Amos 5
1Hear this word that I take up as a lament over you, house of Israel. 1
2The virgin Israel has fallen; 1 she will rise no more; 1 she is forsaken on her land; 1 there is no one to raise her up. 1
3For this is what the Lord Yahweh says: 1 “The city that went out with a thousand will have a hundred left, 1 and the one that went out with a hundred will have ten left 1 belonging to the house of Israel.” 1
4For this is what Yahweh says to the house of Israel: 1 “Seek me and live! 1
5Do not seek Bethel; 1 nor enter Gilgal; 1 do not journey to Beersheba. 1 For Gilgal will surely go into captivity, 1 and Bethel will become nothing. 1
6Seek Yahweh and live, 1 or he will break out like fire 1 in the house of Joseph. 1 It will devour, 1 and there will be no one to quench it in Bethel. 1
7Those people turn justice into a bitter thing 1 and throw righteousness down to the ground!” 1
8God made the Pleiades and Orion; 1 he turns darkness into the morning; 1 he makes the day dark with night 1 and calls for the waters of the sea; 1 he pours them out on the surface of the earth. 1 Yahweh is his name! 1
9He brings sudden destruction on the strong 1 so that destruction comes on the fortresses. 1
10They hate anyone who corrects them in the city gate, 1 and they abhor anyone who speaks the truth. 1
11Because you trample down the poor 1 and take portions of wheat from him— 1 although you have built houses of worked stone, 1 you will not live in them. 1 You have delightful vineyards, 1 but you will not drink their wine. 1
12For I know how many are your offenses 1 and how great are your sins— 1 you who afflict the just, 1 take bribes, 1 and turn aside the needy in the city gate. 1
13Therefore any prudent person is silent at such a time, 1 for it is an evil time. 1
14Seek good and not evil, 1 so that you may live. 1 So Yahweh, the God of hosts, will really be with you, 1 as you say he is. 1
15Hate evil, love good, 1 establish justice in the city gate. 1 Perhaps Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be gracious 1 to the remnant of Joseph. 1
16Therefore, this is what Yahweh says, 1 the God of hosts, the Lord, 1 “Wailing will be in all the squares, 1 and they will say in all the streets, 1 'Woe! Woe!' 1 They will call the farmers to mourning 1 and the mourners to wail. 1
17In all vineyards there will be wailing, 1 for I will pass through your midst,” 1 says Yahweh. 1
18Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! 1 Why do you long for the day of Yahweh? 1 It will be darkness and not light, 1
19as when a man flees from a lion 1 and a bear meets him, 1 or he goes in a house and puts his hand on the wall 1 and a snake bites him. 1
20Will not the day of Yahweh be darkness and not light? 1 Gloom and no brightness? 1
21“I hate, I despise your festivals, 1 I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 1
22Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, 1 I will not accept them, 1 neither will I look at the fellowship offerings of your fattened animals. 1
23Remove from me the noise of your songs; 1 I will not listen to the sound of your harps. 1
24Instead, let justice flow like water, 1 and righteousness like a constantly flowing stream. 1
25Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings 1 in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel? 1
26You have lifted up the images of Sikkuth, your king, 1 and Kaiwan, your star god, 1 which you made for yourselves. 1
27Therefore I will exile you beyond Damascus,” 1 says Yahweh, 1 whose name is the God of hosts.