Amos 4-5

Tree of Life Version

4 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on Samaria’s hill,
who oppress the poor,
who crush the needy,
who say to their masters: “Bring, so we may drink.”
² My Lord Adonai has sworn by His holiness:
“Behold, days are coming upon you
when he will drag you away with meat-hooks,
the last of you with fishhooks.
³ You will go out through breaches—
    each woman straight ahead,
and you will be cast to Harmon.”^[a]
It is the declaration of Adonai.
⁴ “Come to Bethel and transgress,
in Gilgal multiply transgression.
Every morning bring your sacrifices
    and your tithes every three days.
⁵ Offer up hametz as a thank offering,
call out about freewill offerings—
    boast about it!
For so you love to do, Bnei-Yisrael.”
It is the declaration of my Lord Adonai.

⁶ “So also, I myself have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities
and lack of bread in all your places—
yet you have not returned to Me,”
    declares Adonai.
⁷ “Also I myself have withheld from you
    the rain—when three months remain to the harvest,
I caused it to rain on one city,
    while on another city I sent no rain;
one piece of ground would get rain,
    while the portion not rained on would wither.
⁸ So two or three cities go staggering to one city to drink water,
    but would not be satisfied—
yet you have not returned to Me,”
    declares Adonai.
⁹ “I struck you with blight and mildew.
Your many gardens and vineyards,
    your fig-trees and olive trees the locust has devoured—
yet you have not returned to Me,”
declares Adonai.
¹⁰ “I sent among you a plague in the manner of Egypt.
I slew your young men by the sword,
with your chariot-horses in captivity.
I made the stench of your camp rise up even to your own nostrils—
yet you have not returned to Me,”
    declares Adonai.
¹¹ I overthrew some of you as God
    overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah^[b].
You became like a firebrand snatched from a blaze—
yet you have not returned to Me,”
declares Adonai.

¹² “Therefore here is what I will do to you, Israel.
Because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, Israel!”
¹³ For behold! He who forms mountains
who creates the wind,
who declares His thoughts to man,
who makes dawn out of darkness,
who walks above the heights of the earth—
    His Name is Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot!

² She has fallen, never rising again—virgin Israel—
She is forsaken on her land,
with nobody to lift her up.
³ For thus says Adonai Elohim:
“The city that sends out a thousand
    will have a hundred left,
and one that sends out a hundred
    will have ten left for the house of Israel.”

“Seek Me, and live!
⁵ But do not seek Bethel,
do not go to Gilgal,
do not cross over to Beersheba.
For Gilgal will surely go into exile,
and Bethel will come to trouble.
⁶ Seek Adonai, and live—
lest He rush like fire through the house of Joseph.
Yes, it will devour Bethel,
    with no one to quench it.^[c]

⁷ You who turn justice to wormwood
threw righteousness to the ground.
⁸ He who made the Pleiades and Orion
and changes deep darkness to morning.
Who darkens the day into night.
Who summons the water of the sea
and pours it out on the face of the earth
—Adonai is His Name.
⁹ He flashes destruction on the mighty,
so destruction will come against a fortress.
¹⁰ They despise one who reproves at the gate,
so they detest one who speaks with integrity.
¹¹ Therefore, because you trample on the poor,
    exacting from him a burden of grain,
you built houses of hewn stone,
    but will not dwell in them,
you planted pleasant vineyards,
    but will not drink their wine.
¹² For I know your crimes are many
and your sins countless—
afflicting the righteous, taking bribes,
and turning the needy aside at the gate.
¹³ Therefore the prudent keep silent at such a time
—for it is a distressful time.
¹⁴ Seek good and not evil,
    so you may live,
and so Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot may be with you
    —just as you said!
¹⁵ Hate evil, love good,
    maintain justice at the gate.
Maybe Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot will
    extend grace to Joseph’s remnant.^[d]

¹⁸ Oy to you—longing for the Day of Adonai!^[e]
What would it be for you?
The Day of Adonai will be darkness and not light.^[f]
19 It will be as when a man is fleeing from a lion—
and meets a bear!
Or he comes home,
    leans his hand on the wall,
    and a snake bites him!
²⁰ Will not the Day of Adonai be darkness, not light?
Gloom, not brightness?

²¹ “I hate, I despise your festivals!
I take no delight in your sacred assemblies.
²² Even if you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
nor will I look
    at peace offerings of your fattened animals.
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 like water
and righteousness like an ever-flowing torrent.
²⁵ Did you bring sacrifices and offerings to Me in the wilderness
for forty years, O house of Israel?
²⁶ But you lifted up your images
—Siccuth your ‘king’, and Chiun,^[g] your star gods—
which you made for yourselves,^[h]
27 So I will send you into exile,
beyond Damascus.”
Adonai has spoken,
Elohei-Tzva’ot is His Name.