Amos 5–6

A Lament and Call to Repentance

5Hear this word, Israel, this lament^h I take up concerning you:

²“Fallen is Virginⁱ Israel,

never to rise again,

deserted in her own land,

with no one to lift her up.^j”

³This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel:

“Your city that marches out a thousand strong

will have only a hundred left;

your town that marches out a hundred strong

will have only ten left.^k”

⁴This is what the Lord says to Israel:

“Seek^l me and live;^m

⁵do not seek Bethel,

do not go to Gilgal,ⁿ

do not journey to Beersheba.^o

For Gilgal will surely go into exile,

and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.^ap”

⁶Seek^q the Lord and live,^r

or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire;^s

it will devour them,

and Bethel^t will have no one to quench it.^u

⁷There are those who turn justice into bitterness^v

and cast righteousness^w to the ground.^x

⁸He who made the Pleiades and Orion,^y

who turns midnight into dawn^z

and darkens day into night,^a

who calls for the waters of the sea

and pours them out over the face of the land—

the Lord is his name.^b

⁹With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold

and brings the fortified city to ruin.^c

¹⁰There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court^d

and detest the one who tells the truth.^e

¹¹You levy a straw tax on the poor^f

and impose a tax on their grain.

Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,^g

you will not live in them;^h

though you have planted lush vineyards,

you will not drink their wine.ⁱ

¹²For I know how many are your offenses

and how great your sins.^j

There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes^k

and deprive the poor^l of justice in the courts.^m

¹³Therefore the prudent keep quietⁿ in such times,

for the times are evil.^o

¹⁴Seek good, not evil,

that you may live.^p

Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,

just as you say he is.

¹⁵Hate evil,^q love good;^r

maintain justice in the courts.^s

Perhaps^t the Lord God Almighty will have mercy^u

on the remnant^v of Joseph.

¹⁶Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says:

“There will be wailing^w in all the streets^x

and cries of anguish in every public square.

The farmers^y will be summoned to weep

and the mourners to wail.

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

for I will pass through^a your midst,”

says the Lord.^b

The Day of the Lord

¹⁸Woe to you who long

for the day of the Lord!^c

Why do you long for the day of the Lord?^d

That day will be darkness,^e not light.^f

¹⁹It will be as though a man fled from a lion

only to meet a bear,^g

as though he entered his house

and rested his hand on the wall

only to have a snake bite him.^h

²⁰Will not the day of the Lord be darkness,ⁱ not light—

pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?^j

²¹“I hate,^k I despise your religious festivals;^l

your assemblies^m are a stench to me.

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

I will not accept them.^o

Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,

I will have no regard for them.^p

²³Away with the noise of your songs!

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

²⁴But let justice^r roll on like a river,

righteousness^s like a never-failing stream!^t

²⁵“Did you bring me sacrifices^u and offerings

forty years^v in the wilderness, people of Israel?

²⁶You have lifted up the shrine of your king,

the pedestal of your idols,^w

the star of your god^b—

which you made for yourselves.

²⁷Therefore I will send you into exile^x beyond Damascus,”

says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.^y

Woe to the Complacent

6Woe to you^z who are complacent^a in Zion,

and to you who feel secure^b on Mount Samaria,^c

you notable men of the foremost nation,

to whom the people of Israel come!^d

²Go to Kalneh^e and look at it;

go from there to great Hamath,^f

and then go down to Gath^g in Philistia.

Are they better off than^h your two kingdoms?

Is their land larger than yours?

³You put off the day of disaster

and bring near a reign of terror.ⁱ

⁴You lie on beds adorned with ivory

and lounge on your couches.^j

You dine on choice lambs

and fattened calves.^k

⁵You strum away on your harps^l like David

and improvise on musical instruments.^m

⁶You drink wineⁿ by the bowlful

and use the finest lotions,

but you do not grieve^o over the ruin of Joseph.^p

⁷Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile;^q

your feasting and lounging will end.^r

The Lord Abhors the Pride of Israel

⁸The Sovereign Lord has sworn by himself^s—the Lord God Almighty declares:

“I abhor^t the pride of Jacob^u

and detest his fortresses;^v

I will deliver up^w the city

and everything in it.^x”

⁹If ten^y people are left in one house, they too will die. ¹⁰And if the relative who comes to carry the bodies out of the house to burn them^az asks anyone who might be hiding there, “Is anyone else with you?” and he says, “No,” then he will go on to say, “Hush!^a We must not mention the name of the Lord.”

¹¹For the Lord has given the command,

and he will smash^b the great house^c into pieces

and the small house into bits.^d

¹²Do horses run on the rocky crags?

Does one plow the sea^b with oxen?

But you have turned justice into poison^e

and the fruit of righteousness^f into bitterness^g—

¹³you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar^c

and say, “Did we not take Karnaim^d by our own strength?^h”

¹⁴For the Lord God Almighty declares,

“I will stir up a nationⁱ against you, Israel,

that will oppress you all the way

from Lebo Hamath^j to the valley of the Arabah.^k”