Amos 5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 5
Third Summons[a]
1 Hear this word which I utter concerning you,
this dirge, house of Israel:
2 She is fallen, to rise no more,
virgin Israel;
She lies abandoned on her land,
with no one to raise her up.(A)
3 For thus says the Lord God
to the house of Israel:
The city that marched out with a thousand
shall be left with a hundred,
Another that marched out with a hundred
shall be left with ten.
4 For thus says the Lord[b]
to the house of Israel:
Seek me, that you may live,(B)
5 but do not seek Bethel;
Do not come to Gilgal,
and do not cross over to Beer-sheba;
For Gilgal shall be led into exile
and Bethel shall be no more.
6 [c]Seek the Lord, that you may live,
lest he flare up against the house of Joseph[d] like a fire
that shall consume the house of Israel, with no one to quench it.
8 The one who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns darkness into dawn,
and darkens day into night;
Who summons the waters of the sea,
and pours them out on the surface of the earth;(C)
9 Who makes destruction fall suddenly upon the stronghold
and brings ruin upon the fortress,
the Lord is his name.
IV. Three Woes
First Woe
7 Woe to those who turn justice into wormwood
and cast righteousness to the ground,
10 They hate those who reprove at the gate
and abhor those who speak with integrity;
11 Therefore, because you tax the destitute
and exact from them levies of grain,
Though you have built houses of hewn stone,
you shall not live in them;
Though you have planted choice vineyards,
you shall not drink their wine.(D)
12 Yes, I know how many are your crimes,
how grievous your sins:
Oppressing the just, accepting bribes,
turning away the needy at the gate.
13 (Therefore at this time the wise are struck dumb
for it is an evil time.)
14 Seek good and not evil,
that you may live;
Then truly the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be with you as you claim.
15 Hate evil and love good,
and let justice prevail at the gate;
Then it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will have pity on the remnant of Joseph.(E)
16 Therefore, thus says the Lord,
the God of hosts, the Lord:
In every square there shall be lamentation,
and in every street they shall cry, “Oh, no!”
They shall summon the farmers to wail
and the professional mourners to lament.
17 And in every vineyard there shall be lamentation
when I pass through your midst, says the Lord.
Second Woe
18 Woe to those who yearn
for the day of the Lord![e]
What will the day of the Lord mean for you?
It will be darkness, not light!(F)
19 As if someone fled from a lion
and a bear met him;
Or as if on entering the house
he rested his hand against the wall,
and a snake bit it.
20 Truly, the day of the Lord will be darkness, not light,
gloom without any brightness!
21 [f](G)I hate, I despise your feasts,
I take no pleasure in your solemnities.
22 Even though you bring me your burnt offerings and grain offerings
I will not accept them;
Your stall-fed communion offerings,
I will not look upon them.
23 Take away from me
your noisy songs;
The melodies of your harps,
I will not listen to them.
24 Rather let justice surge like waters,
and righteousness like an unfailing stream.
25 (H)Did you bring me sacrifices and grain offerings
for forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?(I)
26 Yet you will carry away Sukuth,[g] your king,
and Kaiwan, your star-image,
your gods that you have made for yourselves,(J)
27 As I exile you beyond Damascus,
says the Lord,
whose name is the God of hosts.
Footnotes
- 5:1–17 These verses form a chiastic section beginning and ending with a lament over Israel (vv. 2, 16–17) and containing a double appeal to “seek” the Lord (vv. 4, 14). This editorial arrangement gives the whole section a negative cast, in effect nullifying the only hopeful verse in Amos (v. 15). Israel is as good as dead.
- 5:4–5 For thus says the Lord…Bethel shall be no more: these two verses continue the sarcasm of 4:4–5, verses in which Amos invites the people to come and “sin” at Bethel and Gilgal. The cult cities of Samaria should have been places where God could be “sought” but, because of the sins of the Northern Kingdom, these cities would cease to exist.
- 5:6 These verses have been rearranged to achieve the proper sequence according to the best possible manuscript tradition. Cf. the Textual Notes accompanying the translation.
- 5:6 House of Joseph: the kingdom of Israel or Northern Kingdom, the chief tribes of which were descended from Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph; cf. 5:15; 6:6.
- 5:18 The day of the Lord: first mentioned in Amos, this refers to a specific time in the future, known to the Lord alone, when God’s enemies would be decisively defeated. The common assumption among Israelites was that the Lord’s foes and Israel’s foes were one and the same. But Amos makes it clear that because the people have become God’s enemies by refusing to heed the prophetic word, they too would experience the divine wrath on that fateful day. However, during the exile this expression comes to mean a time when God would avenge Israel against its oppressors and bring about its restoration (Jer 50:27; Ez 30:3–5).
- 5:21–27 The prophet does not condemn cultic activity as such but rather the people’s attempt to offer worship with hands unclean from oppression of their fellow Israelites (cf. Ps 15:2–5; 24:3–4). But worship from those who disregard justice and righteousness (v. 24) is never acceptable to the God of Israel. Through the Sinai covenant the love of God and the love of neighbor are inextricably bound together.
- 5:26 Sukuth: probably a hebraized form of Assyro-Babylonian Shukudu (“the Arrow”), a name of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. It was associated with the god Ninurta, who was widely worshiped in Mesopotamia. According to 2 Kgs 17:30 the cult of Sirius was introduced into Samaria by deportees from Babylonia. Kaiwan: a hebraized form of an Akkadian name for the planet Saturn, also worshiped as a deity in Mesopotamia.
