Amos 4–6

CHAPTER 4

Yet You Have Not Returned to Me

¹Hear this word, you cows of ^aBashan who are on the ^bmountain of Samaria,

Who ^coppress the poor, who crush the needy,

Who say to their ¹husbands, “Bring now, that we may ^ddrink!”

²Lord Yahweh has ^asworn by His ^bholiness that,

“Behold, the days are coming upon you,

And ¹they will take you away with ^cmeat hooks,

And the last of you with ^dfish hooks.

³“And you will ^ago out through breaches in the walls,

Each one straight before her,

And you ¹will be cast to Harmon,” declares Yahweh.

⁴“Enter Bethel and transgress;

In Gilgal multiply transgression!

^aBring your sacrifices every morning,

Your tithes every three days.

⁵“¹And offer a ^athank offering also from that which is leavened,

And call for ^bfreewill offerings; cause them to be heard about.

For so you ^clove to do, you sons of Israel,”

Declares Lord Yahweh.

⁶“But I gave you also ^acleanness of teeth in all your cities

And lack of bread in all your places,

Yet you have ^bnot returned to Me,” declares Yahweh.

⁷“And I also ^awithheld the rain from you

While there were still three months until harvest.

Then I would send rain on one city,

And on ^banother city I would not send rain;

One portion would be rained on,

While the portion not rained on would dry up.

⁸“So two or three cities would wander around to another city to drink ^awater,

But would ^bnot be satisfied;

Yet you have ^cnot returned to Me,” declares Yahweh.

⁹“I ^astruck you with scorching wind and mildew;

And the ^bgnawing locust was devouring

Your many gardens and vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees;

Yet you have ^cnot returned to Me,” declares Yahweh.

¹⁰“I sent a ^apestilence among you after the manner of Egypt;

I ^bkilled your choice men by the sword along with your ^ccaptured horses,

And I made the ^dstench of your camp rise up even in your nostrils;

Yet you have ^enot returned to Me,” declares Yahweh.

¹¹“I overthrew you as ^aGod overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

And you were like a ^bfirebrand ¹delivered from a blaze;

Yet you have ^cnot returned to Me,” declares Yahweh.

¹²“Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;

Because I will do this to you,

Prepare to ^ameet your God, O Israel.”

¹³For behold, He who ^aforms mountains and ^bcreates the wind

And ^cdeclares to man what are His thoughts,

He who ^dmakes dawn into gloom

And ^etreads on the high places of the earth,

^fYahweh God of hosts is His name.

CHAPTER 5

Seek Me That You May Live

¹Hear this word which I take up for you as a funeral ^alament, O house of Israel:

²She has fallen; she will ^anot rise again—

The ^bvirgin Israel.

She lies abandoned on her land;

There is ^cnone to raise her up.

³For thus says Lord Yahweh,

“The city which goes forth one thousand strong

Will have one ^ahundred left,

And the one which goes forth one hundred strong

Will have ^bten left to the house of Israel.”

⁴For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel,

“^aSeek Me ^bthat you may live.

⁵“But do not seek ^aBethel,

And do not come to ^bGilgal,

Nor cross over to ^cBeersheba;

For Gilgal will certainly go into ¹exile,

And Bethel will become ²evil.

⁶“^aSeek Yahweh that you may live,

Lest He come mightily like a ^bfire, ¹O house of Joseph,

And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel,

⁷For those who overturn ^ajustice into wormwood

And put righteousness down to the earth.”

⁸He who made the ^aPleiades and Orion

And ^boverturns the shadow of death into morning,

¹Who also ^cdarkens day into night,

Who ^dcalls for the waters of the sea

And pours them out on the surface of the earth,

^eYahweh is His name.

⁹It is He who ^aflashes forth with devastation upon the strong

So that ^bdevastation comes upon the fortification.

¹⁰They hate him who ^areproves in the ¹gate,

And they ^babhor him who speaks with integrity.

¹¹Therefore because you ¹impose heavy rent on the poor

And take a tribute of grain from them,

Though you have built ^ahouses of cut stone,

Yet you will not live in them;

You have planted desirable vineyards, yet you will ^bnot drink their wine.

