AmosChapter 5
Tap any verse to comment or suggest a better wording.
1Listen to this word, family of Israel.
This is a sad song I sing about you: 2"Israel, the young woman, has fallen.
She will never get up again.
She lies left alone on her own land.
There is no one to help her up." 3This is what the Lord GOD says:
"A city that sends out a thousand soldiers
will have only a hundred left.
A city that sends out a hundred
will have only ten left in the family of Israel." 4For this is what the LORD says to the family of Israel:
"Look to me and live! 5Do not look to Bethel.
Do not go to Gilgal.
Do not travel to Beersheba.
For sure, Gilgal will be taken away as captives.
Bethel will come to nothing. 6Look to the LORD and live!
If you don't, he will sweep like fire through the family of Joseph.
It will burn up everything.
No one at Bethel will be able to put it out. 7Some of you turn justice into something bitter.
You throw what is right down to the ground.a 8He made the stars of the Pleiades and Orion.
He turns darkness into morning.
He makes the day dark as night.
He calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the land.
The LORD is his name. 9He flashes destruction on the strong.
He brings ruin on the fort. 10Some of you hate the one who speaks up for what is right at the city gate.
You hate the one who tells the truth.b 11You stomp on the poor.
You force them to pay you grain.
So you will never live in the stone houses you have built.
You will never drink wine from the rich vineyards you have planted. 12For I know how many your sins are.
I know how great your wrongs are.
You crush people who do right by taking bribes.
You keep the poor from getting justice at the city gate. 13So wise people keep quiet at a time like this.
For these are evil days. 14Look for good, not evil,
so that you may live.
Then the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you,
just as you say he is. 15Hate evil, and love good.
Make sure there is justice at the city gate.
Maybe the LORD, the God of Hosts,
will show kindness to those left of Joseph's family." 16So this is what the LORD says.
He is the God of Hosts, the Lord:
"There will be crying in all the town squares.
People will cry out, 'Oh no! Oh no!' in all the streets.
They will call the farmers to mourn.
They will call the paid mourners to weep. 17There will be crying in all the vineyards,
for I will pass through among you,"
says the LORD. 18How terrible for 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. 19It will be like a man who runs from a lion,
only to meet a bear.
Or he goes into his house
and leans his hand on the wall,
only to be bitten by a snake. 20Won't the Day of the LORD be darkness, not light?
It will be gloomy, with no bright spot at all. 21"I hate your feasts. I can't stand them!
The smell of your holy meetings makes me sick. 22You may bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings.
But I will not accept them.
You may bring peace offerings of fat cattle.
But I will not even look at them. 23Take the noise of your songs away from me!
I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24Instead, let justice roll on like a river.
Let what is right flow like a stream that never runs dry. 25Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
during the forty years in the wilderness, family of Israel? 26You have carried along Sakkuth your king
and Kaiwan your star god.
They are idols you made for yourselves. 27So I will send you away as captives beyond Damascus,"
says the LORD. His name is the God of Hosts.