Amos 5
Contemporary English Version
Turn Back to the Lord
5 Listen, nation of Israel,
to my mournful message:
2 You, dearest Israel, have fallen,
never to rise again—
you lie deserted in your own land,
with no one to help you up.
3 The Lord God has warned,
“From every ten soldiers
only one will be left;
from a thousand troops,
only a hundred will survive.”
4 The Lord keeps saying,
“Israel, turn back to me
and you will live!
5 Don't go to Gilgal or Bethel
or even to Beersheba.[a]
Gilgal will be dragged away,
and Bethel will end up
as nothing.”[b]
6 Turn back to the Lord,
you descendants of Joseph,[c]
and you will live.
If you don't, the Lord
will attack like fire.
Bethel will burn to the ground,
and no one can save it.
7 You people are doomed!
You twist the truth
and trample on justice.
8 (A) But the Lord created the stars
and put them in place.[d]
He turns darkness to dawn
and daylight to darkness;
he scoops up the ocean
and empties it on the earth.
9 God destroys mighty soldiers
and strong fortresses.
Choose Good Instead of Evil!
The Lord said:
10 You people hate judges
and honest witnesses;
11 you abuse the poor and demand
heavy taxes from them.
You have built expensive homes,
but you won't enjoy them;
you have planted vineyards,
but you will get no wine.
12 I am the Lord, and I know
your terrible sins.
You cheat honest people
and take bribes;
you rob the poor of justice.
13 Times are so evil
that anyone with good sense
will keep quiet.
14 If you really want to live,
you must stop doing wrong
and start doing right.
I, the Lord God All-Powerful,
will then be on your side,
just as you claim I am.
15 Choose good instead of evil!
See that justice is done.
Maybe I, the Lord All-Powerful,
will be kind to what's left
of your people.[e]
Judgment Is Coming
16 This is what the Lord has sworn:
Noisy crying will be heard
in every town and street.
Even farmers will be told
to mourn for the dead,
together with those
who are paid to mourn.[f]
17 Your vineyards will be filled
with crying and weeping,[g]
because I will punish you.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
When the Lord Judges
18 You look forward to the day
when the Lord comes to judge.
But you are in for trouble!
It won't be a time of sunshine;
all will be darkness.
19 You will run from a lion,
only to meet a bear.
You will escape to your house,
rest your hand on the wall,
and be bitten by a snake.
20 The day when the Lord judges
will be dark, very dark,
without a ray of light.
What the Lord Demands
21 (B) I, the Lord, hate and despise
your religious celebrations
and your times of worship.
22 I won't accept your offerings
or animal sacrifices—
not even your very best.
23 No more of your noisy songs!
I won't listen
when you play your harps.
24 But let justice and fairness
flow like a river
that never runs dry.
25 (C) Israel, for forty years
you wandered in the desert,
without bringing offerings
or sacrifices to me.
26 Now you will have to carry
the two idols you made—
Sakkuth, the one you call king,
and Kaiwan, the one you built
in the shape of a star.[h]
27 I will force you to march
as captives beyond Damascus.
I, the Lord God All-Powerful,
have spoken![i]
Footnotes
- 5.5 Gilgal … Bethel … Beersheba: These were ancient places of worship, but the Lord had warned his people to stay away from them.
- 5.5 Gilgal … nothing: In Hebrew “Gilgal” and “dragged away” sound something alike. Bethel (meaning “house of God”) is sometimes called “house of nothing” or “house of sin” by the prophets (see Hosea 4.15; 5.8; 10.5-8).
- 5.6 descendants of Joseph: Another name for the people of the northern kingdom of Israel.
- 5.8 the stars … place: The Hebrew text mentions two groups of stars, Pleiades and Orion. Since the Lord is the Creator of the stars, he controls the seasons that are signaled by the different positions of the stars. Moreover, the stars are created objects and should not be worshiped.
- 5.15 your people: Hebrew “Joseph's descendants” (see the note at 5.6).
