Amos 5

1 Hear this word that I take up as a lament over you, 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 The virgin Israel has fallen; she will rise no more; she is forsaken on her land; there is no one to raise her up.

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

3 For this is what the Lord Yahweh says: “The city that went out with a thousand will have a hundred left, and the one that went out with a hundred will have ten left belonging 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 this is what Yahweh says 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 Do not seek Bethel; nor enter Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into captivity, and Bethel will become nothing.

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 Yahweh and live, or he will break out like fire in the house of Joseph. It will devour, and there will be no one to quench it in Bethel.

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 Those people turn justice into a bitter thing and throw righteousness down to the ground!”

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

8 God made the Pleiades and Orion; he turns darkness into the morning; he makes the day dark with night and calls for the waters of the sea; he pours them out on the surface of the earth. Yahweh 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 He brings sudden destruction on the strong so that destruction comes on the fortresses.

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

10 They hate anyone who corrects them in the city gate, and they abhor anyone who speaks the truth.

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

11 Because you trample down the poor and take portions of wheat from him— although you have built houses of worked stone, you will not live in them. You have delightful vineyards, but you will 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 know how many are your offenses and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, take bribes, and turn aside the needy in the city gate.

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 Therefore any prudent person is silent at such a 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, so that you may live. So Yahweh, the God of hosts, will really be with you, as you say he 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 Hate evil, love good, establish justice in the city gate. Perhaps Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

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 Therefore, this is what Yahweh says, the God of hosts, the Lord, “Wailing will be in all the squares, and they will say in all the streets, 'Woe! Woe!' They will call the farmers to mourning and the mourners to wail.

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 In all vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through your midst,” says Yahweh.

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

18 Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! Why do you long for the day of Yahweh? It will be 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 a man flees from a lion and a bear meets him, or he goes in a house and puts his hand on the wall and a snake bites 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 Will not the day of Yahweh be darkness and not light? Gloom and no brightness?

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

21 “I hate, I despise your festivals, I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

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

22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I look at the fellowship offerings of your fattened animals.

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 Remove from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the sound of your harps.

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

24 Instead, let justice flow like water, and righteousness like a constantly flowing stream.

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

25 Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel?

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

26 You have lifted up the images of Sikkuth, your king, and Kaiwan, your star god, which 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 Therefore I will exile you beyond Damascus,” says Yahweh, whose name is the God of hosts.

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