Amos 5
New Life Version
A Call to Turn from Sin
5 Hear this word, O people of Israel, this song of sorrow which I sing for you: 2 “The young pure woman Israel has fallen, and she will not rise again. She is left alone on her land. There is no one to raise her up.” 3 For the Lord God says, “The city of Israel that sends out a thousand soldiers will have a hundred left. And the one that sends out a hundred will have ten left.”
4 The Lord says to the people of Israel, “Look for Me and live. 5 But do not look for Bethel. Do not go to Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be taken away to a strange land, and Bethel will come to nothing.” 6 Look for the Lord and live, or He will break out like fire in the family of Joseph. It will destroy, and no one in Bethel will be able to stop it. 7 You turn what is right into something bitter. You throw what is right and good down to the earth.
8 The Lord made the stars of Pleiades and Orion. He changes darkness into morning, and turns day into night. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the earth. The Lord is His name. 9 He destroys the strong, so that the strong city is laid waste.
10 They hate him who speaks strong words in the gate. They hate him who speaks the truth. 11 You crush the poor under foot and make them pay taxes with their grain. Because of this, even though you have built houses of cut stone, you will not live in them and even though you have planted beautiful grape-fields, you will not drink their wine. 12 For I know that you have done much wrong and your sins are many. You make trouble for those who are right and good, and you take pay in secret for wrong-doing. You will not be fair to the poor. 13 The wise man keeps quiet at such a time, for it is a sinful time.
14 Look for good and not sin, that you may live. Then the Lord God of All will be with you, just as you have said. 15 Hate sin, and love good. And let what is fair be done at the gate. It may be that the Lord God of All will show kindness to those left of Joseph.
The Day of the Lord
16 So the Lord, the Lord God of All, says, “There is a loud crying in the city. In all the streets they say, ‘It is bad! It is bad!’ They call the farmers to cry in sorrow. They call those whose work is to cry over the dead to sing songs of sorrow. 17 And there are cries of sorrow in all the grape-fields, because I will pass among you,” says the Lord.
18 It is bad for you who want the day of the Lord to come. For what will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light. 19 It will be as when a man runs away from a lion and is met by a bear. It will be as when a man goes home and rests with his hand against the wall, and gets bitten by a snake. 20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, very dark with nothing bright in it?
21 “I hate your special suppers. I will have nothing to do with them. And I am not pleased with your religious meetings. 22 Even if you give Me burnt gifts and grain gifts in worship, I will not receive them. I will not even look at the peace gifts of your fat animals. 23 Take the noise of your songs away from Me. I will not listen to the sound of your harps. 24 But let what is fair roll down like waters. Let what is right and good flow forever like a river.
25 “O people of Israel, was it to Me you gave gifts of animals and grain on the altar for forty years in the desert? 26 You also carried with you Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun your star god, the false gods you made for yourselves. 27 So I will make you go as prisoners to the other side of Damascus,” says the Lord, Whose name is the God of All.
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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Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
