Amos 5

Hear this word that I am lifting up over you, a lamentation, house of Israel: 2 She has fallen; she will not repeat to rise, the virgin Israel. She is forsaken on her land; there is no one raising her up. \* 3 For thus says the Lord God, “The city going out a thousand will leave a hundred remaining, and the one going out a hundred will leave ten remaining for the house of Israel.” \*

For thus says God to the house of Israel, “Seek me and live, 5 and do not seek Bethel, and do not go to Gilgal, and do not cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal, going into exile, will go into exile, and Bethel will become iniquity.” \*

Seek God and live, lest he break out like fire {in} the house of Joseph, and it consumes, and there is no extinguisher for Bethel, 7 the {ones} turning justice into wormwood, and they cast righteousness to the ground! \* 8 The maker of the Pleiades and Orion, turning deep darkness into morning; he darkens day into night; calling for the waters of the sea, he pours them out on the face of the earth— God is his name— 9 the one making destruction flash against the strong, and destruction comes against the fortress. \* 10 They hate the reprover in the gate, and they abhor the one speaking blamelessly. 11 Therefore, because of your trampling on the poor and you take a tax of grain from him: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you will not dwell in them; you have planted vineyards of desire, but you will not drink their wine. \* 12 For I know your transgressions {are} many, and your sins {are} mighty— oppressors of the righteous, takers of a bribe, and they turn aside the needy in the gate. 13 Therefore the prudent will be still in that time, for it {is} an evil time. \* 14 Seek good, and not evil, so that you may live; and thus may God, God of Armies, be with you, just as you have said. 15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; perhaps God, God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. \*

Therefore thus says God, God of Armies, the Lord, “In all plazas {there will be} wailing, and in all streets they will say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ And they will call the farmer to mourning, and wailing to those knowing a lament. 17 And in all the vineyards {there will be} wailing, for I will pass through your midst,” says God. \* 18 Woe to the ones desiring the day of God! What {is} this to you, the day of God? It {is} darkness and not light. 19 As when a man flees from the face of the lion, and the bear meets him; or goes into the house and rests his hand on the wall, and the snake bites him. 20 {Is} not the day of God darkness, and not light? Even gloom, with no brightness in it? \* 21 “I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell in your assemblies. 22 For if you offer up to me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept {them}; and the peace offering of your fattened animals, I will not look at. \* 23 Remove from me the noise of your songs; and the music of your harps I will not hear. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. \* 25 Did you bring near to me sacrifices and a grain offering in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel? 26 But you carried Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your images, the star of your gods, which you made for yourselves. \* 27 So I will exile you from farther than Damascus,” says God, God of Armies {is} his name. \*