Amos 5

1Hear this word that I am taking up over you as a lament, O house of Israel:

2Fallen, virgin Israel will not rise again; abandoned on her own land, she has no one to raise her up.

3For thus says the Lord GOD: The city that marches out a thousand will have a hundred left, and the one that marches out a hundred will have ten left, for the house of Israel.

4For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel: Seek me and live.

5But do not seek Bethel, and do not enter Gilgal, and do not cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will become nothingness.

6Seek Yahweh and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it consume, with no one to quench it for Bethel.

7you who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness down to the earth:

8He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into morning, and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the earth—Yahweh is his name.

9He who brings sudden destruction upon the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

10They hate the one who reproves in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks with integrity.

11Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take a grain tax from him, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not live in them; you have planted delightful vineyards, but you will not drink their wine.

12For I know how many your transgressions are, and how great your sins are—oppressors of the righteous, takers of a bribe, and those who turn aside the needy in the gate.

13Therefore the prudent man keeps silent at that time, for it is an evil time.

14Seek good and not evil, so that you may live; and so Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said.

15Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; perhaps Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

16Therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the Lord: In all the squares there will be wailing, and in all the streets they will say, “Alas! Alas!” They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who know lamentation to wailing.

17And in all the vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through your midst," says Yahweh.

18Woe to those who long for the day of Yahweh! Why would you have the day of Yahweh? It is darkness, and not light.

19It will be as when a man flees from before the lion, and the bear meets him; then he enters the house and leans his hand on the wall, and the snake bites him.

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

21I hate, I reject your festivals, and I will not delight in your solemn assemblies.

22For even if you offer up to me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; and I will not look upon the peace offerings of your fattened animals.

23Take away from me the noise of your songs, and I will not listen to the melody of your harps.

24But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

25Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?

26And you carried Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

27Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says Yahweh, whose name is the God of hosts.