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Amos 5
New International Version

### A Lament and Call to Repentance

5 Hear this word, Israel, this lament(A) I take up concerning you:

2 “Fallen is Virgin(B) Israel,
never to rise again,
deserted in her own land,
with no one to lift her up.(C)”

3 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel:

“Your city that marches out a thousand strong
will have only a hundred left;
your town that marches out a hundred strong
will have only ten left.(D)”

4 This is what the Lord says to Israel:

“Seek(E) me and live;(F)
5 do not seek Bethel,
do not go to Gilgal,(G)
do not journey to Beersheba.(H)
For Gilgal will surely go into exile,
and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.[a](I)”
6 Seek(J) the Lord and live,(K)
or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire;(L)
it will devour them,
and Bethel(M) will have no one to quench it.(N)

7 There are those who turn justice into bitterness(O)
and cast righteousness(P) to the ground.(Q)

8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion,(R)
who turns midnight into dawn(S)
and darkens day into night,(T)
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land—
the Lord is his name.(U)
9 With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold
and brings the fortified city to ruin.(V)

10 There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court(W)
and detest the one who tells the truth.(X)

11 You levy a straw tax on the poor(Y)
and impose a tax on their grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,(Z)
you will not live in them;(AA)
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.(AB)
12 For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.(AC)

There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes(AD)
and deprive the poor(AE) of justice in the courts.(AF)
13 Therefore the prudent keep quiet(AG) in such times,
for the times are evil.(AH)

14 Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.(AI)
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
15 Hate evil,(AJ) love good;(AK)
maintain justice in the courts.(AL)
Perhaps(AM) the Lord God Almighty will have mercy(AN)
on the remnant(AO) of Joseph.

16 Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says:

“There will be wailing(AP) in all the streets(AQ)
and cries of anguish in every public square.
The farmers(AR) will be summoned to weep
and the mourners to wail.
17 There will be wailing(AS) in all the vineyards,
for I will pass through(AT) your midst,”
says the Lord.(AU)

### The Day of the Lord

18 Woe to you who long
for the day of the Lord!(AV)
Why do you long for the day of the Lord?(AW)
That day will be darkness,(AX) not light.(AY)
19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion
only to meet a bear,(AZ)
as though he entered his house
and rested his hand on the wall
only to have a snake bite him.(BA)
20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness,(BB) not light—
pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?(BC)

21 “I hate,(BD) I despise your religious festivals;(BE)
your assemblies(BF) are a stench to me.
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings(BG) and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.(BH)
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.(BI)
23 Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.(BJ)
24 But let justice(BK) roll on like a river,
righteousness(BL) like a never-failing stream!(BM)

25 “Did you bring me sacrifices(BN) and offerings
forty years(BO) in the wilderness, people of Israel?
26 You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
the pedestal of your idols,(BP)
the star of your god[b]—
which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will send you into exile(BQ) beyond Damascus,”
says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.(BR)

#### Footnotes

1. Amos 5:5 Hebrew aven, a reference to Beth Aven (a derogatory name for Bethel); see Hosea 4:15.
2. Amos 5:26 Or lifted up Sakkuth your king / and Kaiwan your idols, / your star-gods; Septuagint lifted up the shrine of Molek / and the star of your god Rephan, / their idols

