Amos 5

¹Hear ye this word, that I lift upon you a lamentation. The house of Israel is fallen, and it shall not add to rise again.

²The virgin of Israel is cast forth upon her land, there is none to raise her up.

³Because thus saith our Lord God: The city, out of which came forth a thousand, there shall be left in it an hundred: and out of which there came an hundred, there shall be left in it ten, in the house of Israel.

⁴Because thus saith our Lord to the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and you shall live.

⁵And seek not Bethel, and into Galgal enter not, and into Bersabee you shall not pass: because Galgal shall be led captive, and Bethel shall be unprofitable.

⁶Seek ye our Lord, & live: lest perhaps the house of Joseph be burnt as fire, and it shall devour, and there shall be none to quench Bethel.

⁷You that turn judgement into wormwood, and leave off justice in the land.

⁸Him that maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and that turneth darkness into morning, and that changeth day into night: that calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.

⁹He that seeketh destruction upon the strong, & bringeth depopulation upon the mighty.

¹⁰They have hated him that rebuketh in the gate: & him that speaketh perfectly they have abhorred.

¹¹Therefore because you spoiled the poor, & took the chosen prey from him: you shall build houses with square stone, and shall not dwell in them: you shall plant most amiable vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them.

¹²Because I have known many your wickednesses, and your strong sins: enemies of the just, taking bribe, and oppressing the poor in the gate.

¹³Therefore shall the wise at that time hold his peace, because it is an evil time.

¹⁴Seek ye good, & not evil, that you may live: & our Lord the God of hosts will be with you, as you have said.

¹⁵Hate ye evil, & love good, and establish judgement in the gate: if perhaps our Lord the God of hosts may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶Therefore thus saith our Lord the God of hosts the Dominatour, in all streets lamentation: & in all places that are without, shall be said woe woe, & they shall call the husband-man to mourning, and to lamentation them that know to lament.

¹⁷And in all vineyards there shall be lamentation: because I will pass through in the midst of thee, saith our Lord.

¹⁸Woe unto them that desire the day of our Lord: to what purpose the same unto you? This day of our Lord, darkness, and not light.

¹⁹As if a man should fly from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him: and enter into the house, and lean with his hand upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.

²⁰Why, is not the day of our Lord darkness, & not light: and mist, and no shining therein?

²¹I have hated, and have rejected your festivities: & I will not take the odour of your assemblies.

²²And if you shall offer unto me holocausts, and your gifts, I will not receive them: & the vows of your fat things I will not respect.

²³Take away from me the tumult of thy songs: & the canticles of thy harp I will not hear.

²⁴And judgement shall be revealed as water, & justice as a mighty torrent.

²⁵Why, did you offer hosts and sacrifice to me in the desert forty years, o house of Israel?

²⁶And you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.

²⁷And I will make you remove beyond Damascus, saith our Lord, the God of hosts is his name.