Amos

5 Hear ye this word which I am taking up concerning you—Even a dirge, O house of Israel.

2 She hath fallen—she cannot again rise, The virgin, Israel,—She lieth forsaken on her soil, There is none to raise her up.

3 For thus saith My Lord Yahweh, The city that goeth out a thousand strong Shall have left it a hundred,—And that which goeth out a hundred strong Shall have left it ten Belonging to the house of Israel.

4 For thus saith Yahweh to the house of Israel,—Seek me and live;

5 Then do not seek Bethel, And Gilgal shall ye not enter, And unto Beer-sheba shall ye not cross over, For Gilgal shall surely go into exile, And Bethel shall become a trouble.

6 Seek ye Yahweh and live,—Lest he break forth like a fire upon the house of Joseph, And it devour with none to quench it for Bethel.

7 Ye who turn into wormwood justice, And righteousness—to the ground have let fall

8 [Seek him] Who made the Cluster and the Giant And turneth into morning the shadow of death, And who day into night doth darken, Him who calleth to the waters of the sea and poureth them out on the face of the land, Yahweh is his name:

9 Him who flasheth force on the strong,—And force on the fortress alighteth!

10 They hate the man who in the gate rebuketh,—And him who speaketh truthfully they abhor.

11 Therefore—Because ye have trampled on the poor And the gift of corn ye would take away from him Though houses of hewn stone ye have built Yet shall ye not dwell in them,—Though delightful vineyards ye have planted Yet shall ye not drink the wine of them.

12 For I know How numerous are your transgressions, and How surpassing your sins,—Ye adversaries of the righteous! Ye acceptors of a bribe! Even the needy in the gate have they turned away!

13 Therefore the prudent man at that time will be dumb,—Because an evil time it is!

14 Seek ye right and not wrong that ye may live,—That so Yahweh God of hosts may be with you as ye have said.

15 Hate wrong and love right, And station Justice in the gate,—Peradventure Yahweh, God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh, God of hosts, My Lord, In all broadways shall be lamentation, And in all streets shall they say, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman unto the mourning, And unto the lamentation them who know a wailing song;

17 Yea in all vineyards lamentation,—For I will pass along through thy midst, Saith Yahweh.

18 Alas for them who are longing for the day of Yahweh,—What good to you is the day of Yahweh? It being darkness and not light:

19 As if a man should flee from the face of a Lion, And there should meet him—a Bear! Or he should have entered the house and leaned his hand upon the wall, And there should bite him—a Serpent!

20 Shall not the day of Yahweh be darkness and not light? Yea thick darkness and no brightness in it?

21 I hate, I despise your festivals,—And can scent no fragrance in your solemn feasts.

22 Nay though ye cause to ascend unto me ascending-sacrifices and your meal-offerings I will not accept [them],—Nor the peace-offering of your fat heifers will I regard.

23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs,—Even the melody of thy harps will I not hear.

24 But let justice roll along like water,—And righteousness as a torrent over flowing.

25 The sacrifices and meal-offering ye brought near unto me in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel;

26 But ye carried the tent of your king-idol, and your Saturn-images,—the star of your gods, which ye made for yourselves:

27 Therefore will I carry you into exile beyond Damascus,—Saith Yahweh, God of hosts is his name.