Amos Chapter 5 Back Next{5:1} Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of
Israel.
{5:2} "The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up."
{5:3} For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel."
{5:4} For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel: "Seek me, and you will live;
{5:5} but don't seek
Bethel, nor enter into
Gilgal, and don't pass to
Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into
captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
{5:6} Seek Yahweh, and you will live; lest he break out like
fire in the house of
Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.
{5:7} You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the
earth:
{5:8} seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of
death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name,
{5:9} who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.
{5:10} They hate him who reproves in the
gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.
{5:11} Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not
drink their wine.
{5:12} For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins-- you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the courts.
{5:13} Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.
{5:14} Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say.
{5:15} Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph."
{5:16} Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, the Lord: "Wailing will be in all the broad ways; and they will say in all the streets, 'Alas! Alas!' and they will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
{5:17} In all vineyards there will be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of you," says Yahweh.
{5:18} "Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! Why do you long for the day of Yahweh? It is
darkness, and not light.
{5:19} As if a man fled from a
lion, and a bear met him; Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.
{5:20} Won't the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?
{5:21} I hate, I despise your
feasts, and I can't stand your solemn assemblies.
{5:22} Yes, though you offer me your
burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.
{5:23} Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your
harps.
{5:24} But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
{5:25} "Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?
{5:26} You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.
{5:27} Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond
Damascus," says Yahweh, whose name is the God of Armies.
Amos Chapter 5 Back Next