Amos 5

¹ Hear this word of Yahweh, which I am lifting over you as a dirge, house of Israel. ² The virgin of Israel falls, no more to rise; she is abandoned on her ground; there is no one raising her up. ³ For thus says my Lord Yahweh, the city from which is faring forth a thousand, will have a hundred remain, and that from which is faring forth a hundred will have ten remain, for the house of Israel. ⁴ For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel; Inquire of Me and live. ⁵ Yet you must not inquire of Bethel, and to Gilgal you shall not come, and to Beer-sheba you shall not pass, for Gilgal shall verily be deported, and Bethel shall come to lawlessness. ⁶ Inquire of Yahweh and live, lest He should prosper as fire in the house of Joseph, and it devours, and no one is quenching it for the house of Israel. ⁷ You who are turning judgment to wormwood, and they who stop righteousness on the land. ⁸ The Maker of the Pleiades and Orion, and He Who is turning the shadow of death to morning, and darkens day to night, He Who is calling to the waters of the sea, and is pouring them out on the surface of the earth - Yahweh, Elohim of hosts, is His name! ⁹ He is distributing devastation over the strong, and devastation is coming on the fortress. ¹⁰ They hate the corrector in the gateway, and they are abhorring the one speaking flawlessly. ¹¹ Wherefore, because of your trampling on the poor, and the load of cereal you are taking from him: You build houses of trimmed stone, yet you shall not dwell in them; you plant coveted vineyards, yet you shall not drink their wine. ¹² For I know that many are your transgressions and staunch are your sins. You are distressers of the righteous, takers of his propitiatory shelter. And they turn aside the needy in the gateway. ¹³ Wherefore, the intelligent in that season will be still, for it is an evil season. ¹⁴ Inquire for good and not evil, that you may live, and so Yahweh, Elohim of hosts, shall come to be with you, just as you say. ¹⁵ Hate evil and love good, and put judgment in the gateway; perhaps Yahweh, Elohim of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. ¹⁶ Wherefore, thus says Yahweh, Elohim of hosts, my Lord, In all the squares shall be wailing, and in all streets they shall say, Woe! Woe! And they shall call the farmer to mourning, and wailing to those who know plaint making. ¹⁷ And in all vineyards shall be wailing, for I shall pass within you, says Yahweh. ¹⁸ Woe to those yearning for the day of Yahweh! Why will this be a day of Yahweh for you? It will be darkness, and not light, ¹⁹ just as a man is fleeing from the face of the lion, and the bear comes on him, and he enters the house and supports his hand on the sidewall, and the serpent bites him. ²⁰ Shall not the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light? And gloom, and no brightness to it? ²¹ I hate, I reject your celebrations, and I will not smell the approach presents in your days of restraint. ²² For if you bring up to Me ascent approaches or approach presents, I will not accept them. And on the peace approaches of your fatlings I will not look. ²³ Take away from Me the clamor of your songs, and the melody of your zithers I will not hear. ²⁴ Judgment shall roll as water, and righteousness as a perennial watercourse. ²⁵ Have you brought close to Me sacrifices and approach presents in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel? ²⁶ Or have you borne the booth of your king and the pedestal of your images - the star of your elohim which you made for yourselves? ²⁷ And I will deport you beyond Damascus, says Yahweh, Elohim of hosts is His name.