- 5.16 paid to mourn: In ancient times some people were paid to mourn and make loud cries at funerals.
- 5.17 Your vineyards … weeping: Instead of happy celebrations that were often held in vineyards after the harvest.
- 5.26 star: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 26.
- 5.27 I, the Lord … spoken: Israel did not offer sacrifices and gifts to the Lord during the time they wandered through the desert. But now they have made idols to carry during their ceremonies. So the Lord warns that he will make them “march” away as captives beyond Damascus, where Israel had extended its borders by victories in war (see 2 Kings 14.28).
Amos 5
1599 Geneva Bible
5 A lamentation for the captivity of Israel.
1 Hear ye this word, which I lift up upon you, even a lamentation of the house of Israel.
2 The [a]virgin Israel is fallen, and shall no more rise: she is left upon her land, and there is none to raise her up.
3 For thus saith the Lord God, The city which went out by a thousand, shall leave [b]an hundred: and that which went forth by an hundred, shall leave ten to the house of Israel.
4 For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live.
5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into [c]Gilgal, and go not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
6 Seek the Lord, and ye shall live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
7 They turn [d]judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth.
8 He [e]maketh Pleiades, and Orion, and he turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and he maketh the day dark as night: he calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the open earth: the Lord is his Name.
9 He strengtheneth the destroyer against the mighty, and the destroyer shall come against the fortress.
10 They have hated him [f]that rebuked in the gate: and they abhorred him that speaketh uprightly.
11 Forasmuch then as your treading is upon the poor, and [g]ye take from him burdens of wheat, ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them: ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.
12 For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take rewards, and they oppress the poor in the gate.
13 Therefore [h]the prudent shall keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil, that ye may live: and the Lord God of hosts shall be with you, as you have spoken.
15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be merciful unto the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore the Lord God of hosts, the Lord saith thus, Mourning shall be in all streets: and they shall say in all the high ways, Alas, alas: and they shall call the [i]husbandman to lamentation, and such as can mourn, to mourning.
17 And in all the vines shall be lamentation: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord.
18 Woe unto you, that [j]desire the day of the Lord: what have you to do with it? the day of the Lord is darkness and not light,
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him: or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20 Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light, even darkness and no light in it?
21 I hate and abhor your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and meat offerings, [k]I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23 Take thou away from me the multitude of thy songs (for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.)
24 And let judgment run down as [l]waters, and righteousness as a mighty river.
25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 But you have born [m]Sikkuth your king, and Chiun your images, and the star of your gods which you made to yourselves.
27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose Name is the God of hosts.
Footnotes
- Amos 5:2 He so calleth them, because they so boasted of themselves or because they were given to wantonness and daintiness.
- Amos 5:3 Meaning, that the tenth part should scarcely be saved.
- Amos 5:5 In those places they worshipped new idols, which aforetime served for the true honor of God: therefore he saith that these shall not save them.
- Amos 5:7 Instead of judgment and equity they execute cruelty and oppression.
- Amos 5:8 He describeth the power of God, Job 9:9.
- Amos 5:10 They hate the Prophets, which reprove them in the open assemblies.
- Amos 5:11 Ye take both his money and also his food, wherewith he should live.
- Amos 5:13 God will so plague them that they shall not suffer the godly once to open their mouths to admonish them of their faults.
- Amos 5:16 So that all degrees shall have matter of lamentation for the great plagues.
- Amos 5:18 Thus he speaketh, because the wicked and hypocrites said they were content to abide God’s judgments, whereas the godly tremble and fear, Jer. 30:7; Joel 2:2, 11; Zeph. 1:15.
- Amos 5:22 Because ye have corrupted my true service, and remain obstinate in your vices, Isa. 1:11; Jer. 6:10.
- Amos 5:24 Do your duty to God, and to your neighbor, and so ye shall feel his grace plentifully, if you show your abundant affections according to God’s word.
- Amos 5:26 That idol which you esteemed as your king, and carried about as you did Chiun, in which images you thought that there was a certain divinity.
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