Amos 5

New American Standard Bible

“Seek Me So That You May Live”

5 Hear this word which I am taking up for you as a ^(A)song of mourning, house of Israel:
²She has fallen, she will ^(B)not rise again—
The ^(C)virgin Israel.
She lies unnoticed on her land;
There is ^(D)no one to raise her up.

³For this is what the Lord ^[a]God says:

“The city which goes forth a thousand strong
Will have a ^(E)hundred left,
And the one which goes forth a hundred strong
Will have ^(F)ten left to the house of Israel.”

⁴For this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel:

“^(G)Seek Me ^(H)so that you may live.
⁵But do not ^[b]resort to ^(I)Bethel
And do not come to ^(J)Gilgal,
Nor cross over to ^(K)Beersheba;
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
And Bethel will ^[c]come to nothing.
⁶^(L)Seek the Lord so that you may live,
Or He will break through like a ^(M)fire, ^[d]house of Joseph,
And it will consume with no one to extinguish it for Bethel,
⁷For those who turn ^(N)justice into wormwood,
And ^[e]throw righteousness to the earth.”

⁸He who made the ^(O)Pleiades and Orion,
And ^(P)changes deep darkness into morning,
^[f]Who also ^(Q)darkens day into night,
Who ^(R)calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
The ^(S)Lord is His name.
⁹It is He who ^(T)makes destruction flash upon the strong,
So that ^(U)destruction comes upon the fortress.

¹⁰They hate him who ^(V)rebukes in the ^[g]gate,
And they ^(W)despise him who speaks with integrity.
¹¹Therefore because you impose heavy ^[h]rent on the poor
And take a tribute of grain from them,
Though you have built ^(X)houses of cut stone,
Yet you will not live in them;
You have planted beautiful vineyards, yet you will ^(Y)not drink their wine.
¹²For I know your offenses are many and your sins are great,
You who are ^(Z)hostile to the righteous and accept bribes,
And ^[i]turn away the poor from justice at the ^[j]gate.
¹³Therefore at ^[k]such a time the prudent person ^(AA)keeps quiet, because it is an evil time.

¹⁴Seek good and not evil, so that you may live;
And so may the Lord God of armies be with you,
^(AB)Just as you have said!
¹⁵^(AC)Hate evil, love good,
And establish justice in the ^[l]gate!
Perhaps the Lord God of armies
^(AD)Will be gracious to the ^(AE)remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶Therefore this is what the Lord God of armies, the Lord says:

“There is ^(AF)mourning in all the public squares,
And in all the streets they say, ‘Oh no! Oh no!’
They also call the ^(AG)farmer to mourning
And ^[m]^(AH)professional mourners to mourning rites.
¹⁷And in all the ^(AI)vineyards there is mourning,
Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord.

¹⁸Woe to you who are longing for the ^(AJ)day of the Lord,
For what ^[n]purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?
It will be ^(AK)darkness and not light;
¹⁹As when a man ^(AL)flees from a lion
And a bear confronts him,
^[o]Or he goes home, leans with his hand against the wall,
And a snake bites him.
²⁰Will the day of the Lord not be ^(AM)darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?

²¹“I hate, I ^(AN)reject your festivals,
Nor do I ^[p]^(AO)delight in your festive assemblies.
²²Even though you ^(AP)offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the ^(AQ)peace offerings of your fattened oxen.
²³Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
²⁴But let ^(AR)justice roll out like waters,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

²⁵“^[q]^(AS)Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel? ²⁶^(AT)You also carried along ^[r]Sikkuth your king and ^[s]Kiyyun, your images, ^[t]the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. ²⁷Therefore I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of armies.

Footnotes

Amos 5:3 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
Amos 5:5 Lit seek
Amos 5:5 Lit be
Amos 5:6 Or in the house
Amos 5:7 Lit they have thrown
Amos 5:8 Lit And He darkened
Amos 5:10 I.e., the place where court was held
Amos 5:11 Or tax
Amos 5:12 Lit they turn
Amos 5:12 I.e., the place where court was held
Amos 5:13 Lit that time
Amos 5:15 I.e., the place where court was held
Amos 5:16 Lit those who know mourning
Amos 5:18 Lit will this be to you, the day
Amos 5:19 Or Then
Amos 5:21 Lit like to smell your
Amos 5:25 Or You presented Me with the sacrifices and a grain offering
Amos 5:26 Or Sakkuth (Saturn), or the tabernacle of your Moloch
Amos 5:26 Or Kaiwan (Saturn), or stands of
Amos 5:26 Or your star gods

Amos 6

New American Standard Bible

“Carefree in Zion”

6 ^(A)Woe to those who are carefree in Zion,
And to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria,
The ^(B)dignitaries of the foremost of nations,
To whom the house of Israel comes.
²Go over to ^(C)Calneh and look,
And go from there to ^(D)Hamath the great,
Then go down to ^(E)Gath of the Philistines.
Are ^[a]they better than these kingdoms,
Or is their territory greater than yours?
³Are you ^(F)postponing the day of disaster,
And would you ^(G)bring near the seat of violence?

