Amos 5

Lamentation for Israel

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

²She has fallen;

Virgin Israel ^wwill never rise again. ^x

She lies abandoned on her land,

with no one to raise her up. ^y

³For the Lord God says:

The city that marches out a thousand strong

will have only a hundred left, ^z

and the one that marches out a hundred strong

will have only ten left ^ain the house of Israel.

Seek God and Live

⁴For the Lord says to the house of Israel:

Seek Me and live! ^b

⁵Do not seek Bethel ^c

or go to Gilgal ^d

or journey to Beer-sheba, ^e

for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,

and Bethel will come to nothing.

⁶Seek Yahweh ^fand live,

or He will spread like fire ^g

throughout the house of Joseph;

it will consume everything,

with no one at Bethel to extinguish it. ^h

⁷Those who turn justice into wormwood ⁱ

throw righteousness to the ground.

⁸The One who made the Pleiades and Orion, ^j

who turns darkness ^kinto dawn ^l

and darkens day into night, ^m

who summons the waters of the sea ⁿ

and pours them out over the face of the earth ^o—

Yahweh is His name. ^p

⁹He brings destruction ^qon the strong, ^rs

and it falls on the stronghold. ^t

¹⁰They hate the one who convicts the guilty ^u

at the city gate

and despise ^vthe one who speaks with integrity.

¹¹Therefore, because you trample on the poor ^w

and exact a grain tax from him,

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

you have built;

you will never drink the wine

from the lush vineyards

you have planted. ^y

¹²For I know your crimes are many

and your sins innumerable.

They oppress the righteous, ^ztake a bribe,

and deprive the poor of justice ^aat the gates.

¹³Therefore, the wise person will keep silent ^bc

at such a time,

for the days are evil.

¹⁴Seek good and not evil

so that you may live,

and the Lord, the God of Hosts,

will be with you,

as you have claimed. ^d

¹⁵Hate evil and love good; ^e

establish justice in the gate. ^f

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

to the remnant of Joseph. ^h

¹⁶Therefore Yahweh, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says:

There will be wailing in all the public squares; ⁱ

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

The farmer will be called on to mourn, ^k

and professional mourners ^lmto wail.

¹⁷There will be wailing in all the vineyards, ⁿ

for I will pass among you. ^o

The Lord has spoken.

The Day of the Lord

¹⁸Woe to you who long for the Day of the Lord! ^p

What will the Day of the Lord be for you?

It will be darkness and not light. ^q

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

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, ^s

even gloom without any brightness in it? ^t

²¹I hate, I despise your feasts! ^u

I can’t stand the stench

of your solemn assemblies. ^v

²²Even if you offer Me

your burnt offerings and grain offerings, ^w

I will not accept them; ^x

I will have no regard

for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle. ^y

²³Take away from Me the noise of your songs!

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

²⁴But let justice flow like water,

and righteousness, like an unfailing stream. ^a

²⁵“House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to Me during the 40 years in the wilderness? ^b26But you have taken up ^cSakkuth ^deyour king ^fand Kaiwan ^gyour star god, images you have made for yourselves. ^h27So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.” ⁱYahweh, the God of Hosts, is His name. ^jHe has spoken.