Amos 5 | New International Reader’s Version

Mourn and turn back to the Lord

1 People of Israel, listen to the LORD’s message. Hear my song of sadness about you. I say, 2 ‘The people of Israel have fallen. They will never get up again. They are deserted in their own land. No one can lift them up.’ 3 Here is what the LORD and King says to Israel. ‘A thousand soldiers will march out from a city. But only a hundred will return. A hundred soldiers will march out from a town. But only ten will come back.’ 4 The LORD speaks to the people of Israel. He says, ‘Look to me and live. 5 Do not look to Bethel. Do not go to Gilgal. Do not travel to Beersheba. The people of Gilgal will be taken away as prisoners. Nothing will be left of Bethel.’ 6 Israel, look to the LORD and live. If you don’t, he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire. It will burn everything up. And Bethel won’t have anyone to put it out. 7 There are people among you who turn what is fair into something bitter. They throw down to the ground what is right. 8 The LORD made the Pleiades and Orion. He turns midnight into sunrise. He makes the day fade into night. He sends for the waters in the clouds. Then he pours them out on the surface of the land. His name is the LORD. 9 With a flash of light he destroys places of safety. He tears down cities that have high walls around them. 10 There are people among you who hate anyone who stands for justice in court. They hate those who tell the truth. 11 You make poor people pay tax on their straw. You also tax their corn. So, even though you have built stone houses, you won’t live in them. You have planted fruitful vineyards. But you won’t drink the wine they produce. 12 I know how many crimes you have committed. You have sinned far too much. Among you are people who crush those who have done no wrong. They accept money from people who want special favours. They take away the rights of poor people in the courts. 13 So those who are wise keep quiet in times like these. That’s because the times are evil. 14 Look to what is good, not to what is evil. Then you will live. And the LORD God who rules over all will be with you, just as you say he is. 15 Hate evil and love good. Do what is fair in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God who rules over all will have mercy on you. After all, you are the only ones left in the family line of Joseph. 16 The LORD God rules over all. The Lord says, ‘People will weep in all the streets. They will be very sad in every market-place. Even farmers will be told to cry loudly. People will mourn for the dead. 17 Workers will cry in all the vineyards. That’s because I will punish you,’ says the LORD.

The day of the Lord is coming

18 How terrible it will be for you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you want it to come? That day will be dark, not light. 19 It will be like a man running away from a lion only to meet a bear. He enters his house and rests his hand on a wall only to be bitten by a snake. 20 The day of the LORD will be dark, not light. It will be very black. There won’t be a ray of sunlight anywhere. 21 The LORD says, ‘I hate your holy feasts. I can’t stand them. Your gatherings stink. 22 You bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings. But I will not accept them. You bring your best friendship offerings. But I will not even look at them. 23 Take the noise of your songs away! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 I want you to treat others fairly. So let fair treatment roll on just as a river does! Always do what is right. Let right living flow along like a stream that never runs dry! 25 ‘People of Israel, did you bring me sacrifices and offerings for 40 years in the desert? 26 Yes. But you have honoured the place where your king worshipped other gods. You have carried the stands the statues of your gods were on. You have lifted up the banners of the stars you worship as gods. You made all those things for yourselves. 27 So I will send you away as prisoners beyond Damascus,’ says the LORD. His name is God Who Rules Over All.

English Standard Version

Seek the Lord and Live

1 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel: 2 “Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up.” 3 For thus says the Lord God: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.” 4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; 5 but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.” 6 Seek the Lord and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, 7 O you who turn justice to wormwood* and cast down righteousness to the earth! 8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the 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 who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. 10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. 11 Therefore because you trample on* the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. 12 For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. 13 Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. 14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. 15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. 16 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord: “In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, 17 and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through your midst,” says the Lord.

Let Justice Roll Down

18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light, 19 as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? 21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, 27 and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

Amos 5 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Mourn and turn back to the Lord

The day of the Lord is coming

Seek the Lord and Live

Let Justice Roll Down