Amos 5

1 Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel: ‡ Ezk 19:1Jer 7:29Jer 9:10Jer 9:17Amo 3:1Amo 4:1Amo 5:16Ezk 19:14 +8

2 “The virgin of Israel has fallen; ‡ Jer 14:17Hos 14:12Ki 15:292Ki 17:16Amo 7:2-5Amo 8:14Amo 9:11Ezk 16:36-37 +16

She shall rise no more.

She is cast down on her land;

there is no one to raise her up.”

3 For the Lord GOD says: ‡ Ezk 12:16Isa 10:22Isa 6:13Rom 9:27Deu 28:62Deu 4:27Isa 1:9Amo 6:9

“The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left,

and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”

4 For the LORD says to the house of Israel: ‡ 2Ch 15:2Zep 2:3Jer 29:12-13Isa 55:3Psa 14:2Isa 55:6-7Mat 7:8Psa 105:3-4 +9

“Seek me, and you will live;

5 but don’t seek Bethel, ‡ Hos 4:15Amo 4:4Amo 8:14Gen 21:331Co 1:281Co 2:6Amo 7:17Rev 18:17 +12

nor enter into Gilgal,

and don’t pass to Beersheba;

for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,

and Bethel shall come to nothing.

6 Seek the LORD, and you will live, ‡ Ezk 20:47-48Ezk 33:11Isa 55:6Amo 5:14Amo 5:4Gen 48:8-20Mrk 9:43-48Zec 10:6 +11

lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.

7 You who turn justice to wormwood, ‡ Amo 6:12Amo 5:11-12Deu 29:18Ezk 3:20Hos 10:4Zep 1:6Ezk 18:24Ezk 33:12-13 +8

and cast down righteousness to the earth!

8 Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, ‡ Amo 4:13Job 9:9Amo 9:6Amo 8:9Psa 104:20Job 38:31-32Exo 10:21-23Job 12:22 +13

and turns the shadow of death into the morning,

and makes the day dark with night;

who calls for the waters of the sea,

and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name,

9 who brings sudden destruction on the strong, ‡ 2Ki 13:172Ki 13:25Heb 11:34Jer 37:10Mic 5:11

so that destruction comes on the fortress.

10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, ‡ 1Ki 22:8Isa 29:21Jhn 8:45-47Jer 17:16-171Ki 18:171Ki 21:202Ch 24:20-222Ch 25:16 +9

and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat, ‡ Deu 28:30Mic 6:15Zep 1:13Jas 2:6Hag 1:6Rev 11:8-10Amo 3:15Mic 2:2 +5

you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them.

You have planted pleasant vineyards,

but you shall not drink their wine.

12 For I know how many are your offenses, ‡ Amo 2:6-7Amo 5:10Isa 1:231Sa 8:3Act 7:52Jas 5:4Mal 3:5Psa 26:9-10 +21

and how great are your sins—

you who afflict the just,

who take a bribe,

and who turn away the needy in the courts.

13 Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, ‡ 2Ti 3:1Ecc 3:7Eph 5:15-16Hos 4:4Mic 2:3Amo 6:10Ecc 9:12Eph 6:13 +6

for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good, and not evil, ‡ Jos 1:9Mat 6:33Mic 3:11Mic 6:8Php 4:8-92Ti 4:221Ch 28:20Gen 39:2-3 +16

that you may live;

and so the LORD, the God of Armies, will be with you,

as you say.

15 Hate evil, love good, ‡ Rom 12:93Jn 1:11Jol 2:14Psa 97:101Th 5:21-22Mic 5:7-8Rom 8:7Mic 5:3 +24

and establish justice in the courts.

It may be that the LORD, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

16 Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: ‡ Jol 1:11Jer 9:17-20Jer 9:10Amo 3:13Amo 5:27Amo 8:10Isa 15:2-5Isa 15:8 +9

“Wailing will be in all the wide ways.

They will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’

They will call the farmer to mourning,

and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

17 In all vineyards there will be wailing, ‡ Exo 12:12Isa 16:10Jer 48:33Exo 12:23Hos 9:1-2Isa 32:10-12Jol 3:17Nam 1:12 +2

for I will pass through the middle of you,” says the LORD.

18 “Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! ‡ Jol 1:15Jol 2:1-2Jol 2:31Jer 30:7Mal 4:1Isa 24:11-12Isa 5:19Isa 5:30 +10

Why do you long for the day of the LORD?

It is darkness,

and not light.

19 As if a man fled from a lion, ‡ Isa 24:17-18Jer 15:2-3Act 28:4Jer 48:43-441Ki 20:29-30Amo 9:1-2Job 20:24-25

and a bear met him;

or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall,

and a snake bit him.

20 Won’t the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? ‡ Isa 13:10Ezk 34:12Zep 1:15Job 10:21-22Job 3:4-6Jud 1:13Mat 22:13Nam 1:8 +1

Even very dark, and no brightness in it?

21 I hate, I despise your feasts, ‡ Isa 1:11-16Pro 28:9Lev 26:31Isa 66:3Jer 6:20Pro 15:8Hos 8:13Gen 8:21 +5

and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.

22 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, ‡ Mic 6:6-7Amo 4:4-5Isa 66:3Lev 7:12-15Psa 107:21-22Psa 116:17Psa 50:23Psa 50:8-14

I will not accept them;

neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs! ‡ Amo 6:5Amo 8:10Amo 8:3

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24 But let justice roll on like rivers, ‡ Mic 6:8Jer 22:3Pro 21:3Hos 6:6Mrk 12:32-34Amo 5:14-15Amo 5:7Job 29:12-17

and righteousness like a mighty stream.

25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel? ‡ Act 7:42-43Ezk 20:8Neh 9:18Ezk 20:16Jos 24:14Lev 17:7Neh 9:21Deu 32:17-19 +426 You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves. ‡ 2Ki 23:12-13Lev 20:2-51Ki 11:33Lev 18:21 27 Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Armies. ‡ 2Ki 17:6Act 7:43Amo 4:132Ki 15:29