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Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel:

“Come back to me and live!
Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel;
    don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba.
For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile,
    and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”
Come back to the Lord and live!
Otherwise, he will roar through Israel[a] like a fire,
    devouring you completely.
Your gods in Bethel
    won’t be able to quench the flames.
You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed.
    You treat the righteous like dirt.

It is the Lord who created the stars,
    the Pleiades and Orion.
He turns darkness into morning
    and day into night.
He draws up water from the oceans
    and pours it down as rain on the land.
    The Lord is his name!
With blinding speed and power he destroys the strong,
    crushing all their defenses.

10 How you hate honest judges!
    How you despise people who tell the truth!
11 You trample the poor,
    stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent.
Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses,
    you will never live in them.
Though you plant lush vineyards,
    you will never drink wine from them.
12 For I know the vast number of your sins
    and the depth of your rebellions.
You oppress good people by taking bribes
    and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
13 So those who are smart keep their mouths shut,
    for it is an evil time.

14 Do what is good and run from evil
    so that you may live!
Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper,
    just as you have claimed.
15 Hate evil and love what is good;
    turn your courts into true halls of justice.
Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies
    will have mercy on the remnant of his people.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 5:6 Hebrew the house of Joseph.
  2. 5:15 Hebrew the remnant of Joseph.

For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel, “Seek me so that you may live.” But do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba, for Gilgal will certainly go into exile and Bethel will come to disaster.” Seek Yahweh so that you may live, so that he will not break out like a fire against the house of Joseph! And it will devour, with none to quench[a] it for Bethel. Ah, you who turn justice into wormwood and hurl righteousness to the ground! The one who made the Pleiades and Orion and who turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens day into night, the one who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name! The one who makes destruction flash upon the fierce, so that[b] destruction comes upon the fortification. 10 They hate the one who reproves in the gate and they abhor the one who speaks honestly. 11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and you take a grain tax from them, you built houses of dressed stone, but you will not live in them. You built vineyards of delightfulness, but you will not drink their wine. 12 For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous, you foes of the righteous, those who take a bribe, and those who[c] push aside the poor ones in the gate! 13 Therefore, whoever has insight will keep silent in that time, for it is a time of evil. 14 Seek good and not bad in order that you may live, and so Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. 15 Hate evil and love good and establish justice in the gate; perhaps Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

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Footnotes

  1. Amos 5:6 Literally “and there is not one to quench”
  2. Amos 5:9 Literally “and”
  3. Amos 5:12 Literally “they”