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

Jonah 1

English Standard Version

Jonah Flees the Presence of the Lord

1 Now the word of the Lord came to ^(A)Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ²“Arise, go to ^(B)Nineveh, that ^(C)great city, and call out against it, ^(D)for their evil^[a] has come up before me.” ³But Jonah ^(E)rose to flee to ^(F)Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to ^(G)Joppa and found a ship going to ^(H)Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to ^(I)Tarshish, ^(J)away from the presence of the Lord.

⁴But ^(K)the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened ^(L)to break up. ⁵Then the mariners were afraid, and ^(M)each cried out to his god. And ^(N)they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. ⁶So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, ^(O)call out to your god! ^(P)Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea

⁷And they said to one another, “Come, let us ^(Q)cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” ⁹And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear ^(R)the Lord, the God of heaven, ^(S)who made the sea and the dry land.” ¹⁰Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that ^(T)he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

¹¹Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. ¹²He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, ^(U)for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” ¹³Nevertheless, the men rowed hard^[b] to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. ¹⁴Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and ^(V)lay not on us innocent blood, ^(W)for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” ¹⁵So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, ^(X)and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, ^(Y)and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord ^(Z)and made vows.

A Great Fish Swallows Jonah

¹⁷^[c] And the Lord appointed^[d] a great fish to swallow up Jonah. ^(AA)And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Footnotes

Jonah 1:2 The same Hebrew word can mean evil or disaster, depending on the context; so throughout Jonah
Jonah 1:13 Hebrew the men dug in [their oars]
Jonah 1:17 Ch 2:1 in Hebrew
Jonah 1:17 Or had appointed