Amos 5
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1Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you:1Listen, you people of Israel! Listen to this funeral song I am singing:
2"Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up."2“The virgin Israel has fallen, never to rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, with no one to help her up.”
3This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Israel: "Your city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left; your town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left."3The Sovereign LORD says: “When a city sends a thousand men to battle, only a hundred will return. When a town sends a hundred, only ten will come back alive.”
4This is what the LORD says to Israel: "Seek me and live;4Now this is what the LORD says to the family of Israel: “Come back to me and live!
5do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing."5Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel; don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile, and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”
6Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.6Come back to the LORD and live! Otherwise, he will roar through Israel like a fire, devouring you completely. Your gods in Bethel won’t be able to quench the flames.
7There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.7You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt.
8He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land-- the LORD is his name.8It is the LORD who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The LORD is his name!
9With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin.9With blinding speed and power he destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses.
10There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth.10How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth!
11You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.11You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent. Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses, you will never live in them. Though you plant lush vineyards, you will never drink wine from them.
12For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.12For I know the vast number of your sins and the depth of your rebellions. You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
13Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil.13So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time.
14Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.14Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed.
15Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.15Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people.
16Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says: "There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail.16Therefore, this is what the Lord, the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, says: “There will be crying in all the public squares and mourning in every street. Call for the farmers to weep with you, and summon professional mourners to wail.
17There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst," says the LORD.17There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will destroy them all,” says the LORD. Warning of Coming Judgment
18Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light.18What sorrow awaits you who say, “If only the day of the LORD were here!” You have no idea what you are wishing for. That day will bring darkness, not light.
19It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.19In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion— only to meet a bear. Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house— and he’s bitten by a snake.
20Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light-- pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?20Yes, the day of the LORD will be dark and hopeless, without a ray of joy or hope.
21"I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me.21“I hate all your show and pretense— the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.
22Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.22I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings.
23Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.23Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!24Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.
25"Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?25“Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel?
26You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god -- which you made for yourselves.26No, you served your pagan gods—Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan your star god—the images you made for yourselves.
27Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty.27So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus, ” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Heaven’s Armies.
New International Version (NIV)

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Amos 4
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