Amos 5
Easy-to-Read Version
A Sad Song for Israel
5 People of Israel, listen to this song. This funeral song is about you.
2 The virgin[a] of Israel has fallen.
She will not get up anymore.
She was left alone, lying in the dirt.
There is no one to lift her up.
3 This is what the Lord God says:
“Officers leaving the city with 1000 men
will return with only 100 men.
Officers leaving the city with 100 men
will return with only ten men.”
The Lord Encourages Israel to Come Back
4 The Lord says this to the nation[b] of Israel:
“Come looking for me and live.
5 But don’t look in Bethel.
Don’t go to Gilgal.
Don’t cross the border and go down to Beersheba.[c]
The people of Gilgal will be taken away as prisoners,[d]
and Bethel will be destroyed.[e]
6 Come to the Lord and live.
If you don’t go to him, a fire will start at Joseph’s house,[f]
and no one in Bethel[g] can stop it.
7-9 You should go to the Lord for help.
He is the one who made the Pleiades and Orion.[h]
He changes darkness into the morning light.
He changes the day into the dark night.
He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the earth.
His name is Yahweh!
He keeps one strong city safe,
and he lets another strong city be destroyed.”
The Evil Things That the Israelites Did
You change justice to poison.[i]
You throw away fairness like trash.
10 You hate those prophets, who go to public places and speak against evil,
even though they teach good, simple truths.
11 You take unfair taxes[j] from the poor.
You take loads of wheat from them.
You build fancy houses with cut stone,
but you will not live in them.
You plant beautiful vineyards,
but you will not drink the wine from them.
12 This is because I know about your many sins.
You have done some very bad things:
You hurt people who do right,
you accept money to do wrong,
and you keep the poor from receiving justice in court.
13 At that time wise teachers will be quiet,
because it is a bad time.
14 You say that God is with you,
so you should do good things, not evil.
Then you will live,
and the Lord God All-Powerful will be with you.
15 Hate evil and love goodness.
Bring justice back into the courts.
Maybe then the Lord God All-Powerful
will be kind to the survivors from Joseph’s family.
A Time of Great Sadness Is Coming
16 The Lord, the Lord God All-Powerful says,
“People will be crying in the public places.
They will be crying in the streets.
They will hire the professional criers.[k]
17 People will be crying in the vineyards,
because I will pass through and punish you.”
This is what the Lord said.
18 Some of you want to see
the Lord’s special day of judgment.
Why do you want to see that day of the Lord?
His special day will bring darkness, not light.
19 You will be like someone who escapes from a lion
only to be attacked by a bear,
or like someone who goes into the safety of his house,
leans against the wall,
and is bitten by a snake.
20 The Lord’s special day will be
a day of darkness, not light—a day of gloom, without a ray of light.
The Lord Rejects Israel’s Worship
21 “I hate your festivals;
I will not accept them.
I don’t enjoy your religious meetings.
22 Even if you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
I will not even look at the fat animals
you give as fellowship offerings.
23 Take your noisy songs away from here.
I will not listen to the music from your harps.
24 But let justice flow like a river,
and let goodness flow like a stream that never becomes dry.
25 Israel, you offered me sacrifices
and offerings in the desert for 40 years.[l]
26 But you also carried statues of Sakkuth, your king, and Kaiwan.[m]
There was also that star god[n] that you made for yourselves.
27 So I will send you as captives, far beyond Damascus.”
This is what the Lord says.
His name is God All-Powerful.
Footnotes
- Amos 5:2 virgin The Hebrew word can mean “a woman who has not had sexual relations with anyone,” but here, it means the city of Samaria.
- Amos 5:4 nation Literally, “house.” This might mean the royal family of that country.
- Amos 5:5 Bethel, Gilgal, Beersheba Ancient places of worship. Abraham and Jacob built altars in these places, but God had told the Israelites that they should go to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship him.
- Amos 5:5 taken away as prisoners In Hebrew this sounds like the name “Gilgal.”
- Amos 5:5 destroyed The Hebrew word is like the name “Beth Aven.” This name means “House of Wickedness.” The prophets often used this name for Bethel.
- Amos 5:6 Joseph’s house Here, this means the ten-tribe nation of Israel. Joseph was the ancestor of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh in Israel.
- Amos 5:6 Bethel This name means “El’s house” or “the house of God.” There was a temple here where the people from the northern tribes worshiped.
- Amos 5:7 Pleiades and Orion Two well-known groups of stars (constellations).
- Amos 5:7 poison Literally, “wormwood,” a type of plant with bitter leaves. It could be used as a medicine, or if strong enough, as a poison.
- Amos 5:11 take unfair taxes The meaning of the Hebrew word here is uncertain.
- Amos 5:16 professional criers People who went to funerals and cried loudly for the dead. Families and friends of the dead person often gave food or money to these people.
- Amos 5:25 Or “Israel, did you offer me sacrifices and offerings in the desert for 40 years?”
- Amos 5:26 Sakkuth, your king, and Kaiwan Or “Sakkuth, Moloch, and Kaiwan,” names of Assyrian gods.
- Amos 5:26 star god This might be to honor a special god or all the stars in the sky. Many people thought the sun, moon, stars, and planets were gods or angels. This verse might also be translated, “You carried the shelter for your king and the footstool for your idols—the star of your gods that you made for yourselves.” The ancient Greek version adds the names of these gods: Moloch and Raphan.
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