Amos 5

LAMENTATION FOR ISRAEL

5Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament,^w house of Israel:

²She has fallen;

Virgin Israel^x will never rise again.^y

She lies abandoned on her land

with no one to raise her up.^z

³For the Lord God says:

The city that marches out a thousand strong

will have only a hundred left,^aa

and the one that marches out a hundred strong

will have only ten left^ab in the house of Israel.

SEEK GOD AND LIVE

⁴For the Lord says to the house of Israel:

Seek me and live!^ac

⁵Do not seek Bethel^ad

or go to Gilgal^ae

or journey to Beer-sheba,^af

for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,

and Bethel will come to nothing.

⁶Seek the Lord^ag and live,

or he will spread like fire^ah

throughout the house of Joseph;

it will consume everything

with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.^ai

⁷Those who turn justice into wormwood^aj

also throw righteousness to the ground.

⁸The one who made the Pleiades and Orion,^ak

who turns darkness^A into dawn^al

and darkens day into night,^am

who summons the water of the sea^an

and pours it out over the surface of the earth^ao—

the Lord is his name.^ap

⁹He brings destruction^B on the strong,^Caq

and it falls on the fortress.^ar

¹⁰They hate the one who convicts the guilty^as

at the city gate,

and they despise^at the one who speaks with integrity.

¹¹Therefore, because you trample on the poor^au

and exact a grain tax from him,

you will never live in the houses of cut stone^av

you have built;

you will never drink the wine

from the lush vineyards

you have planted.^aw

¹²For I know your crimes are many

and your sins innumerable.

They oppress the righteous,^a take a bribe,

and deprive the poor of justice^b at the city gates.

¹³Therefore, those who have insight will keep silent^Dc

at such a time,

for the days are evil.

¹⁴Pursue good and not evil

so that you may live,

and the Lord, the God of Armies,

will be with you

as you have claimed.^d

¹⁵Hate evil and love good;^e

establish justice at the city gate.^f

Perhaps the Lord, the God of Armies, will be gracious^g

to the remnant of Joseph.^h

¹⁶Therefore the Lord, the God of Armies, the Lord, says:

There will be wailing in all the public squares;ⁱ

they will cry out in anguish^A in all the streets.

The farmer will be called on to mourn,^j

and professional mourners^Bk to wail.

¹⁷There will be wailing in all the vineyards,^l

for I will pass among you.^m

The Lord has spoken.

THE DAY OF THE LORD

¹⁸Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord!ⁿ

What will the day of the Lord be for you?

It will be darkness and not light.^o

¹⁹It will be like a man who flees from a lion^p

only to have a bear confront him.

He goes home and rests his hand against the wall

only to have a snake bite him.

²⁰Won’t the day of the Lord

be darkness rather than light,^q

even gloom without any brightness in it?^r

²¹I hate, I despise, your feasts!^s

I can’t stand the stench

of your solemn assemblies.^t

²²Even if you offer me

your burnt offerings and grain offerings,^u

I will not accept them;^v

I will have no regard

for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.^w

²³Take away from me the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.^x

²⁴But let justice flow like water,

and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.^y

²⁵“House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the wilderness?^{z 26}But you have taken up^C Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, images you have made for yourselves.^{aa 27}So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.”^ab The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name.^ac He has spoken.