NHEBME - Amos - 5

5:1  Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.

5:2  "The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up."

5:3  For thus says the Lord God: "The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel."

5:4  For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: "Seek me, and you will live;

5:5  but do not seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and do not pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.

5:6  Seek the Lord, and you will live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.

5:7  You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth:

5:8  seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name,

5:9  who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.

5:10  They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

5:11  Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

5:12  For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins- you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the courts.

5:13  Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.

5:14  Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you say.

5:15  Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph."

5:16  Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Hosts, the Lord: "Wailing will be in all the broad ways; and they will say in all the streets, 'Alas! Alas!' and they will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

5:17  In all vineyards there will be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of you," says the Lord.

5:18  "Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light.

5:19  As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.

5:20  Won't the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?

5:21  I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can't stand your solemn assemblies.

5:22  Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

5:23  Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

5:24  But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

5:25  "Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?

5:26  You also carried the tabernacle of Moloch, and Rephan your star god, your images which you made for yourselves.

5:27  Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus," says the Lord, whose name is the God of Hosts.