⁴Those who lie on beds of ivory,
And lounge around on their ^(H)couches,
And ^(I)eat lambs from the flock,
And calves from the midst of the fattened cattle,
⁵Who improvise to the sound of the harp,
And like David have ^[b]composed ^(J)songs for themselves,
⁶Who ^(K)drink wine from sacred bowls
While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils—
Yet they have not ^(L)grieved over the collapse of Joseph.
⁷Therefore, they will now ^(M)go into exile at the head of the exiles,
And the revelry of those who ^(N)lounge around will come to an end.

⁸The Lord ^[c]God has ^(O)sworn by Himself, the Lord God of armies has declared:
“I ^(P)loathe the arrogance of Jacob,
And ^[d]detest his ^(Q)citadels;
Therefore I will ^(R)give up the city and ^[e]all it contains.”

⁹And it will be, if ^(S)ten men are left in one house, they will die. ¹⁰Then one’s ^[f]uncle, or his ^(T)undertaker, will lift him up to carry out his bones from the house, and he will say to the one who is in the innermost part of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” And that one will say, “No one.” Then he will ^[g]answer, “^(U)Keep quiet! For ^[h]the name of the Lord is ^(V)not to be mentioned.” ¹¹For behold, the Lord is going to ^(W)command that the ^(X)great house be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.

¹²Do horses run on rocks?
Or does one ^[i]plow them with oxen?
Yet you have turned ^(Y)justice into poison,
And the fruit of righteousness into ^[j]wormwood,
¹³You who rejoice in ^[k]^(Z)Lodebar,
^[l]And say, “Have we not ^(AA)by our own strength taken ^[m]Karnaim for ourselves?”
¹⁴“For behold, ^(AB)I am going to raise up a nation against you,
House of Israel,” declares the Lord God of armies,
“And they will torment you from the ^(AC)entrance of Hamath
To the ^(AD)brook of the Arabah.”

Footnotes

Amos 6:2 Or you
Amos 6:5 Or invented musical instruments
Amos 6:8 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
Amos 6:8 Lit hate
Amos 6:8 Lit its fullness
Amos 6:10 Or beloved one
Amos 6:10 Lit say
Amos 6:10 Lit not to make mention in the name of
Amos 6:12 Another reading is plow the sea with oxen
Amos 6:12 I.e., bitterness
Amos 6:13 Lit nothing
Amos 6:13 Lit Who say
Amos 6:13 Lit a pair of horns

Amos 7

New American Standard Bible

Warning through Visions

7 This is what the Lord ^[a]God showed me, and behold, He was forming a ^(A)swarm of locusts ^[b]when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing. ²And it came about, ^[c]when it had ^(B)finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said,

“^(C)Lord God, please pardon!
How can Jacob stand?
For he is ^(D)small.”
³The Lord ^(E)relented of this.
“It shall not be,” said the Lord.

⁴So the Lord God showed me, and behold, the Lord God was calling to contend with them by ^(F)fire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the ^[d]farmland. ⁵Then I said,

“^(G)Lord God, please stop!
^(H)How can Jacob stand?
For he is small.”
⁶The Lord ^(I)relented of this.
“This too shall not be,” said the Lord God.

⁷So He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing ^[e]by a ^[f]vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. ⁸And the Lord said to me, “^(J)What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,

“Behold I am about to put a ^(K)plumb line
In the midst of My people Israel.
I will not ^[g]^(L)spare them any longer.
⁹The ^(M)high places of Isaac will become deserted,
And the ^(N)sanctuaries of Israel will be in ruins.
Then I will ^(O)rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

Amos Accused; Gives an Answer

¹⁰Then Amaziah, the ^(P)priest of Bethel, sent word to ^(Q)Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has ^(R)conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words. ¹¹For this is what Amos says: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’” ¹²Then Amaziah said to Amos, “^(S)Go, you seer, flee to the land of Judah; and eat bread there and do your prophesying there! ¹³But ^(T)do not prophesy at Bethel any longer, for it is a ^(U)sanctuary of the king and a royal ^[h]residence.”

¹⁴Then Amos replied to Amaziah, “I am not a prophet, nor am I the ^(V)son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a ^[i]grower of sycamore figs. ¹⁵But the Lord took me from ^[j]following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go ^(W)prophesy to My people Israel.’ ¹⁶So now hear the word of the Lord: you are saying, ‘You ^(X)shall not prophesy against Israel ^(Y)nor shall you ^[k]prophesy against the house of Isaac.’ ¹⁷Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘Your ^(Z)wife will become a prostitute in the city, your ^(AA)sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be parceled up by a measuring line, and you yourself will die ^[l]upon ^(AB)unclean soil. Furthermore Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’”