Amos 5

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

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

³For 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.

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

⁵But 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.

⁶Seek 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.

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

⁸The 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.

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

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

¹¹Therefore, 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.

¹²For 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.

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

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

¹⁵Hate 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.

¹⁶Therefore, 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.

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

¹⁸Woe 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.

¹⁹It 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amos 5

¹Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

²The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

³For thus saith 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.

⁴For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

⁵But seek not Beth–el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer–sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth–el shall come to nought.

⁶Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth–el.

⁷Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

⁸Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name:

⁹That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

¹⁰They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

¹¹Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

¹²For 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.

¹³Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

¹⁴Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

¹⁵Hate 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.

¹⁶Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

¹⁷And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord.

¹⁸Woe 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.

¹⁹As 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.

²⁰Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

²¹I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

²²Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.

²³Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

²⁴But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

²⁵Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

²⁶But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

²⁷Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts.