Amos, 5

1. Listen to this word which I utter against you, it is a dirge, House of Israel:

1. Hear ye this word which I take up against you, [even] a lamentation, O house of Israel.

2. She has fallen down, never to rise again, the virgin Israel. There she lies on her own soil, with no one to lift her up.

2. The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; [there is] none to raise her up.

3. For Lord Yahweh says this: The town which used to put a thousand in the field will be left with a hundred, and the one which used to put a hundred will be left with ten, to fight for the House of Israel.

3. For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out [by] a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth [by] an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

4. For Yahweh says this to the House of Israel: Seek me out and you will survive,

4. For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

5. but do not seek out Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba, for Gilgal is going into captivity and Bethel will be brought to nothing.

5. But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

6. Seek out Yahweh and you will survive or else he will sweep like fire upon the House of Joseph and burn it down, with no one at Bethel able to quench the flames.

6. Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour [it], and [there be] none to quench [it] in Bethel.

7. They turn justice into wormwood and throw uprightness to the ground.

7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

8. He it is who makes the Pleiades and Orion, who turns shadow dark as death into morning and day to darkest night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the surface of the land. Yahweh is his name.

8. [Seek him] that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD [is] his name:

9. He brings destruction on the strong and ruin comes on the fortress.

9. That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

10. They hate the man who teaches justice at the city gate and detest anyone who declares the truth.

10. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

11. For trampling on the poor man and for extorting levies on his wheat: although you have built houses of dressed stone, you will not live in them; although you have planted pleasant vineyards, you will not drink wine from them:

11. Forasmuch therefore as your treading [is] upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

12. for I know how many your crimes are and how outrageous your sins, you oppressors of the upright, who hold people to ransom and thrust the poor aside at the gates.

12. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate [from their right].

13. That is why anyone prudent keeps silent now, since the time is evil.

13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it [is] an evil time.

14. Seek good and not evil so that you may survive, and Yahweh, God Sabaoth, be with you as you claim he is.

14. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

15. Hate evil, love good, let justice reign at the city gate: it may be that Yahweh, God Sabaoth, will take pity on the remnant of Joseph.

15. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

16. Therefore Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord, says this: In every public square there will be lamentation, in every street they will cry out, 'Alas! Alas!' The farmer will be called on to mourn, the professional mourners to lament,

16. Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing [shall be] in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

17. and there will be wailing in every vineyard, for I mean to pass through among you, Yahweh says.

17. And in all vineyards [shall be] wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.

18. Disaster for you who long for the Day of Yahweh! What will the Day of Yahweh mean for you? It will mean darkness, not light,

18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end [is] it for you? the day of the LORD [is] darkness, and not light.

19. as when someone runs away from a lion, only to meet a bear; he goes into his house and puts his hand on the wall, only for a snake to bite him.

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. Will not the Day of Yahweh be darkness, not light, totally dark, without a ray of light?

20. [Shall] not the day of the LORD [be] darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

21. I hate, I scorn your festivals, I take no pleasure in your solemn assemblies.

21. I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

22. When you bring me burnt offerings . . . your oblations, I do not accept them and I do not look at your communion sacrifices of fat cattle.

22. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept [them]: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.

23. Spare me the din of your chanting, let me hear none of your strumming on lyres,

23. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

24. but let justice flow like water, and uprightness like a never-failing stream!

24. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

25. Did you bring me sacrifices and oblations those forty years in the desert, House of Israel?

25. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

26. Now you must shoulder Sakkuth your king and the star of your God, Kaiwan, those idols you made for yourselves;

26. But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

27. for I am about to drive you into captivity beyond Damascus, Yahweh says -- God Sabaoth is his name.

27. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name [is] The God of hosts.