Amos 5

You people of Israel, listen to this sad funeral song that I am singing about you: 2 Enemies have devastated my dear people of Israel, and they are unable to defend themselves. The enemies have come into their land and can do to them whatever they want to do there. There is no one to help them. \*

You will need this sad funeral song because God our Lord says this about Israel, “When your enemies attack you, a town that sends out a thousand soldiers to fight will have only a hundred who survive, and a town that sends out a hundred soldiers will have only ten who survive.” \*

But God also says this to you people of Israel, “Sincerely worship me again, and then you will live. 5 Do not go to the town of Bethel {to worship anything there}, and do not go to the town of Gilgal, and do not travel to the town of Beersheba {to worship there, either}. Your enemies will certainly take the people of Gilgal away to a foreign country, and the people of Bethel will experience evil things because they worship evil things.” \*

Sincerely worship God again, and then you will live. If you do not do that, God will punish you descendants of Joseph as suddenly and fiercely as a fire spreads. God will punish you like a fire that destroys everything, and that no one in Bethel will be able to stop. 7 {I am talking to you} people who do not decide things fairly. Instead, you make life {as bitter as the taste of} wormwood for people. You consider that living in the right way is {as worthless as trash} on the ground. \* 8 There is one who created {the star groups that people call} the Pleiades and Orion. {Every morning} he turns the darkness into daylight, and {every evening} he turns the daylight into darkness. He summons the waters in the sea and pours them out {as rain} on the surface of the earth. The name of that one is God! 9 He suddenly destroys strong people, and destroys the strong walls of cities. \* 10 You people hate any leader who officially corrects people who do wrong, and you hate anyone who tells the truth.

So, because you oppress poor people and force them to give you part of their grain, this is what will happen: Although you have built large mansions out of cut stone, you will not live in them. Although you have planted pleasant vineyards, you will not drink the wine that comes from them. \* 12 This will happen because I know that you have sinned very many times, and that the things that you have done are terrible. You oppress people who do what is right, and you accept bribes {to do what is wrong}, and at the city gate {where leaders decide legal matters} you treat poor people unjustly and send them away. 13 So at that time, wise people will be quiet, because it will be customary in that time for people to do evil things. \* 14 Start doing what is good, and stop doing what is evil, in order that you may stay alive. If you do that, God, God {the commander} of the heavenly armies, will help you, just as you claim that he does. 15 Hate what is evil, and love what is good, and make sure that people decide things fairly at the city gate{where leaders decide legal matters}. If you do that, maybe God, God {the commander} of the heavenly armies, will act kindly toward you descendants of Joseph who are still alive. \*

So this is what God, God {the commander} of the heavenly armies, our Lord, says, “People will be weeping loudly in all the public squares, and in all the streets people will cry out, ‘This is terrible! This is terrible!’ People will summon the farmers to come and mourn, and they will summon those who lament at funerals to wail. 17 People will be weeping in all the vineyards, because I will come and punish you.” That is what God says. \* 18 Terrible things will happen to you people who long for the day when God comes! You should not think that the day when God comes will be good for you. On that day God will punish you severely, and nothing good will happen to you. 19 On that day, you will be like a man who runs away from a lion but then meets a bear; or who flees into his house and rests his hand on the wall, and a snake bites him. 20 On the day when God judges people, he will surely punish you severely and nothing good will happen to you. Yes, it will be a time when you are deeply sad; you will not be happy at all. \* 21 {God says,} “I hate your religious celebrations; I completely reject them, and your assemblies {when you gather to worship} do not please me at all. 22 Even if you offer to me animals that you completely burn on the altar, and offerings of grain, I will not accept them. Even if you offer me your best animals as fellowship sacrifices, I will pay no attention to them. \* 23 Your songs are just noise to me; stop singing them. I refuse to listen to the music that you play on your harps. 24 Instead, you should be treating people justly, and you should always be doing what is right. You should be doing these things continually, like a stream of water that flows and never stops. \* 25 You people of Israel, when your ancestors traveled through the wilderness for forty years, they did not bring animal sacrifices and grain offerings to me. 26 Instead, you have carried the idols that you made for yourselves: Sikkuth, the god you treated as your king, and Kiyyun, the star-god that you worshiped. \* 27 So I will force you to go far away, beyond the city of Damascus, into exile.” That is what the one whose name is God, God {the commander} of the heavenly armies, says. \*