Amos 5

English Standard Version

Seek the Lord and Live

5 Hear this word that I ^(A)take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:

²“Fallen, no more to rise,
is ^(B)the virgin Israel;
forsaken on her land,
with none to raise her up.”

³For 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.”

⁴For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:

^(C)“Seek me and live;
⁵    but do not seek ^(D)Bethel,
and do not enter into ^(E)Gilgal
    or cross over to ^(F)Beersheba;
for ^(G)Gilgal shall surely go into exile,
    and ^(H)Bethel shall come to nothing.”

⁶^(I)Seek the Lord and live,
    ^(J)lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
    and it devour, with none to quench it for ^(K)Bethel,
⁷O ^(L)you who turn justice to wormwood^[a]
    and cast down righteousness to the earth!

⁸He who made the ^(M)Pleiades and Orion,
    and turns deep darkness into the morning
    and ^(N)darkens the day into night,
who ^(O)calls for the waters of the sea
    ^(P)and pours them out on the surface of the earth,
^(Q)the Lord is his name;
⁹^(R)who makes destruction flash forth against the strong,
    so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

¹⁰^(S)They hate him who reproves ^(T)in the gate,
    and they ^(U)abhor him who speaks the truth.
¹¹Therefore because you ^(V)trample on^[b] the poor
    and you exact taxes of grain from him,
^(W)you have built houses of hewn stone,
    but you shall not dwell in them;
^(X)you have planted pleasant vineyards,
    but you shall not drink their wine.
¹²For I know how many are your transgressions
    and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who ^(Y)take a bribe,
    and ^(Z)turn aside the needy ^(AA)in the gate.
¹³Therefore he who is prudent will ^(AB)keep silent in such a time,
    ^(AC)for it is an evil time.

¹⁴^(AD)Seek good, and not evil,
    that you may live;
and so the Lord, ^(AE)the God of hosts, will be with you,
    as you have said.
¹⁵^(AF)Hate evil, and love good,
    and establish justice ^(AG)in the gate;
^(AH)it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
    will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord, ^(AI)the God of hosts, the Lord:

“In all the squares ^(AJ)there shall be wailing,
    and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’
They shall call the farmers to mourning
    and ^(AK)to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation,
¹⁷and in all vineyards there shall be wailing,
    for ^(AL)I will pass through your midst,”
says the Lord.

Let Justice Roll Down

¹⁸Woe to you who desire ^(AM)the day of the Lord!
    Why would you have the day of the Lord?
^(AN)It is darkness, and not light,
¹⁹    ^(AO)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^(AP)Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light,
    and gloom with no brightness in it?

²¹^(AQ)“I hate, I despise your feasts,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
²²^(AR)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.
²³Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    to ^(AS)the melody of your harps I will not listen.
²⁴But let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

²⁵^(AT)“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? ²⁶^(AU)You ^(AV)shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, ²⁷^(AW)and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is ^(AX)the God of hosts.

Footnotes

Amos 5:7 Or to bitter fruit
Amos 5:11 Or you tax

Micah 6

English Standard Version

The Indictment of the Lord

6 ^(A)Hear what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.
²^(B)Hear, you mountains, ^(C)the indictment of the Lord,
    and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people,
    and he will contend with Israel.

³“O my people, ^(D)what have I done to you?
    ^(E)How have I wearied you? Answer me!
⁴For ^(F)I brought you up from the land of Egypt
    and ^(G)redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
    Aaron, and ^(H)Miriam.
⁵O my people, remember ^(I)what Balak king of Moab devised,
    and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from ^(J)Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know ^(K)the righteous acts of the Lord.”

What Does the Lord Require?

⁶^(L)“With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before ^(M)God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷^(N)Will the Lord be pleased with^[a] thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
^(O)Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
⁸He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and ^(P)what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,^[b]
    and to ^(Q)walk humbly with your God?

Destruction of the Wicked

⁹The voice of the Lord cries to the city—
    and it is sound wisdom to fear ^(R)your name:
“Hear of ^(S)the rod and of him who appointed it!^[c]
¹⁰    Can I forget any longer the treasures^[d] of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
    and the scant measure that is accursed?
¹¹Shall I acquit the man ^(T)with wicked scales
    and with a bag of deceitful weights?
¹²Your^[e] rich men are ^(U)full of violence;
    your inhabitants ^(V)speak lies,
    and ^(W)their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
¹³Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,
    ^(X)making you desolate because of your sins.
¹⁴^(Y)You shall eat, but not be satisfied,
    and there shall be hunger within you;
you shall put away, but not preserve,
    and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
¹⁵^(Z)You shall sow, but not reap;
    you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
    you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
¹⁶For you have kept the statutes of ^(AA)Omri,^[f]
    and all the works of the house of ^(AB)Ahab;
    and you have walked in their counsels,
that I may make you ^(AC)a desolation, and your^[g] inhabitants ^(AD)a hissing;
    so you shall bear ^(AE)the scorn of my people.”