] a very dark day [MET], without even a little bit of light.
Shall not the day of Yahweh be, darkness, and not light? yea, thick darkness and no brightness in it?
21 [Yahweh says], “I hate your religious celebrations and the times when you gather to worship me; I detest them [DOU].
I hate, I despise your festivals, —and can scent no fragrance in your solemn feasts.
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.
Nay, though ye cause to ascend unto me ascending-sacrifices, and your meal-offerings, I will not accept [them], —nor, the peace-offering of your fat heifers, will I regard.
23 So, stop singing noisy/loud songs! I will not listen when you play harps.
Take thou away from me, the noise of thy songs, —Even the melody of thy harps, will I not hear.
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, justice, roll along like water, —and, righteousness, as a torrent over flowing.
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!
The sacrifices and meal-offering, ye brought near unto me, in the desert, for forty years O house of Israel;
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].
But ye carried the tent of your king-idol, and your Saturn-images, —the star of your gods, which ye 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!”
Therefore will I carry you into exile beyond Damascus, —saith Yahweh, God of hosts, is his name.
