Amos

Chapter 5

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¹Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.²The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.³For 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.⁴For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:1 sermon⁵But seek not Beth–el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer–sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth–el shall come to nought.⁶Seek 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 Beth–el.2 sermons⁷Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,⁸Seek 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:⁹That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.¹⁰They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.1 sermon¹¹Forasmuch 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.1 sermon¹²For 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.1 sermon¹³Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.3 sermons¹⁴Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.2 sermons¹⁵Hate 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.1 sermon¹⁶Therefore 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.¹⁷And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord.¹⁸Woe 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.¹⁹As 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.²⁰Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?²¹I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.1 sermon²²Though 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.1 sermon²³Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.1 sermon²⁴But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.1 sermon²⁵Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?²⁶But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.2 sermons²⁷Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts.