Amos 5

1 Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lamentation I take up against you:

2 “Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again. She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up.”

3 This is what the Lord GOD says: “The city that marches out a thousand strong will have but a hundred left, and the one that marches out a hundred strong will have but ten left in the house of Israel.”

4 For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live!

5 Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba, for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.

6 Seek the LORD and live, or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph; it will devour everything, with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.

7 There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground.

8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD is His name—

9 He flashes destruction on the strong, so that fury comes upon the stronghold.

10 There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.

11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.

12 For I know that your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes; you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.

13 Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the days are evil.

14 Seek good, not evil, so that you may live. And the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed.

15 Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

16 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail.

17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD.

18 Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD be for you? It will be darkness and not light.

19 It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.

20 Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness and not light, even gloom with no brightness in it?

21 “I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.

22 Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; for your peace offerings of fattened cattle I will have no regard.

23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24 But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

25 Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

26 You have taken along Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, the idols you made for yourselves.

27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.

1 ¶ Hear ye this word which I take up against you, [even] a lamentation, O house of Israel.

2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; [there is] none to raise her up.

3 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out [by] a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth [by] an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

4 ¶ For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

6 Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour [it], and [there be] none to quench [it] in Bethel.

7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

8 [Seek him] that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD [is] his name:

9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading [is] upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate [from their right].

13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it [is] an evil time.

14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

16 ¶ Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing [shall be] in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

17 And in all vineyards [shall be] wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.

18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end [is] it for you? the day of the LORD [is] darkness, and not light.

19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

20 [Shall] not the day of the LORD [be] darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

21 ¶ I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept [them]: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.

23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name [is] The God of hosts.

1 Hear ye, O house of Israel, this word: for I must make this lamentation over you:

2 The virgin of Israel is fallen, that she shall not rise again: she is cast down to the ground, and there is none to help her up.

3 For thus saith the LORD God, The city that goeth out a thousand shall have an hundred left; and the city that goeth out an hundred shall have ten left in the house of Israel.

4 Therefore thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek me, and ye shall live.

5 Seek not Bethel, and come not to Gilgal, and pray not to Beersheba. For Gilgal shall be carried away captive, and Bethel shall become Bethaven.

6 Seek ye the LORD, and ye shall live; lest there be a fire in the house of Joseph, and it consume him, and there be none to quench it in Bethel,

7 Ye that turn justice into wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the ground.

8 He maketh the mother hen, and Orion; who maketh the morning out of darkness, and the day out of darkness; who calleth unto the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: his name is the LORD,

9 He that maketh a disturbance against the strong, and bringeth a disturbance upon the strong city.

10 But they grudge him that punisheth them in the gate, and have abhorred him that teacheth salvation.

11 Therefore because ye oppress the poor, and take the corn of them with great burdens, dwell not in the houses which ye have built of works, neither drink ye the wine which ye have planted in the fine vineyards.

12 For I know your transgressions, which are many, and your sins, which are great, how ye press the righteous, and take blood money, and oppress the poor in the gate.

13 Therefore the prudent man must keep silence at that time: for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and the LORD God of hosts shall be with you, as ye boast.

15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: and the LORD God of hosts shall be gracious unto the remnant in Joseph.

16 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, the LORD; There shall be mourning in every street, and they shall say in every street, Woe! woe! And the husbandman shall be called to mourn, and to lament, he that is able to weep.

17 There shall be mourning in all the vineyards: for I will go among you, saith the LORD.

18 Woe unto them that desire the day of the LORD! What shall it do unto you? For the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.

19 As when a man fleeth before a lion, and a bear meeteth him; and as when a man cometh into a house, and leaneth his hand against the wall, and a serpent stingeth him.

20 For the day of the LORD shall be dark, and not light; dark, and not light.

21 I am grief-stricken for your feasts, and despise them, and like not to smell in your congregation;

22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and meat offerings, I have no pleasure in them: neither will I regard your meat offerings of peace offerings.

23 Put away from me the noise of thy songs: for I will not hear thy psaltery.

24 And justice shall be revealed as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

25 Have ye of the house of Israel offered me sacrifices and meat offerings in the wilderness forty years? yea, yea.

26 Ye bear Sichuth your king, and Chiun your image, the star of your gods, which ye made for yourselves.

27 Then will I send you away from hence beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is God of hosts.