Amos 5

New American Standard Bible

“Seek Me So That You May Live”

5 Hear this word which I am taking up for you as a ^(A)song of mourning, house of Israel:
²She has fallen, she will ^(B)not rise again—
The ^(C)virgin Israel.
She lies unnoticed on her land;
There is ^(D)no one to raise her up.

³For this is what the Lord ^[a]God says:

“The city which goes forth a thousand strong
Will have a ^(E)hundred left,
And the one which goes forth a hundred strong
Will have ^(F)ten left to the house of Israel.”

⁴For this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel:

“^(G)Seek Me ^(H)so that you may live.
⁵But do not ^[b]resort to ^(I)Bethel
And do not come to ^(J)Gilgal,
Nor cross over to ^(K)Beersheba;
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
And Bethel will ^[c]come to nothing.
⁶^(L)Seek the Lord so that you may live,
Or He will break through like a ^(M)fire, ^[d]house of Joseph,
And it will consume with no one to extinguish it for Bethel,
⁷For those who turn ^(N)justice into wormwood,
And ^[e]throw righteousness to the earth.”

⁸He who made the ^(O)Pleiades and Orion,
And ^(P)changes deep darkness into morning,
^[f]Who also ^(Q)darkens day into night,
Who ^(R)calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
The ^(S)Lord is His name.
⁹It is He who ^(T)makes destruction flash upon the strong,
So that ^(U)destruction comes upon the fortress.

¹⁰They hate him who ^(V)rebukes in the ^[g]gate,
And they ^(W)despise him who speaks with integrity.
¹¹Therefore because you impose heavy ^[h]rent on the poor
And take a tribute of grain from them,
Though you have built ^(X)houses of cut stone,
Yet you will not live in them;
You have planted beautiful vineyards, yet you will ^(Y)not drink their wine.
¹²For I know your offenses are many and your sins are great,
You who are ^(Z)hostile to the righteous and accept bribes,
And ^[i]turn away the poor from justice at the ^[j]gate.
¹³Therefore at ^[k]such a time the prudent person ^(AA)keeps quiet, because it is an evil time.

¹⁴Seek good and not evil, so that you may live;
And so may the Lord God of armies be with you,
^(AB)Just as you have said!
¹⁵^(AC)Hate evil, love good,
And establish justice in the ^[l]gate!
Perhaps the Lord God of armies
^(AD)Will be gracious to the ^(AE)remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶Therefore this is what the Lord God of armies, the Lord says:

“There is ^(AF)mourning in all the public squares,
And in all the streets they say, ‘Oh no! Oh no!’
They also call the ^(AG)farmer to mourning
And ^[m]^(AH)professional mourners to mourning rites.
¹⁷And in all the ^(AI)vineyards there is mourning,
Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord.

¹⁸Woe to you who are longing for the ^(AJ)day of the Lord,
For what ^[n]purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?
It will be ^(AK)darkness and not light;
¹⁹As when a man ^(AL)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.
²⁰Will the day of the Lord not be ^(AM)darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?

²¹“I hate, I ^(AN)reject your festivals,
Nor do I ^[p]^(AO)delight in your festive assemblies.
²²Even though you ^(AP)offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the ^(AQ)peace offerings of your fattened oxen.
²³Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
²⁴But let ^(AR)justice roll out like waters,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

²⁵“^[q]^(AS)Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel? ²⁶^(AT)You also carried along ^[r]Sikkuth your king and ^[s]Kiyyun, your images, ^[t]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.