#### Cross references

1. Amos 5:1 : S Jer 4:8; S Eze 19:1
2. Amos 5:2 : S 2Ki 19:21; Jer 14:17
3. Amos 5:2 : Jer 50:32; Am 8:14
4. Amos 5:3 : Isa 6:13; Am 6:9
5. Amos 5:4 : S Dt 4:29
6. Amos 5:4 : Dt 32:46-47; Isa 55:3; Jer 29:13; S Eze 18:9
7. Amos 5:5 : 1Sa 11:14; S Hos 4:15
8. Amos 5:5 : Ge 21:31; Am 8:14
9. Amos 5:5 : S 1Sa 7:16; S 8:2
10. Amos 5:6 : Ps 22:26; 105:4; S Isa 31:1; 55:6; Zep 2:3
11. Amos 5:6 : ver 14; S Lev 18:5
12. Amos 5:6 : Dt 4:24
13. Amos 5:6 : S Am 3:14
14. Amos 5:6 : S Jer 4:4
15. Amos 5:7 : Isa 5:20; Am 6:12
16. Amos 5:7 : S Am 3:10
17. Amos 5:7 : S Hos 10:4
18. Amos 5:8 : S Ge 1:16; S Job 38:31
19. Amos 5:8 : S Job 38:12; Isa 42:16
20. Amos 5:8 : S Ps 104:20; Am 8:9
21. Amos 5:8 : Ps 104:6-9; Jer 16:21; S Am 4:13
22. Amos 5:9 : Mic 5:11
23. Amos 5:10 : S Isa 29:21
24. Amos 5:10 : 1Ki 22:8; Gal 4:16
25. Amos 5:11 : Am 8:6
26. Amos 5:11 : S Am 3:15
27. Amos 5:11 : S Dt 28:30; Mic 1:6
28. Amos 5:11 : S Jdg 9:27; S Am 4:1; 9:14; Mic 6:15; Zep 1:13
29. Amos 5:12 : Hos 5:3
30. Amos 5:12 : S Job 36:18; S Isa 1:23; S Eze 22:12
31. Amos 5:12 : S Jer 5:28
32. Amos 5:12 : S Job 5:4; S Isa 5:23; S Am 2:6-7
33. Amos 5:13 : S Est 4:14
34. Amos 5:13 : Mic 2:3
35. Amos 5:14 : S ver 6
36. Amos 5:15 : S Ps 52:3; S 97:10; Ro 12:9
37. Amos 5:15 : S Ge 18:25
38. Amos 5:15 : S Isa 1:17; S 29:21; Zec 8:16
39. Amos 5:15 : S Jer 36:3
40. Amos 5:15 : S Joel 2:14
41. Amos 5:15 : Mic 5:7, 8; 7:18
42. Amos 5:16 : Jer 9:17; Am 8:3; Zep 1:10
43. Amos 5:16 : Jer 7:34
44. Amos 5:16 : S Joel 1:11
45. Amos 5:17 : S Ex 11:6
46. Amos 5:17 : Ex 12:12
47. Amos 5:17 : Isa 16:10; S Jer 48:33
48. Amos 5:18 : S Isa 2:12; S Joel 1:15
49. Amos 5:18 : S Jer 30:5
50. Amos 5:18 : S 1Sa 2:9; S Joel 2:2
51. Amos 5:18 : S Job 20:28; Isa 5:19, 30; Jer 30:7
52. Amos 5:19 : S La 3:10
53. Amos 5:19 : S Dt 32:24; Job 20:24; S Ecc 10:8; Isa 24:17-18; Jer 15:2-3; 48:44
54. Amos 5:20 : S 1Sa 2:9
55. Amos 5:20 : S Isa 13:10; S Eze 7:7; Ob 1:15; Zep 1:15
56. Amos 5:21 : Jer 44:4
57. Amos 5:21 : S Lev 26:31; S Hos 2:11
58. Amos 5:21 : S Eze 23:18
59. Amos 5:22 : Lev 26:31
60. Amos 5:22 : S Ps 40:6; S Jer 7:21
61. Amos 5:22 : Isa 1:11-16; S Isa 66:3; Jer 14:12; S Am 4:4; Mic 6:6-7
62. Amos 5:23 : Am 6:5
63. Amos 5:24 : S Jer 22:3
64. Amos 5:24 : S Isa 45:8
65. Amos 5:24 : Mic 6:8
66. Amos 5:25 : S Isa 43:23
67. Amos 5:25 : S Ex 16:35
68. Amos 5:26 : S Eze 18:6; S 20:16
69. Amos 5:27 : Am 6:7; 7:11, 17; Mic 1:16
70. