Amos 5-6

Amos 5

A Lament and Call to Repentance

1Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you:

2“Fallen is Virgin Israel,

never to rise again,

deserted in her own land,

with no one to lift her up.”

3This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel:

“Your city that marches out a thousand strong

will have only a hundred left;

your town that marches out a hundred strong

will have only ten left.”

4This is what the Lord says to Israel:

“Seek me and live;

5do not seek Bethel,

do not go to Gilgal,

do not journey to Beersheba.

For Gilgal will surely go into exile,

and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”

6Seek the Lord and live,

or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire;

it will devour them,

and Bethel will have no one to quench it.

7There are those who turn justice into bitterness

and cast righteousness to the ground.

8He who made the Pleiades and Orion,

who turns midnight into dawn

and darkens day into night,

who calls for the waters of the sea

and pours them out over the face of the land—

the Lord is his name.

9With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold

and brings the fortified city to ruin.

10There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court

and detest the one who tells the truth.

11You levy a straw tax on the poor

and impose a tax on their grain.

Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,

you will not live in them;

though you have planted lush vineyards,

you will not drink their wine.

12For I know how many are your offenses

and how great your sins.

There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes

and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

13Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times,

for the times are evil.

14Seek good, not evil,

that you may live.

Then the LordGod Almighty will be with you,

just as you say he is.

15Hate evil, love good;

maintain justice in the courts.

Perhaps the LordGod Almighty will have mercy

on the remnant of Joseph.

16Therefore this is what the Lord, the LordGod Almighty, says:

“There will be wailing in all the streets

and cries of anguish in every public square.

The farmers will be summoned to weep

and the mourners to wail.

17There will be wailing in all the vineyards,

for I will pass through your midst,”

says the Lord.

The Day of the Lord

18Woe to you who long

for the day of the Lord!

Why do you long for the day of the Lord?

That day will be darkness, not light.

19It will be as though a man fled from a lion

only to meet a bear,

as though he entered his house

and rested his hand on the wall

only to have a snake bite him.

20Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—

pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?

21“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;

your assemblies are a stench to me.

22Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them.

Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,

I will have no regard for them.

23Away with the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24But let justice roll on like a river,

righteousness like a never-failing stream!

25“Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings

forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?

26You have lifted up the shrine of your king,

the pedestal of your idols,

the star of your god—

which you made for yourselves.

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

says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.

Amos 6

Woe to the Complacent

1Woe to you who are complacent in Zion,

and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria,

you notable men of the foremost nation,

to whom the people of Israel come!

2Go to Kalneh and look at it;

go from there to great Hamath,

and then go down to Gath in Philistia.

Are they better off than your two kingdoms?

Is their land larger than yours?

3You put off the day of disaster

and bring near a reign of terror.

4You lie on beds adorned with ivory

and lounge on your couches.

You dine on choice lambs

and fattened calves.

5You strum away on your harps like David

and improvise on musical instruments.

6You drink wine by the bowlful

and use the finest lotions,

but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.

7Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile;

your feasting and lounging will end.

The Lord Abhors the Pride of Israel

8The Sovereign Lord has sworn by himself—the LordGod Almighty declares:

“I abhor the pride of Jacob

and detest his fortresses;

I will deliver up the city

and everything in it.”

9If ten people are left in one house, they too will die. 10And if the relative who comes to carry the bodies out of the house to burn them asks anyone who might be hiding there, “Is anyone else with you?” and he says, “No,” then he will go on to say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”

11For the Lord has given the command,

and he will smash the great house into pieces

and the small house into bits.

12Do horses run on the rocky crags?

Does one plow the sea with oxen?

But you have turned justice into poison

and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness—

13you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar

and say, “Did we not take Karnaimby our own strength?”

14For the LordGod Almighty declares,

“I will stir up a nation against you, Israel,

that will oppress you all the way

from Lebo Hamath to the valley of the Arabah.”