Amos 5

Modern

Literal

A Lamentation against Israel

¹Hear this word, O house of Israel, this lamentation I take up against you:

¹Hear this word that I take up against you as a lamentation, O house of Israel:

²“Fallen is Virgin Israel,

never to rise again.

She lies abandoned on her land,

with no one to raise her up.”

²“She has fallen; she will not again rise, the virgin of Israel—for she lies forsaken on her land, with no one to raise her up.”

³This is what the Lord GOD says:

“The city that marches out a thousand strong

will have but a hundred left,

and the one that marches out a hundred strong

will have but ten left in the house of Israel.”

³For thus says the Lord YHWH: “The city marching out as a thousand will have left a hundred, and the one marching out as a hundred will have left ten of the house of Israel.”

A Call to Repentance

⁴For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel:

“Seek Me and live!

⁴For thus says YHWH to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live!

⁵Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal;

do not journey to Beersheba,

for Gilgal will surely go into exile,

and Bethel will come to nothing.^a

⁵And do not seek Bethel, and do not come to Gilgal, and do not cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to Aven!

⁶Seek the LORD and live,

or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph;

it will devour everything,

with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.

⁶Seek YHWH and live, lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, with no one to quench it in Bethel.

⁷There are those who turn justice into wormwood

and cast righteousness to the ground.

⁷You who are turning justice into wormwood and laying to rest righteousness in the earth—

⁸He who made the Pleiades and Orion,

who turns darkness into dawn

and darkens day into night,

who summons the waters of the sea

and pours them over the face of the earth—

the LORD is His name—

⁸the One making the Pleiades and Orion, and the One turning into the morning the shadow of death, and making the day dark as night, the One calling to the waters of the sea, and pouring them over the face of the earth—YHWH is His name—

⁹He flashes destruction on the strong,

so that fury comes upon the stronghold.

⁹the One flashing destruction upon the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

¹⁰There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate

and despise him who speaks with integrity.

¹⁰They hate the one reproving in the gate, and the one speaking virtuously, they abhor.

¹¹Therefore, because you trample on the poor

and exact from him a tax of grain,

you will never live

in the stone houses you have built;

you will never drink the wine

from the lush vineyards you have planted.

¹¹Therefore, because of your treading down upon the poor, and the tribute of grain you take from him—you have built houses of hewn stone, and you will not dwell in them; you have planted vineyards of delight, and you will not drink their wine.

¹²For I know that your transgressions are many

and your sins are numerous.

You oppress the righteous by taking bribes;

you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.

¹²Indeed, I know how many are your transgressions and how mighty your sins—you afflicting the righteous, taking bribes, and stretching aside the poor at the gate.

¹³Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times,

for the days are evil.

¹³Therefore, the one acting prudently at that time will keep silent, for it is an evil time.

¹⁴Seek good, not evil,

so that you may live.

And the LORD, the God of Hosts,

will be with you, as you have claimed.

¹⁴Seek good and not evil, so that you may live; and it will come to pass that YHWH, God of Hosts, is with you, as you have spoken.

¹⁵Hate evil and love good;

establish justice in the gate.

Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts,

will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

¹⁵Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate! Perhaps YHWH God of Hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

Woe to Rebellious Israel

¹⁶Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says:

“There will be wailing in all the public squares

and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets.

The farmer will be summoned to mourn,

and the mourners to wail.

¹⁶Therefore, thus says YHWH God of Hosts, the Lord: “In all the public squares will be wailing, and in all the streets they will say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ And they will call the farmer to mourning, and those knowing lamentation to wailing,

¹⁷There will be wailing in all the vineyards,

for I will pass through your midst,”

says the LORD.

¹⁷and in all the vineyards wailing, for I will pass over in your midst!” Says YHWH.

¹⁸Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD!

What will the Day of the LORD be for you?

It will be darkness and not light.

¹⁸Woe to those desiring the day of YHWH, for what is this to you—the day of YHWH? It is darkness and not light,

¹⁹It will be like a man who flees from a lion,

only to encounter a bear,

or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall,

only to be bitten by a snake.

¹⁹as when a man flees from a lion and a bear meets him, or he comes into the house and leans his hand on the wall, and a snake bites him.

²⁰Will not the Day of the LORD

be darkness and not light,

even gloom with no brightness in it?

²⁰Is not the day of YHWH darkness and not light, even gloom with no brightness in it?

²¹“I hate, I despise your feasts!

I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.

²¹“I hate—I despise—your feast s, and I do not savor in your solemn assemblies!

²²Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

for your peace offerings of fattened cattle

I will have no regard.

²²Even though burnt offerings and grain offerings you send up to Me, l will not accept them, and the peace offering of your fatlings I will not regard.

²³Take away from Me the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

²³Turn aside from Me the noise of your songs, and the music of your harps I will not hear.

²⁴But let justice roll on like a river,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

²⁴And let justice roll like the waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

²⁵Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings

forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

²⁵Sacrifices and offerings did you bring near to Me in the wilderness those forty years, O house of Israel?

²⁶You have taken along Sakkuth your king

and Kaiwan your star god,^a

the idols you made for yourselves.

²⁶You have taken along Sikkuth your king and and Kaiwan your idols, the star of your gods that you have made for yourselves.

²⁷Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,”^a

says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.

²⁷And I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says YHWH—the God of Hosts is His name!