Amos 5

1 Listen to this word, which I lift over you in lamentation. The house of Israel has fallen, and it will no longer rise again.

Hear all of you this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

2 The virgin of Israel has been thrown onto her land, there is no one who can raise her up.

The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

3 For thus says the Lord God: In the city from which a thousand departed, a hundred will remain, and in that from which a hundred departed, ten will remain, in the house of Israel.

For thus says the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek me and you will live.

For thus says the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek all of you me, and all of you shall live:

5 But do not be willing to seek Bethel, and do not be willing to enter Gilgal, and you will not cross into Beer-sheba. For Gilgal will be led into captivity, and Bethel will be useless.

But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.

6 Seek the Lord and live. Otherwise, the house of Joseph may be destroyed with fire, and it will devour, and there will be no one who can extinguish Bethel.

Seek the LORD, and all of you shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.

7 You turn judgment into wormwood, and you abandon justice on earth.

All of you who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

8 The Maker of Arcturus and Orion, who turns darkness into daybreak and who changes day into night; who calls forth the waters of the sea and who pours them out over the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.

Seek him that makes the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night: that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:

9 It is he who smiles destruction on the healthy, and who brings pillaging upon the powerful.

That strengthens the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

10 They held hatred for the one who corrects at the gate, and they have abhorred the one who speaks perfectly.

They hate him that rebukes in the gate, and they detest him that speaks uprightly.

11 Therefore, on his behalf, because you have torn apart the poor and stolen choice prey from him: you will build houses with square stones and you will not dwell in them; you will plant the most delightful vineyards, and you will not drink wine from them.

Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and all of you take from him burdens of wheat: all of you have built houses of hewn stone, but all of you shall not dwell in them; all of you have planted pleasant vineyards, but all of you shall not drink wine of them.

12 For I know your many wicked deeds and the strength of your sins, you enemies of the just, accepting bribes, and depriving the poor at the gate.

For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

13 Therefore, the prudent will be silent at that time, for it is an evil time.

Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good and not evil, so that you may live. And the Lord God of hosts will be with you, just as you have asked.

Seek good, and not evil, that all of you may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as all of you have spoken.

15 Hate evil and love good, and establish judgment at the gate. Perhaps then the Lord God of hosts may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Sovereign: In all the streets, there will be wailing. And in every place where they are outdoors, they will say, “Woe, woe!” And they will call the farmer to mourn, and those who know mourning to lamentation.

Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD, says thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the farmer to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

17 And in all the vineyards there will be wailing. For I will cross through your midst, says the Lord.

And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through you, says the LORD.

18 Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord. What is it to you? The day of the Lord is this: darkness and not light.

Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.

19 It is as if a man flees from the face of a lion, only to have a bear meet him; or, he enters a house and leans with his hand against the wall, only to have a snake bite him.

As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

21 I hate and have rejected your feasts; and I will not accept the odor from your gatherings.

I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

22 For if you offer me holocausts and your gifts, I will not receive them; and I will not look upon the vows of your fatness.

Though all of you offer me burnt offerings and your food offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.

23 Take away from me the tumult of your songs, and I will not listen to the canticles of your lyre.

Take you away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your viols.

24 And judgment will be revealed like water, and justice like a mighty torrent.

But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

25 Was it you who offered victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, house of Israel?

Have all of you offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

26 And you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch and the image of your idols: the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

But all of you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which all of you made to yourselves.

27 And I will cause you to go into captivity across Damascus, says the Lord. The God of hosts is his name.

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