Amos 5
1
Hear you this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.
2
The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is cast down upon her
land; there is none to raise her up.
3
For thus says the Lord YHWH: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred
left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel.
4
For thus says YHWH to the house of Israel, Seek you me, and you shall live;
5
but seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal
shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nothing.
6
Seek YHWH, and you shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el.
7
You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth,
8
[seek him] that makes the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the
morning, and makes the day dark with night; that calls" for the waters of the sea,
and pours them out upon the face of the earth (YHWH is his name);
9
that brings sudden destruction upon the strong, so that destruction comes upon the
fortress.
10
They hate him whom reproves in the gate, and they abhor him whom speaks uprightly.
11
Seeing that therefore as you trample upon the poor, and take exactions from him of
wheat: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have
planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink its wine.
12
For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins-you
that afflict the just, that take a bribe, and that turn aside the needy in the gate
[from their right].
13
Therefore he who is prudent shall keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time.
14
Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so YHWH, the God of hosts, will be
with you, as you say.
15
Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that
YHWH, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16
Therefore thus says YHWH, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all the
broad ways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! Alas! and they shall call
the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
17
And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of you, says
YHWH.
18
Woe to you that desire the day of YHWH! Wherefore would you have the day of YHWH?
It 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 YHWH be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness
in it?
21
I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22
Yea, 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 beasts.
23
Take you away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your
viols.
24
But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
25
Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house
of Israel?
26
Yea, you have borne the tabernacle of your king and the shrine of your images, the
star of your god, which you made to yourselves.
27
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says YHWH, whose
name is the God of hosts.