Amos 5

1Hear this word, house of Israel, this lament I raise over you: 2Fallen, never to rise again, is Virgin Israel; she lies abandoned on her own land, with no one to lift her up. 3For the Lord GOD says this: The city that marches out a thousand strong will be left with a hundred, and the one that marches out a hundred strong will be left with ten, in the house of Israel.

4For the LORD says this to the house of Israel: Seek me and live! 5Do not seek Bethel; do not go to Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba. For Gilgal is sure to go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing. 6Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through the house of Joseph like fire; it will burn, and there will be no one at Bethel to put it out. 7You turn justice into bitter wormwood and throw righteousness to the ground. 8He made the Pleiades and Orion; he turns deep darkness into morning and darkens day into night. He calls up the waters of the sea and pours them out across the face of the earth: the LORD is his name.

9He makes destruction blaze out against the strong, and ruin comes upon the fortress. 10They hate anyone who rebukes wrongdoing in court and detest whoever speaks honestly. 11Therefore, because you trample on the poor and force them to hand over their grain, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not live in them; you have planted fine vineyards, but you will not drink their wine. 12For I know how many your crimes are and how great your sins: you oppress the innocent and take bribes, and you push aside the poor in court. 13So at such a time the prudent keep quiet, for it is an evil time. 14Seek good and not evil, so that you may live, and so that the LORD God of Armies may truly be with you, as you claim he is. 15Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the courts. It may be that the LORD God of Armies will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

16Therefore the LORD God of Armies, the Lord, says this: There will be wailing in every square, and in every street people will cry, “Alas! Alas!” They will call the farmers to mourn and the professional mourners to wail. 17There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will pass through the middle of you, says the LORD.

18Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you want the day of the LORD? It will be darkness, not light. 19It will be as when a man runs from a lion and a bear meets him, or he goes home and leans his hand against the wall, and a snake bites him. 20Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light, pitch dark, with no brightness in it? 21I hate, I despise your festivals; I take no pleasure in your sacred assemblies. 22Even if you sacrifice burnt offerings and grain offerings to me, I will not accept them; I will not look at the peace offerings of your fattened animals. 23Take the noise of your songs away from me; I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24Instead, let justice roll on like water, and righteousness like a stream that never runs dry. 25Was it sacrifices and offerings that you brought me during the forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel? 26So you will carry off Sikkuth, your king, and Kiyyun, your idols, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves. 27So I will take you into exile beyond Damascus, says the LORD; the God of Armies is his name.