Amos 5
“Seek Me So That You May Live”
1 Hear this word which I am taking up for you as a asong of mourning, house of Israel:
2 She has fallen, she will bnot rise again--
The cvirgin Israel.
She lies unnoticed on her land;
There is dno one to raise her up. 3 For this is what the Lord ▼
▼Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
God says: “The city which goes forth a thousand strong
Will have a fhundred left,
And the one which goes forth a hundred strong
Will have gten left to the house of Israel.” 4 For this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel:
“ hSeek Me iso that you may live.
5 “But do not ▼
▼Lit seek
resort to kBethel And do not come to lGilgal,
Nor cross over to mBeersheba;
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
And Bethel will ▼
▼Lit be
come to nothing. 6 “ oSeek the Lord so that you may live,
Or He will break through like a pfire, ▼
▼Or in the house
house of Joseph, And it will consume with no one to extinguish it for Bethel,
7 For those who turn rjustice into wormwood,
And ▼
▼Lit they have thrown
throw righteousness to the earth.” 8 He who made the tPleiades and Orion,
And uchanges deep darkness into morning,
▼
▼Lit And He darkened
Who also wdarkens day into night, Who xcalls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
The yLord is His name.
9 It is He who zmakes destruction flash upon the strong,
So that aadestruction comes upon the fortress.
10 They hate him who abrebukes in the ▼
▼I.e., the place where court was held
gate, And they addespise him who speaks with integrity.
11 Therefore because you impose heavy ▼
▼Or tax
rent on the poor And take a tribute of grain from them,
Though you have built afhouses of cut stone,
Yet you will not live in them;
You have planted beautiful vineyards, yet you will agnot drink their wine.
12 For I know your offenses are many and your sins are great,
You who are ahhostile to the righteous and accept bribes,
And ▼
▼Lit they turn
turn away the poor from justice at the ▼▼I.e., the place where court was held
gate. 13 Therefore at ▼
▼Lit that time
such a time the prudent person alkeeps quiet, because it is an evil time. 14 Seek good and not evil, so that you may live;
And so may the Lord God of armies be with you,
amJust as you have said!
15 anHate evil, love good,
And establish justice in the ▼
▼I.e., the place where court was held
gate! Perhaps the Lord God of armies
apWill be gracious to the aqremnant of Joseph. 16 Therefore this is what the Lord God of armies, the Lord says:
“There is armourning in all the public squares,
And in all the streets they say, ‘Oh no! Oh no!’
They also call the asfarmer to mourning
And ▼
▼Lit those who know mourning
auprofessional mourners to mourning rites. 17 “And in all the avvineyards there is mourning,
Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord.
18 Woe to you who are longing for the awday of the Lord,
For what ▼
▼Lit will this be to you, the day
purpose will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be aydarkness and not light;
19 As when a man azflees from a lion
And a bear confronts him,
▼
▼Or Then
Or he goes home, leans with his hand against the wall, And a snake bites him.
20 Will the day of the Lord not be bbdarkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?
21 “I hate, I bcreject your festivals,
Nor do I ▼
▼Lit like to smell your
bedelight in your festive assemblies. 22 “Even though you bfoffer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the bgpeace offerings of your fattened oxen.
23 “Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
24 “But let bhjustice roll out like waters,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 25 “ ▼
▼Or You presented Me with the sacrifices and a grain offering
bjDid you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel? 26 bkYou also carried along ▼▼Or Sakkuth (Saturn), or the tabernacle of your Moloch
Sikkuth your king and ▼▼Or Kaiwan (Saturn), or stands of
Kiyyun, your images, ▼▼Or your star gods
the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. 27Therefore I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of armies.
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