¹²For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are mighty,

You who ^adistress the righteous and take bribes

And ¹turn aside the needy in the ²gate.

¹³Therefore at ¹such a time the one with insight ^akeeps silent, for it is an evil time.

¹⁴Seek good and not evil, in order that you may live;

And thus may Yahweh God of hosts be with you,

^aJust as you have said!

^15aHate evil, love good,

And set justice at the ¹gate!

Perhaps Yahweh God of hosts

^bMay be gracious to the ^cremnant of Joseph.

¹⁶Therefore thus says Yahweh God of hosts, the Lord,

“There is ^awailing in all the plazas,

And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’

They also call the ^bfarmer to mourning

And ^1cprofessional weepers to wailing.

¹⁷“And in all the ^avineyards there is wailing

Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says Yahweh.

¹⁸Woe, you who are longing for the ^aday of Yahweh,

For what purpose will the day of Yahweh be to you?

It will be ^bdarkness and not light;

¹⁹As when a man ^aflees from a lion

And a bear meets him;

¹Or he goes home, leans his hand against the wall,

And a snake bites him.

²⁰Will not the day of Yahweh be ^adarkness instead of light,

Even thick darkness with no brightness in it?

²¹“I hate, I ^areject your feasts,

Nor do I ^1bdelight in your solemn assemblies.

²²“Even though you ^aoffer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

And I will not even look at the ^bpeace offerings of your fatlings.

²³“Remove from Me the tumult of your songs;

I will not even listen to the melody of your harps.

²⁴“But let ^ajustice roll down like waters

And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

²⁵“^1aDid you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?

²⁶“^aYou also carried along ¹Sikkuth your king and ²Kiyyun, your images, ³the star of your gods which you made for yourselves.

²⁷“Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says Yahweh, whose name is the God of hosts.

CHAPTER 6

Woe to Those at Ease in Zion

^1aWoe to those who are at ease in Zion

And to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria,

The ^bdistinguished men of the first of the nations,

To whom the house of Israel comes.

²Pass on over to ^aCalneh and look,

And go from there to ^bHamath the great,

Then go down to ^cGath of the Philistines.

Are ¹they better than these kingdoms,

Or are their borders greater than your borders?

³Do you ^aput off the day of calamity,

And would you ^bcause the seat of violence to approach?

⁴Those who lay down on beds of ivory

And sprawl on their ^acouches

And ^beat lambs from the flock

And calves from the midst of the stall,

⁵Who improvise to the ¹sound of the harp,

And like David have ²composed ^asongs for themselves,

⁶Who ^adrink wine from ¹sacrificial bowls

While they anoint themselves with the first pick of the oils,

Yet they have not ^bgrieved over the destruction of Joseph.

⁷Therefore, they will now ^ago into exile among the first of the exiles,

And the ^bsprawlers’ ¹banqueting will turn aside.

⁸Lord Yahweh has ^asworn by Himself, Yahweh God of hosts has declared:

“I ^babhor the lofty pride of Jacob

And hate his ^ccitadels;

Therefore I will ^ddeliver up the city as well as its fullness.”

⁹And it will be, if ^aten men are left in one house, they will die.

¹⁰Then one’s ¹uncle, or the one who ^2aburns his bones, will lift him up to bring out his bones from the house, and he will say to the one who is in the innermost part of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” And that one will say, “No one.” Then he will ³answer, “^bKeep quiet. For ⁴the name of Yahweh is ^cnot to be mentioned.”

¹¹For behold, Yahweh is going to ^acommand and will strike the ^bgreat house to pieces and the small house to fragments.

¹²Do horses run on rocks?

Or does one plow ¹them with oxen?

Yet you have overturned ^ajustice into gall

And the fruit of righteousness into ²wormwood,

¹³You who are glad in ^1aLo-debar

²And say, “Have we not ^bby our own strength taken ³Karnaim for ourselves?”

¹⁴“For behold, ^aI am going to raise up a nation against you,

O house of Israel,” declares Yahweh God of hosts,

“And they will press down on you from ^1bLebo-hamath

To the ^cbrook of the Arabah.”