“1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, [even] a
lamentation, O house of Israel. 2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she
shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; [there is] none to
raise her up. 3 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out [by]
a thousand shall leave 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 Gilgal, and pass
not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely 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 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and
leave off righteousness in the earth, 8 [Seek him] that maketh the seven
stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and
maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea,
and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD [is] his name:
9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled
shall come against the fortress. 10 They hate him that rebuketh in the
gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. 11 Forasmuch therefore
as your treading [is] upon the poor, and 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 a bribe, and they turn aside the poor
in the gate [from their right]. 13 Therefore 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 so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with
you, as ye 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 gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.”
“16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus;
Wailing [shall be] in all streets; and they shall say in all the
highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning,
and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing. 17 And in all
vineyards [shall be] wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the
LORD. 18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end [is]
it for you? 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 very dark, and no
brightness in it?”
“21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your
solemn assemblies. 22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat
offerings, I will not accept [them]: neither will I regard the peace
offerings of your fat beasts. 23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy
songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. 24 But let judgment
run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. 25 Have ye
offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years,
O house of Israel? 26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch
and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye 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.” (Amos
5:1-27 AV)