Amos 5
1 Hear this word that I raise over you as a lament, house of Israel.
2 The virgin Israel has fallen and will never rise again; she lies abandoned on her own ground, with no one to raise her.
3 For this is what the Lord GOD says: “The city that marches out with a thousand will have a hundred left, and the one that marches out with a hundred will have ten left, for the house of Israel.”
4 For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and live!
5 Do not seek Bethel; do not enter Gilgal, and do not cross over to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.”
6 Seek the LORD, and live, or he may burst out like fire against the house of Joseph and devour it, with no one to quench it at Bethel.
7 You who turn justice into bitterness and throw righteousness to the ground!
8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns deathly shadow into morning and darkens day into night; who calls the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—his name is the LORD.
9 He brings destruction suddenly upon the strong, and destruction comes upon the fortress.
10 They hate the one who rebukes at the city gate and detest the one who speaks with integrity.
11 Therefore, because you trample the poor and take a levy of grain from them, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not live in them; you have planted lovely vineyards, but you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know how many your transgressions are and how great your sins: you oppress the righteous, take bribes, and turn the needy away at the gate.
13 Therefore the sensible person keeps quiet at such a time, for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil, so that you may live; then the LORD, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say he is.
15 Hate evil and love good, and establish justice at the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Armies, will have compassion on the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: “There will be lamenting in every square, and in every street they will say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They will call the farmer to mourn, and those skilled in lamentation to wail.
17 There will be lamenting in every vineyard, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD.
18 Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD mean for you? It will be darkness, not light.
19 It will be like a man fleeing from a lion, only to meet a bear; he enters his house, rests his hand against the wall, and a snake bites him.
20 Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness, not light—gloom with no brightness at all?
21 I hate your festivals; I reject them. The smell of your solemn assemblies does not please me.
22 Even if you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will not look at the well-fed animals you bring as peace offerings.
23 Take the noise of your songs away from me; I do not want to hear the music of your lyres.
24 Let justice flow like water, and righteousness like a river that never runs dry.
25 Did you bring me sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel?
26 You carried Sikkuth, your king, and Kaiwan, your images, the star of your god that you made for yourselves.
27 I will send you into exile beyond Damascus, says the LORD—whose name is the God of Armies.
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