Amos 5:4-15

Common English Bible

Words of encouragement

⁴    The Lord proclaims to the house of Israel:
        Seek me and live.
⁵    But don’t seek Bethel,
        don’t enter into Gilgal,
        or cross over to Beer-sheba;
    for Gilgal will go into exile,
        and Bethel will come to nothing.
⁶    Seek the Lord and live,
        or else God might rush like a fire against the house of Joseph.
        The fire will burn up Bethel, with no one to put it out.

Words of doom

⁷    Doom to you who turn justice into poison,
        and throw righteousness to the ground!
⁸    The one who made the Pleiades and Orion,
        and turns deep darkness into the morning,
        and darkens the day into night;
    who summons the waters of the sea,
        and pours them out on the surface of the earth—
        this one’s name is the Lord—
⁹    who causes destruction to flash out against the strong,
        so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

¹⁰They hate the one who judges at the city gate,
        and they reject the one who speaks the truth.
¹¹Truly, because you crush the weak,
        and because you tax their grain,
    you have built houses of carved stone,
        but you won’t live in them;
    you have planted pleasant vineyards,
        but you won’t drink their wine.
¹²I know how many are your crimes,
        and how numerous are your sins—
    afflicting the righteous,
        taking money on the side,
        turning away the poor who seek help.
¹³Therefore, the one who is wise will keep silent in that time;
        it is an evil time.

Words of inspiration

¹⁴Seek good and not evil,
        that you may live;
    and so the Lord, the God of heavenly forces,
        will be with you just as you have said.
¹⁵Hate evil, love good,
        and establish justice at the city gate.
Perhaps the Lord God of heavenly forces
        will be gracious to what is left of Joseph.