Amos 5:4-27

Christian Standard Bible

Seek God and Live

⁴For the Lord says to the house of Israel:

Seek me and live!^(A)
⁵Do not seek Bethel^(B)
or go to Gilgal^(C)
or journey to Beer-sheba,^(D)
for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,
and Bethel will come to nothing.
⁶Seek the Lord^(E) and live,
or he will spread like fire^(F)
throughout the house of Joseph;
it will consume everything
with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.^(G)
⁷Those who turn justice into wormwood^(H)
also throw righteousness to the ground.

⁸The one who made the Pleiades and Orion,^(I)
who turns darkness^[a] into dawn^(J)
and darkens day into night,^(K)
who summons the water of the sea^(L)
and pours it out over the surface of the earth^(M)—
the Lord is his name.^(N)
⁹He brings destruction^[b] on the strong,^[c]^(O)
and it falls on the fortress.^(P)

¹⁰They hate the one who convicts the guilty^(Q)
at the city gate,
and they despise^(R) the one who speaks with integrity.
¹¹Therefore, because you trample on the poor^(S)
and exact a grain tax from him,
you will never live in the houses of cut stone^(T)
you have built;
you will never drink the wine
from the lush vineyards
you have planted.^(U)
¹²For I know your crimes are many
and your sins innumerable.
They oppress the righteous,^(V) take a bribe,
and deprive the poor of justice^(W) at the city gates.
¹³Therefore, those who have insight will keep silent^[d]^(X)
at such a time,
for the days are evil.

¹⁴Pursue good and not evil
so that you may live,
and the Lord, the God of Armies,
will be with you
as you have claimed.^(Y)
¹⁵Hate evil and love good;^(Z)
establish justice at the city gate.^(AA)
Perhaps the Lord, the God of Armies, will be gracious^(AB)
to the remnant of Joseph.^(AC)

¹⁶Therefore the Lord, the God of Armies, the Lord, says:

There will be wailing in all the public squares;^(AD)
they will cry out in anguish^[e] in all the streets.
The farmer will be called on to mourn,^(AE)
and professional mourners^[f]^(AF) to wail.
¹⁷There will be wailing in all the vineyards,^(AG)
for I will pass among you.^(AH)
The Lord has spoken.

The Day of the Lord

¹⁸Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord!^(AI)
What will the day of the Lord be for you?
It will be darkness and not light.^(AJ)
¹⁹It will be like a man who flees from a lion^(AK)
only to have a bear confront him.
He goes home and rests his hand against the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
²⁰Won’t the day of the Lord
be darkness rather than light,^(AL)
even gloom without any brightness in it?^(AM)
²¹I hate, I despise, your feasts!^(AN)
I can’t stand the stench
of your solemn assemblies.^(AO)
²²Even if you offer me
your burnt offerings and grain offerings,^(AP)
I will not accept them;^(AQ)
I will have no regard
for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.^(AR)
²³Take away from me the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.^(AS)
²⁴But let justice flow like water,
and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.^(AT)

²⁵“House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the wilderness?^(AU) ²⁶But you have taken up^[g] Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god,^[h] images you have made for yourselves.^(AV) ²⁷So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.”^(AW) The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name.^(AX) He has spoken.

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Footnotes

5:8 Or turns the shadow of death
5:9 Hb obscure
5:9 Or stronghold
5:13 Or who are prudent will perish
5:16 Lit will say, “Alas! Alas!”
5:16 Lit and those skilled in lamentation
5:26 Or you will lift up
5:26 LXX reads taken up the tent of Molech and the star of your god Rephan; Ac 7:43

Jeremiah 22:3

Christian Standard Bible

³This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness.^(A) Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor.^(B) Don’t exploit or brutalize the resident alien, the fatherless, or the widow.^(C) Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

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Jeremiah 22:3 in all English translations

Philippians 4:8-9

Christian Standard Bible

⁸Finally^[a] brothers and sisters, whatever is true,^(A) whatever is honorable,^(B) whatever is just,^(C) whatever is pure,^(D) whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence^(E) and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things. ⁹Do what you have learned and received^(F) and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

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Footnotes

4:8 Or In addition

Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

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