NIV

Amos 5

1<pb/>Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you:
2<pb/><t>“Fallen is Virgin Israel,</t> <t>never to rise again,</t> <t>deserted in her own land,</t> <t>with no one to lift her up.”</t>
3<pb/>This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Israel: <pb/><t>“Your city that marches out a thousand strong</t> <t>will have only a hundred left;</t> <t>your town that marches out a hundred strong</t> <t>will have only ten left.”</t>
4<pb/>This is what the LORD says to Israel: <pb/><t>“Seek me and live;</t>
5<t>do not seek Bethel,</t> <t>do not go to Gilgal,</t> <t>do not journey to Beersheba.</t> <t>For Gilgal will surely go into exile,</t> <t>and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.<f>[14]</f>”</t>
6<t>Seek the LORD and live,</t> <t>or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire;</t> <t>it will devour them,</t> <t>and Bethel will have no one to quench it. <pb/></t>
7<t>There are those who turn justice into bitterness</t> <t>and cast righteousness to the ground. <pb/></t>
8<t>He who made the Pleiades and Orion,</t> <t>who turns midnight into dawn</t> <t>and darkens day into night,</t> <t>who calls for the waters of the sea</t> <t>and pours them out over the face of the land—</t> <t>the LORD is his name.</t>
9<t>With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold</t> <t>and brings the fortified city to ruin. <pb/></t>
10<t>There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court</t> <t>and detest the one who tells the truth. <pb/></t>
11<t>You levy a straw tax on the poor</t> <t>and impose a tax on their grain.</t> <t>Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,</t> <t>you will not live in them;</t> <t>though you have planted lush vineyards,</t> <t>you will not drink their wine.</t>
12<t>For I know how many are your offenses</t> <t>and how great your sins. <pb/>There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes</t> <t>and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.</t>
13<t>Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times,</t> <t>for the times are evil. <pb/></t>
14<t>Seek good, not evil,</t> <t>that you may live.</t> <t>Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you,</t> <t>just as you say he is.</t>
15<t>Hate evil, love good;</t> <t>maintain justice in the courts.</t> <t>Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy</t> <t>on the remnant of Joseph.</t>
16<pb/>Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says: <pb/><t>“There will be wailing in all the streets</t> <t>and cries of anguish in every public square.</t> <t>The farmers will be summoned to weep</t> <t>and the mourners to wail.</t>
17<t>There will be wailing in all the vineyards,</t> <t>for I will pass through your midst,”</t> <t>says the LORD.</t>
18<t>Woe to you who long</t> <t>for the day of the LORD!</t> <t>Why do you long for the day of the LORD?</t> <t>That day will be darkness, not light.</t>
19<t>It will be as though a man fled from a lion</t> <t>only to meet a bear,</t> <t>as though he entered his house</t> <t>and rested his hand on the wall</t> <t>only to have a snake bite him.</t>
20<t>Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light—</t> <t>pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? <pb/></t>
21<t>“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;</t> <t>your assemblies are a stench to me.</t>
22<t>Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,</t> <t>I will not accept them.</t> <t>Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,</t> <t>I will have no regard for them.</t>
23<t>Away with the noise of your songs!</t> <t>I will not listen to the music of your harps.</t>
24<t>But let justice roll on like a river,</t> <t>righteousness like a never-failing stream! <pb/></t>
25<t>“Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings</t> <t>forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?</t>
26<t>You have lifted up the shrine of your king,</t> <t>the pedestal of your idols,</t> <t>the star of your god<f>[15]</f>—</t> <t>which you made for yourselves.</t>
27<t>Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,”</t> <t>says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty.</t>