Amos 5

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