Amos 5:1-17

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.