A Lament for Israel

Hear this word which I (A)take up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel:

The virgin of Israel has fallen;
She will rise no more.
She lies forsaken on her land;
There is no one to raise her up.

For thus says the Lord God:

“The city that goes out by a thousand
Shall have a hundred left,
And that which goes out by a hundred
Shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”

A Call to Repentance

For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:

(B)“Seek Me (C)and live;
But do not seek (D)Bethel,
Nor enter Gilgal,
Nor pass over to (E)Beersheba;
For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
And (F)Bethel shall come to nothing.
(G)Seek the Lord and live,
Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
And devour it,
With no one to quench it in Bethel—
You who (H)turn justice to wormwood,
And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!”

He made the (I)Pleiades and Orion;
He turns the shadow of death into morning
(J)And makes the day dark as night;
He (K)calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the face of the earth;
(L)The Lord is His name.
He [a]rains ruin upon the strong,
So that fury comes upon the fortress.

10 (M)They hate the one who rebukes in the gate,
And they (N)abhor the one who speaks uprightly.
11 (O)Therefore, because you [b]tread down the poor
And take grain [c]taxes from him,
Though (P)you have built houses of hewn stone,
Yet you shall not dwell in them;
You have planted [d]pleasant vineyards,
But you shall not drink wine from them.
12 For I (Q)know your manifold transgressions
And your mighty sins:
(R)Afflicting the just and taking bribes;
(S)Diverting the poor from justice at the gate.
13 Therefore (T)the prudent keep silent at that time,
For it is an evil time.

14 Seek good and not evil,
That you may live;
So the Lord God of hosts will be with you,
(U)As you have spoken.
15 (V)Hate evil, love good;
Establish justice in the gate.
(W)It may be that the Lord God of hosts
Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

The Day of the Lord

16 Therefore the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, says this:

There shall be wailing in all streets,
And they shall say in all the highways,
‘Alas! Alas!’
They shall call the farmer to mourning,
(X)And skillful lamenters to wailing.
17 In all vineyards there shall be wailing,
For (Y)I will pass through you,”
Says the Lord.

18 (Z)Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
For what good is (AA)the day of the Lord to you?
It will be darkness, and not light.
19 It will be (AB)as though a man fled from a lion,
And a bear met him!
Or as though he went into the house,
Leaned his hand on the wall,
And a serpent bit him!
20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light?
Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?

21 “I(AC) hate, I despise your feast days,
And (AD)I do not savor your sacred assemblies.
22 (AE)Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.
23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs,
For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.
24 (AF)But let justice run down like water,
And righteousness like a mighty stream.

25 “Did(AG) you offer Me sacrifices and offerings
In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 You also carried [e]Sikkuth[f] (AH)your king
And Chiun, your idols,
The star of your gods,
Which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will send you into captivity (AI)beyond Damascus,”
Says the Lord, (AJ)whose name is the God of hosts.

Footnotes

  1. Amos 5:9 Or flashes forth destruction
  2. Amos 5:11 trample
  3. Amos 5:11 Or tribute
  4. Amos 5:11 desirable
  5. Amos 5:26 LXX, Vg. tabernacle of Moloch
  6. Amos 5:26 A pagan deity

Lamentation for Israel

Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament,(A) house of Israel:

She has fallen;
Virgin Israel(B) will never rise again.(C)
She lies abandoned on her land
with no one to raise her up.(D)

For the Lord God says:

The city that marches out a thousand strong
will have only a hundred left,(E)
and the one that marches out a hundred strong
will have only ten left(F) in the house of Israel.

Seek God and Live

For the Lord says to the house of Israel:

Seek me and live!(G)
Do not seek Bethel(H)
or go to Gilgal(I)
or journey to Beer-sheba,(J)
for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,
and Bethel will come to nothing.
Seek the Lord(K) and live,
or he will spread like fire(L)
throughout the house of Joseph;
it will consume everything
with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.(M)
Those who turn justice into wormwood(N)
also throw righteousness to the ground.

The one who made the Pleiades and Orion,(O)
who turns darkness[a] into dawn(P)
and darkens day into night,(Q)
who summons the water of the sea(R)
and pours it out over the surface of the earth(S)
the Lord is his name.(T)
He brings destruction[b] on the strong,[c],(U)
and it falls on the fortress.(V)

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

14 Pursue good and not evil
so that you may live,
and the Lord, the God of Armies,
will be with you
as you have claimed.(AE)
15 Hate evil and love good;(AF)
establish justice at the city gate.(AG)
Perhaps the Lord, the God of Armies, will be gracious(AH)
to the remnant of Joseph.(AI)

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

There will be wailing in all the public squares;(AJ)
they will cry out in anguish[e] in all the streets.
The farmer will be called on to mourn,(AK)
and professional mourners[f],(AL) to wail.
17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards,(AM)
for I will pass among you.(AN)
The Lord has spoken.

The Day of the Lord

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

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

Footnotes

  1. 5:8 Or turns the shadow of death
  2. 5:9 Hb obscure
  3. 5:9 Or stronghold
  4. 5:13 Or who are prudent will perish
  5. 5:16 Lit will say, “Alas! Alas! ”
  6. 5:16 Lit and those skilled in lamentation
  7. 5:26 Or you will lift up
  8. 5:26 LXX reads taken up the tent of Molech and the star of your god Rephan; Ac 7:43

Exhortación al arrepentimiento

Oíd esta palabra que yo pronuncio[a] como lamentación(A) sobre vosotros, casa de Israel.
Ha caído, no volverá a levantarse(B)
la virgen de Israel(C);
abandonada yace en su tierra,
no hay quien la levante(D).
Porque así dice el Señor Dios[b]:
La ciudad que sale con mil,
se quedará con cien(E);
y la que sale con cien,
se quedará con diez(F), en la casa de Israel.

