Amos 5:10–24

¹⁰Israel, you hate anyone who speaks out against injustice. 

You are disgusted by anyone who speaks the truth. 

¹¹You trample on the poor 

and take their wheat from them for taxes. 

That is why you build houses from hand-cut stones, 

but you will not live in them. 

You plant beautiful vineyards, 

but you will not drink their wine. 

¹²I know that your crimes are numerous and your sins are many. 

You oppress the righteous by taking bribes. 

You deny the needy access to the courts. 

¹³That is why a wise person remains silent at such times, 

because those times are so evil. 

¹⁴Search for good instead of evil so that you may live. 

Then the Lord God of Armies will be with you, as you have said. 

¹⁵Hate evil and love good. 

Then you will be able to have justice in your courts. 

Maybe the Lord God of Armies 

will have pity on the faithful few of Joseph. 

¹⁶This is what the Lord, the Almighty God of Armies, says: 

There will be loud crying in every city square, 

and people will say in every street, “Oh, no!” 

They will call on farmers to mourn 

and on professional mourners to cry loudly. 

¹⁷There will be loud crying in every vineyard, 

because I will pass through your land ⸤with death⸥. 

The Lord has said this. 

The Terrifying Day of the Lord

¹⁸How horrible it will be for those who long for the day of the Lord! 

Why do you long for that day? 

The day of the Lord is one of darkness and not light. 

¹⁹It is like a person who flees from a lion 

only to be attacked by a bear. 

It is like a person who goes home and puts his hand on the wall 

only to be bitten by a snake. 

²⁰The day of the Lord brings darkness and not light. 

It is pitch black, with no light. 

The Lord Rejects Israel’s Worship

²¹I hate your festivals; I despise them. 

I’m not pleased with your religious assemblies. 

²²Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, 

I won’t accept them. 

I won’t even look at the fellowship offerings of your choicest animals. 

²³Spare me the sound of your songs. 

I won’t listen to the music of your harps. 

²⁴But let justice flow like a river 

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.