Amos 5:18–6:14
18 Woe to you who desire lthe day of the Lord!
Why would you have the day of the Lord?
mIt is darkness, and not light,
19 nas if a man fled from a lion,
and a bear met him,
or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,
and a serpent bit him.
20 mIs not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light,
and gloom with no brightness in it?
21 o“I hate, I despise your feasts,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 pEven though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
I will not look upon them.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
to qthe melody of your harps I will not listen.
24 But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 r“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 sYou tshall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, 27 uand I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is gthe God of hosts.
6 w“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion,
and to those who feel secure on xthe mountain of Samaria,
ythe notable men of zthe first of the nations,
to whom the house of Israel comes!
2 Pass over to aCalneh, and see,
and from there go to bHamath the great;
then go down to cGath of the Philistines.
dAre you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory,
3 eO you who put far away the day of disaster
fand bring near the seat of violence?
4 “Woe to those gwho lie on hbeds of ivory
gand stretch themselves out on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock
iand calves from the midst of the stall,
5 jwho sing idle songs to the sound of the harp
and like David jinvent for themselves instruments of music,
6 kwho drink wine in bowls
and lanoint themselves with the finest oils,
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!
7 mTherefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile,
and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”
8 nThe Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts:
“I abhor othe pride of Jacob
and hate his strongholds,
pand I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”
9 And qif ten men remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And when one’s relative, rthe one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, “Is there still anyone with you?” he shall say, “No”; and he shall say, s“Silence! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”
11 For behold, the Lord commands,
and tthe great house shall be struck down into fragments,
and the little house into bits.
Does one plow there1 with oxen?
uBut you have turned justice into vpoison
uand the fruit of righteousness into wormwood2—
13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar,3
who say, w“Have we not by our own strength
captured Karnaim4 for ourselves?”
14 “For behold, xI will raise up against you a nation,
O house of Israel,” declares the Lord, the God of hosts;
“and they shall oppress you from yLebo-hamath
to the Brook of zthe Arabah.”