Amos 5
Good News Translation
A Call to Repentance
5 Listen, people of Israel, to this funeral song which I sing over you:
2 Virgin Israel has fallen,
Never to rise again!
She lies abandoned on the ground,
And no one helps her up.
3 The Sovereign Lord says, “A city in Israel sends out a thousand soldiers, but only a hundred return; another city sends out a hundred, but only ten come back.”
4 The Lord says to the people of Israel, “Come to me, and you will live. 5 Do not go to Beersheba to worship. Do not try to find me at Bethel—Bethel will come to nothing. Do not go to Gilgal—her people are doomed to exile.”
6 Go to the Lord, and you will live. If you do not go, he will sweep down like fire on the people of Israel. The fire will burn up the people of Bethel, and no one will be able to put it out. 7 You are doomed, you that twist justice and cheat people out of their rights!
8 (A)The Lord made the stars,
the Pleiades and Orion.
He turns darkness into daylight
and day into night.
He calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out on the earth.
His name is the Lord.
9 He brings destruction on the mighty and their strongholds.
10 You people hate anyone who challenges injustice and speaks the whole truth in court. 11 You have oppressed the poor and robbed them of their grain. And so you will not live in the fine stone houses you build or drink wine from the beautiful vineyards you plant. 12 I know how terrible your sins are and how many crimes you have committed. You persecute good people, take bribes, and prevent the poor from getting justice in the courts. 13 And so, keeping quiet in such evil times is the smart thing to do!
14 Make it your aim to do what is right, not what is evil, so that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty really will be with you, as you claim he is. 15 Hate what is evil, love what is right, and see that justice prevails in the courts. Perhaps the Lord will be merciful to the people of this nation who are still left alive.
16 And so the Sovereign Lord Almighty says, “There will be wailing and cries of sorrow in the city streets. Even farmers will be called to mourn the dead along with those who are paid to mourn. 17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards. All this will take place because I am coming to punish you.” The Lord has spoken.
18 How terrible it will be for you who long for the day of the Lord! What good will that day do you? For you it will be a day of darkness and not of light. 19 It will be like someone who runs from a lion and meets a bear! Or like someone who comes home and puts his hand on the wall—only to be bitten by a snake! 20 The day of the Lord will bring darkness and not light; it will be a day of gloom, without any brightness.
21 (B)The Lord says, “I hate your religious festivals; I cannot stand them! 22 When you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will not accept the animals you have fattened to bring me as offerings. 23 Stop your noisy songs; I do not want to listen to your harps. 24 Instead, let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.
25 (C)“People of Israel, I did not demand sacrifices and offerings during those forty years that I led you through the desert. 26 But now, because you have worshiped images of Sakkuth, your king god, and of Kaiwan, your star god, you will have to carry those images 27 when I take you into exile in a land beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is Almighty God.
阿摩司書 5
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
勸以色列人悔改
5 以色列家啊，
聽我為你們唱哀歌：
2 「處女以色列跌倒了，
再也站不起來；
她被遺棄在自己的土地上，
無人扶她起來。」
3 因為主耶和華說：
「以色列家的城邑中，
出兵一千的，只有百人生還；
出兵一百的，只有十人生還。」
4 耶和華對以色列家說：
「你們要尋求我，才能存活。
5 不要去伯特利求問，
不要進入吉甲，
也不要前往別示巴，
因為吉甲人必被擄去，
伯特利也必化為烏有。」
6 你們要尋求耶和華，才能存活。
否則，祂要在約瑟家[a]如烈火爆發，
吞噬伯特利，無人能撲滅。
7 你們這些使正義變為苦艾、將公義丟棄在地的人啊，
8 那位造昴星和參星，
使幽暗變為黎明，
使白晝變為黑夜，
召來海水澆在大地上的——
祂的名字是耶和華。
9 祂使毀滅如閃電臨到強者，
摧毀他們的堅城。
10 你們憎恨在城門口主持公道的人，
厭惡正直的人。
11 你們踐踏窮人，
對他們橫徵暴斂。
因此，你們用鑿過的石頭建房，
卻不得居住在裡面；
你們種植佳美的葡萄園，
卻喝不到葡萄酒。
12 我知道你們的過犯眾多、罪惡無數。
你們迫害義人，收受賄賂，
在城門口冤枉窮人。
13 這是邪惡的時代，
所以明智者靜默不言。
14 你們要棄惡從善，才能存活。
這樣，萬軍之上帝耶和華必與你們同在，
正如你們所說的。
15 你們要恨惡邪惡，喜愛良善，
在城門口伸張正義，
也許萬軍之上帝耶和華會恩待約瑟的餘民。
16 因此，主——萬軍之上帝耶和華說：
「哀號之聲要響遍各廣場，
哭喊之聲將充滿大街小巷。
農夫被叫來哭泣，
哭喪者被召來哀號。
17 每個葡萄園都傳出哀慟的聲音，
因為我要從你們中間經過，懲罰你們。
這是耶和華說的。」
18 盼望耶和華的日子到來的人有禍了！
你們為什麼盼望耶和華的日子呢？
那日將帶來黑暗，而非光明。
19 你們的光景將好像人逃避獅子，
卻遇上了熊，
逃回家裡，手扶牆壁，
又被蛇咬。
20 耶和華的日子將充滿黑暗，毫無光明，
一片漆黑，
毫無亮光。
21 「我憎惡、鄙棄你們的節期，
厭惡你們的聖會。
22 即使你們獻上燔祭和素祭，
我也不悅納；
即使你們用肥美的牲畜獻上平安祭，
我也不屑一顧。
23 撤去你們嘈雜的歌聲吧，
我不想聽到你們的琴音。
24 惟願公正如江河滔滔不盡，
公義如溪流綿綿不絕。
25 以色列家啊，
在曠野的四十年間，
你們向我獻過祭物和供品嗎？
26 你們抬著為自己造的神像——
你們的王撒固和星神迦溫。
27 所以，我要使你們被擄到大馬士革以外的地方。」
這是耶和華說的，祂的名字是萬軍之上帝。
Footnotes
- 5·6 「約瑟家」此處指約瑟的子孫以法蓮和瑪拿西兩個支派，聖經中有時用約瑟家代指北國以色列。
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
