Amós 5

A Lament for Israel

1 Hear this word which I *Jer. 7:29; 9:10, 17; Ezek. 19:1take up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel:

2 The virgin of Israel has fallen;

She will rise no more.

She lies forsaken on her land;

Thereis no one to raise her up.

3 For thus says the Lord God:

"The city that goes out by a thousand

Shall have a hundred left,

And that which goes out by a hundred

Shall have ten left to the house of Israel."

A Call to Repentance

4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:

*(Deut. 4:29; 2 Chr. 15:2; Jer. 29:13)"Seek Me *(Is. 55:3)and live;

5 But do not seek *1 Kin. 12:28, 29; Amos 4:4Bethel,

Nor enter Gilgal,

Nor pass over to *Gen. 21:31–33; Amos 8:14Beersheba;

For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,

And *Hos. 4:15Bethel shall come to nothing.

6 *(Is. 55:3, 6, 7; Amos 5:14)Seek the Lord and live,

Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

And devour it,

With no one to quench it in Bethel—

7 You who *Amos 6:12turn justice to wormwood,

And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!"

8 He made the *Job 9:9; 38:31Pleiades and Orion;

He turns the shadow of death into morning

*Ps. 104:20And makes the day dark as night;

He *Job 38:34calls for the waters of the sea

And pours them out on the face of the earth;

*(Amos 4:13)The Lordis His name.

9 He rains ruin upon the strong,

So that fury comes upon the fortress.

10 *Is. 29:21; 66:5; Amos 5:15They hate the one who rebukes in the gate,

And they *1 Kin. 22:8; Is. 59:15; Jer. 17:16–18abhor the one who speaks uprightly.

11 *Amos 2:6Therefore, because you tread down the poor

And take grain taxes from him,

Though *Deut. 28:30, 38, 39; Mic. 6:15; Zeph. 1:13; Hag. 1:6you have built houses of hewn stone,

Yet you shall not dwell in them;

You have planted pleasant vineyards,

But you shall not drink wine from them.

12 For I *Hos. 5:3know your manifold transgressions

And your mighty sins:

*Is. 1:23; 5:23; Amos 2:6Afflicting the just and taking bribes;

*Is. 29:21Diverting the poor fromjustice at the gate.

13 Therefore *Amos 6:10the prudent keep silent at that time,

For it is an evil time.

14 Seek good and not evil,

That you may live;

So the Lord God of hosts will be with you,

*Mic. 3:11As you have spoken.

15 *Ps. 97:10; Rom. 12:9Hate evil, love good;

Establish justice in the gate.

*Joel 2:14It may be that the Lord God of hosts

Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

The Day of the Lord

16 Therefore the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, says this:

"Thereshallbe wailing in all streets,

And they shall say in all the highways,

‘Alas! Alas!’

They shall call the farmer to mourning,

*2 Chr. 35:25; Jer. 9:17And skillful lamenters to wailing.

17 In all vineyards thereshallbe wailing,

For *Ex. 12:12I will pass through you,"

Says the Lord.

18 *Is. 5:19; Jer. 17:15; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!

For what good is*Is. 5:30; Joel 2:2the day of the Lord to you?

It willbe darkness, and not light.

19 It willbe*Job 20:24; Is. 24:17, 18; Jer. 48:44as though a man fled from a lion,

And a bear met him!

Or asthough he went into the house,

Leaned his hand on the wall,

And a serpent bit him!

20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light?

Isitnot very dark, with no brightness in it?

21 "I*Is. 1:11–16; Amos 4:4, 5; 8:10 hate, I despise your feast days,

And *Lev. 26:31; Jer. 14:12; Hos. 5:6I do not savor your sacred assemblies.

22 *Is. 66:3; Mic. 6:6, 7Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,

I will not accept them,

Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.

23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs,

For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.

24 *Jer. 22:3; Ezek. 45:9; Hos. 6:6; Mic. 6:8But let justice run down like water,

And righteousness like a mighty stream.

25 "Did*Deut. 32:17; Josh. 24:14; Neh. 9:18–21; Acts 7:42, 43 you offer Me sacrifices and offerings

In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

26 You also carried Sikkuth *1 Kin. 11:33your king

And Chiun, your idols,

The star of your gods,

Which you made for yourselves.

27 Therefore I will send you into captivity *2 Kin. 17:6; Amos 7:11, 17; Mic. 4:10beyond Damascus,"

Says the Lord, *Amos 4:13whose name is the God of hosts.