Amos 5

¹Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation , O house of Israel :

²Fallen , no more to rise , is the virgin Israel ; forsaken on her land , with none to raise her up.

³For thus says the Lord God: The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel .

⁴For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel : Seek me and live ;

⁵but do not seek Bethel , and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba ; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile , and Bethel shall come to nothing .

⁶Seek the Lord and live , lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph , and it devour , with none to quench it for Bethel ,

⁷O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth !

⁸He who made the Pleiades and Orion , and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night , who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth , the Lord is his name ;

⁹who makes destruction flash forth against the strong , so that destruction comes upon the fortress .

¹⁰They hate him who reproves in the gate , and they abhor him who speaks the truth .

¹¹Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone , but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards , but you shall not drink their wine .

¹²For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins — you who afflict the righteous , who take a bribe , and turn aside the needy in the gate .

¹³Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time , for it is an evil time .

¹⁴Seek good , and not evil , that you may live ; and so the Lord, the God of hosts , will be with you, as you have said .

¹⁵Hate evil , and love good , and establish justice in the gate ; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts , will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph .

¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts , the Lord : In all the squares there shall be wailing , and in all the streets they shall say , Alas ! Alas ! They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation ,

¹⁷and in all vineyards there shall be wailing , for I will pass through your midst , says the Lord.

¹⁸Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness , and not light ,

¹⁹as if a man fled from a lion , and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall , and a serpent bit him.

²⁰Is not the day of the Lord darkness , and not light , and gloom with no brightness in it?

²¹I hate , I despise your feasts , and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies .

²²Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings , I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.

²³Take away from me the noise of your songs ; to the melody of your harps I will not listen .

²⁴But let justice roll down like waters , and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream .

²⁵Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness , O house of Israel ?

²⁶You shall take up Sikkuth your king , and Kiyyun your star - god —your images that you made for yourselves,

²⁷and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus , says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts .