עמוס הAmos 5
Hear this word that I intoneAs a dirge over you, O House of Israel:
Fallen, not to rise again,Is Maiden Israel;Abandoned on her soilWith none to lift her up.
For thus said the Sovereign GOD About the House of Israel:The town that marches out a thousand strongShall have a hundred left,And the one that marches out a hundred strongShall have but ten left.
Thus said GOD To the House of Israel:Seek Me, and you will live.
Do not seek Bethel,Nor go to Gilgal,Nor cross over to Beer-sheba;For Gilgal shall go into exile,And Bethel shall become a delusion.
Seek GOD, and you will live.Otherwise, [God] will rush like fire upon the House of JosephAnd consume Bethel with none to quench it.
[Ah,] you who turn justice into wormwoodAnd hurl righteousness to the ground![Seek GOD,]
Who made the Pleiades and Orion,Who turns deep darkness into dawnAnd darkens day into night,Who summons the waters of the seaAnd pours them out upon the earth—Whose name is GOD!
It is [God] who hurls destruction upon strongholds,So that ruin comes upon fortresses!
They hate the arbiter in the gate,And detest the one whose plea is just.
Assuredly,Because you impose a tax on the poorAnd exact from them a levy of grain,You have built houses of hewn stone,But you shall not live in them;You have planted delightful vineyards,But shall not drink their wine.
For I have noted how many are your crimes,And how countless your sins—You enemies of the righteous,You takers of bribes,You who subvert in the gateThe cause of the needy!
Assuredly,At such a time the prudent keep silent, For it is an evil time.
Seek good and not evil,That you may live,And that the ETERNAL, the God of Hosts,May truly be with you,As you think.
Hate evil and love good,And establish justice in the gate;Perhaps the ETERNAL, the God of Hosts,Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Assuredly,Thus said GOD,The Sovereign—the God of Hosts:In every square there shall be lamenting,In every street cries of “Ah, woe!”And the farm hand shall beCalled to mourn,And those skilled in wailingTo lament;
For there shall be lamentingIn every vineyard, too,When I pass through your midst—said GOD.
Ah, you who wishFor the day of GOD!Why should you wantThe day of GOD?It shall be darkness, not light!
—As if someone were to run from a lionAnd get attacked by a bear;Or, upon making it indoors,Were to lean their hand on the wallAnd get bitten by a snake!
Surely the day of GOD shall beNot light, but darkness,Blackest night without a glimmer.
I loathe, I spurn your festivals,I am not appeased by your solemn assemblies.
If you offer Me burnt offerings—or your grain offerings—I will not accept them;I will pay no heedTo your gifts of fatlings.
Spare Me the sound of your hymns,And let Me not hear the music of your lutes.
But let justice well up like water,Righteousness like an unfailing stream.
Did you offer sacrifice and oblation to MeThose forty years in the wilderness,O House of Israel?
And you shall carry off your “king”—Sikkuth and Kiyyun,, “detestable thing.” The images you have made for yourselvesOf your astral deity—
As I drive you into exile beyond Damascus—Said GOD, whose name is God of Hosts.