Amos 5
5
Seek Adonai and Live
1Hear this word that I take up as a lament over you, O house of Israel:
2She has fallen, never rising again— virgin Israel— She is forsaken on her land, with nobody to lift her up.
3For thus says Adonai Elohim: “The city that sends out a thousand will have a hundred left, and one that sends out a hundred will have ten left for the house of Israel.”
4For thus says Adonai to the house of Israel: “Seek Me, and live!
5But do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not cross over to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to trouble.
6Seek Adonai, and live— lest He rush like fire through the house of Joseph. Yes, it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.
Sins of Injustice
7You who turn justice to wormwood threw righteousness to the ground.
8He who made the Pleiades and Orion and changes deep darkness to morning. Who darkens the day into night. Who summons the water of the sea and pours it out on the face of the earth —Adonai is His Name.
9He flashes destruction on the mighty, so destruction will come against a fortress.
10They despise one who reproves at the gate, so they detest one who speaks with integrity.
11Therefore, because you trample on the poor, exacting from him a burden of grain, you built houses of hewn stone, but will not dwell in them, you planted pleasant vineyards, but will not drink their wine.
12For I know your crimes are many and your sins countless— afflicting the righteous, taking bribes, and turning the needy aside at the gate.
13Therefore the prudent keep silent at such a time —for it is a distressful time.
14Seek good and not evil, so you may live, and so Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot may be with you —just as you said!
15Hate evil, love good, maintain justice at the gate. Maybe Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot will extend grace to Joseph’s remnant.
16Therefore thus said Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, my Lord: “There will be wailing in all plazas and in all streets. They will say: ‘Alas! Alas!’ The farmer will be called to mourning along with those who know the lamentation song.
17In all vineyards will be wailing, for I will pass through your midst” —Adonai has spoken.
Dreadful Day of Adonai
18Oy to you—longing for the Day of Adonai! What would it be for you? The Day of Adonai will be darkness and not light.
19It will be as when a man is fleeing from a lion—and meets a bear! Or he comes home, leans his hand on the wall, and a snake bites him!
20Will not the Day of Adonai be darkness, not light? Gloom, not brightness?
Justice Better Than Sacrifices
21“I hate, I despise your festivals! I take no delight in your sacred assemblies.
22Even if you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I look at peace offerings of your fattened animals.
23Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24But let justice roll like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing torrent.
25Did you bring sacrifices and offerings to Me in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?
26But you lifted up your images —Siccuth your ‘king’, and Chiun, your star gods— which you made for yourselves,
27So I will send you into exile, beyond Damascus.” Adonai has spoken, Elohei-Tzva’ot is His Name.
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Copyright © 2014 - Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
Amos 5
5
A Call to Repentance
1Listen, people of Israel, to this funeral song which I sing over you:
2Virgin Israel has fallen,
Never to rise again!
She lies abandoned on the ground,
And no one helps her up.
3The Sovereign LORD says, “A city in Israel sends out a thousand soldiers, but only a hundred return; another city sends out a hundred, but only ten come back.”
4The LORD says to the people of Israel, “Come to me, and you will live. 5Do not go to Beersheba to worship. Do not try to find me at Bethel — Bethel will come to nothing. Do not go to Gilgal — her people are doomed to exile.”
6Go to the LORD, and you will live. If you do not go, he will sweep down like fire on the people of Israel. The fire will burn up the people of Bethel, and no one will be able to put it out. 7You are doomed, you that twist justice and cheat people out of their rights!
8 #
Job 9.9; 38.31 The LORD made the stars,
the Pleiades and Orion.
He turns darkness into daylight,
and day into night.
He calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out on the earth.
His name is the LORD.
9He brings destruction on the mighty and their strongholds.
10You people hate anyone who challenges injustice and speaks the whole truth in court. 11You have oppressed the poor and robbed them of their grain. And so you will not live in the fine stone houses you build or drink wine from the beautiful vineyards you plant. 12I know how terrible your sins are and how many crimes you have committed. You persecute good people, take bribes, and prevent the poor from getting justice in the courts. 13And so, keeping quiet in such evil times is the clever thing to do!
14Make it your aim to do what is right, not what is evil, so that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty really will be with you, as you claim he is. 15Hate what is evil, love what is right, and see that justice prevails in the courts. Perhaps the LORD will be merciful to the people of this nation who are still left alive.
16And so the Sovereign LORD Almighty says, “There will be wailing and cries of sorrow in the city streets. Even farmers will be called to mourn the dead along with those who are paid to mourn. 17There will be wailing in all the vineyards. All this will take place because I am coming to punish you.” The LORD has spoken.
18How terrible it will be for you who long for the day of the LORD! What good will that day do you? For you it will be a day of darkness and not of light. 19It will be like someone who runs from a lion and meets a bear! Or like someone who comes home and puts his hand on the wall — only to be bitten by a snake! 20The day of the LORD will bring darkness and not light; it will be a day of gloom, without any brightness.
21 #
Is 1.11–14
The LORD says, “I hate your religious festivals; I cannot stand them! 22When you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will not accept the animals you have fattened to bring me as offerings. 23Stop your noisy songs; I do not want to listen to your harps. 24Instead, let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.
25 #
Acts 7.42–43
“People of Israel, I did not demand sacrifices and offerings during those forty years that I led you through the desert. 26But now, because you have worshipped images of Sakkuth, your king god, and of Kaiwan, your star god, you will have to carry those images 27when I take you into exile in a land beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is Almighty God.
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.