Amos 5:18-6:14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Day of the Lord a Dark Day
18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
Why do you want the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, not light,(A)
19 as if someone fled from a lion
and was met by a bear
or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall
and was bitten by a snake.(B)
20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light,
and gloom with no brightness in it?(C)
21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.(D)
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.(E)
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like water
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.(F)
25 Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?(G) 26 You shall take up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, your images,[a] which you made for yourselves; 27 therefore I will take you into exile beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.(H)
Complacent Self-Indulgence Will Be Punished
6 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion
and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
the notables of the first of the nations,
to whom the house of Israel resorts!(I)
2 Cross over to Calneh and see;
from there go to Hamath the great;
then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better[b] than these kingdoms?
Or is your[c] territory greater than their[d] territory,(J)
3 you who put far away the evil day
and bring near a reign of violence?(K)
4 Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory
and lounge on their couches
and eat lambs from the flock
and calves from the stall,(L)
5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp
and like David improvise on instruments of music,(M)
6 who drink wine from bowls
and anoint themselves with the finest oils
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!(N)
7 Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile,
and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.(O)
8 The Lord God has sworn by himself
(says the Lord, the God of hosts):
I abhor the pride of Jacob
and hate his strongholds,
and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.(P)
9 If ten people remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And if a relative, one who burns it,[e] takes up the body to bring it out of the house and says to someone in the innermost parts of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” the answer will come, “No.” Then the relative[f] shall say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”
11 For the Lord commands,
and he will shatter the great house to bits
and the little house to pieces.(Q)
12 Do horses run on rocky crags?
Does one plow the sea with oxen?[g]
But you have turned justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,(R)
13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar,[h]
who say, “Have we not by our own strength
taken Karnaim[i] for ourselves?”
14 Indeed, I am raising up against you a nation,
O house of Israel, says the Lord, the God of hosts,
and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath
to the Wadi Arabah.(S)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.