“Seek Me So That You May Live”
5 Hear this word which I am taking up for you as a song of mourning, house of Israel:
2 She has fallen, she will not rise again—
The virgin Israel.
She lies unnoticed on her land;
There is no one to raise her up.
3 For this is what the Lord [a]God says:
“The city which goes forth a thousand strong
Will have a hundred left,
And the one which goes forth a hundred strong
Will have ten left to the house of Israel.”
4 For this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel:
“Seek Me so that you may live.
5 But do not [b]resort to Bethel
And do not come to Gilgal,
Nor cross over to Beersheba;
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
And Bethel will [c]come to nothing.
6 Seek the Lord so that you may live,
Or He will break through like a fire, [d]house of Joseph,
And it will consume with no one to extinguish it for Bethel,
7 For those who turn justice into wormwood,
And [e]throw righteousness to the earth.”
8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
And changes deep darkness into morning,
[f]Who also darkens day into night,
Who calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
The Lord is His name.
9 It is He who makes destruction flash upon the strong,
So that destruction comes upon the fortress.
10 They hate him who rebukes in the [g]gate,
And they despise him who speaks with integrity.
11 Therefore because you impose heavy [h]rent on the poor
And take a tribute of grain from them,
Though you have built houses of cut stone,
Yet you will not live in them;
You have planted beautiful vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know your offenses are many and your sins are great,
You who are hostile to the righteous and accept bribes,
And [i]turn away the poor from justice at the [j]gate.
13 Therefore at [k]such a time the prudent person keeps 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,
Just as you have said!
15 Hate evil, love good,
And establish justice in the [l]gate!
Perhaps the Lord God of armies
Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore this is what the Lord God of armies, the Lord says:
“There is mourning in all the public squares,
And in all the streets they say, ‘Oh no! Oh no!’
They also call the farmer to mourning
And [m]professional mourners to mourning rites.
17 And in all the vineyards there is mourning,
Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord.
18 Woe to you who are longing for the day of the Lord,
For what [n]purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?
It will be darkness and not light;
19 As when a man flees from a lion
And a bear confronts him,
[o]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 darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?
21 “I hate, I reject your festivals,
Nor do I [p]delight in your festive assemblies.
22 Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the peace 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 justice roll out like waters,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 “[q]Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel? 26 You also carried along [r]Sikkuth your king and [s]Kiyyun, your images, [t]the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. 27 Therefore I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of armies.
Footnotes
- Amos 5:3 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
- Amos 5:5 Lit seek
- Amos 5:5 Lit be
- Amos 5:6 Or in the house
- Amos 5:7 Lit they have thrown
- Amos 5:8 Lit And He darkened
- Amos 5:10 I.e., the place where court was held
- Amos 5:11 Or tax
- Amos 5:12 Lit they turn
- Amos 5:12 I.e., the place where court was held
- Amos 5:13 Lit that time
- Amos 5:15 I.e., the place where court was held
- Amos 5:16 Lit those who know mourning
- Amos 5:18 Lit will this be to you, the day
- Amos 5:19 Or Then
- Amos 5:21 Lit like to smell your
- Amos 5:25 Or You presented Me with the sacrifices and a grain offering
- Amos 5:26 Or Sakkuth (Saturn), or the tabernacle of your Moloch
- Amos 5:26 Or Kaiwan (Saturn), or stands of
- Amos 5:26 Or your star gods