Amos 5

1 Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel:

Hear ye this word, which, I, am taking up concerning you—even a dirge, O house of Israel.

2 “The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her 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 For the Lord GOD says: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”

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 For the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live;

For, thus, saith Yahweh, to the house of Israel, —Seek me, and live;

5 but don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.

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 Seek the LORD, and you will live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.

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 who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth!

Ye who turn, into, wormwood, justice, and, righteousness—to the ground have let fall.

8 Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name,

[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 who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.

Him who flasheth force on the strong, —and, force, on the fortress, alighteth!

10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

They hate the man who, in the gate, rebuketh, —and, him who speaketh truthfully, they abhor.

11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their 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 For I know how many are your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts.

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 Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.

Therefore, the prudent man, at that time, will be dumb, —Because an evil time, it is!

14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say.

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 Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that the LORD, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

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 Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: “Wailing will be in all the wide ways. They will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

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 In all vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through the middle of you,” says the LORD.

Ye, in all vineyards, lamentation, —For I will pass along through thy midst, saith Yahweh.

18 “Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not 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 As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.

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 Won’t the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?

Shall not the day of Yahweh be, darkness, and not light? yea, thick darkness and no brightness in it?

21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.

I hate, I despise your festivals, —and can scent no fragrance in your solemn feasts.

22 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

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 Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

Take thou away from me, the noise of thy songs, —Even the melody of thy harps, will I not hear.

24 But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

But let, justice, roll along like water, —and, righteousness, as a torrent over flowing.

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

The sacrifices and meal-offering, ye brought near unto me, in the desert, for forty years O house of Israel;

26 You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

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 I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Armies.

Therefore will I carry you into exile beyond Damascus, —saith Yahweh, God of hosts, is his name.