Porque así dice el Señor a la casa de Israel:
Buscadme(G), y viviréis(H).
Pero no busquéis a Betel(I),
ni vayáis a Gilgal(J),
ni paséis a Beerseba(K);
porque ciertamente Gilgal será llevada cautiva,
y Betel caerá en desgracia[c].
Buscad al Señor y viviréis(L),
no sea que Él prorrumpa como fuego(M), oh casa[d] de José,
y consuma a Betel sin que haya quien lo apague;
consuma a los que convierten el juicio en ajenjo
y echan[e] por tierra la justicia(N).

El que hizo las Pléyades y el Orión(O),
cambia las densas tinieblas en aurora(P),
y hace oscurecer[f] el día en noche(Q);
el que llama a las aguas del mar,
y las derrama sobre la faz de la tierra(R):
el Señor es su nombre(S).
Él es quien desencadena destrucción sobre el fuerte(T),
y hace que la ruina venga sobre la fortaleza(U).

10 Ellos odian en la puerta[g](V) al que reprende,
y aborrecen al que habla con integridad(W).
11 Por tanto, ya que imponéis fuertes impuestos sobre el[h] pobre
y exigís de él tributo de grano,
las casas de piedra labrada que habéis edificado,
no las habitaréis(X);
habéis plantado viñas escogidas, pero no beberéis su vino(Y).
12 Pues yo sé que muchas son vuestras transgresiones y graves vuestros pecados:
oprimís al justo, aceptáis[i] soborno
y rechazáis[j] a los pobres en la puerta(Z).
13 Por tanto, el prudente se calla en ese tiempo(AA), pues es tiempo malo.

14 Buscad lo bueno y no lo malo, para que viváis;
y así sea con vosotros el Señor, Dios de los ejércitos,
tal como habéis dicho(AB).
15 Aborreced el mal, amad el bien(AC),
y estableced la justicia[k] en la puerta.
Tal vez el Señor, Dios de los ejércitos,
sea misericordioso(AD) con el remanente(AE) de José.

16 Por tanto, así dice el Señor, el Señor Dios de los ejércitos:
En todas las plazas hay llanto,
y en todas las calles dicen: ¡Ay! ¡Ay!(AF)
Llaman a duelo al labrador(AG),
y a lamentación a los que saben plañir(AH).
17 En todas las viñas habrá llanto(AI),
porque pasaré por en medio de ti —dice el Señor.

18 ¡Ay de los que ansían el día del Señor!
¿De qué os servirá el día del Señor(AJ)?
Será tinieblas, y no luz(AK);
19 como cuando uno huye de un león,
y se encuentra con un oso,
o va a casa, apoya la mano en la pared,
y lo muerde una culebra(AL).
20 ¿No será tinieblas el día del Señor, y no luz,
oscuridad, y no resplandor(AM)?

21 Aborrezco, desprecio vuestras fiestas(AN),
tampoco me agradan[l] vuestras asambleas solemnes(AO).
22 Aunque me ofrezcáis holocaustos y vuestras ofrendas de grano,
no los aceptaré;
ni miraré a las ofrendas de paz de vuestros animales cebados(AP).
23 Aparta de mí el ruido de tus cánticos,
pues no escucharé siquiera la música de tus arpas.
24 Pero corra[m] el juicio como las aguas
y la justicia como corriente inagotable(AQ).

25 ¿Acaso me ofrecisteis sacrificios y ofrendas de cereal por cuarenta años en el desierto, oh casa de Israel[n](AR)? 26 Más bien, llevasteis a Sicut[o], vuestro rey, y a Quiyún[p], vuestros ídolos, la estrella de vuestros dioses que hicisteis para vosotros(AS). 27 Yo os haré, pues, deportar más allá de Damasco —dice el Señor, cuyo nombre es Dios de los ejércitos.

Footnotes

  1. Amós 5:1 Lit., levanto
  2. Amós 5:3 Heb., YHWH, generalmente traducido Señor; y así en el resto del cap.
  3. Amós 5:5 Lit., se volverá iniquidad
  4. Amós 5:6 O, en la casa
  5. Amós 5:7 Lit., ponen
  6. Amós 5:8 Lit., oscureció
  7. Amós 5:10 I.e., lugar donde se reunía el tribunal; y así en los vers. 12 y 15
  8. Amós 5:11 Otra posible lectura es: pisoteáis al
  9. Amós 5:12 Lit., los que oprimen...los que aceptan
  10. Amós 5:12 Lit., rechazan
  11. Amós 5:15 O, el derecho
  12. Amós 5:21 Lit., me gusta el olor de
  13. Amós 5:24 Lit., ruede
  14. Amós 5:25 O, Me presentasteis...casa de Israel.
  15. Amós 5:26 O, Sacut (Saturno); o quizá, el santuario de vuestro Moloc
  16. Amós 5:26 O, Queiván (Saturno); o quizá, los pedestales de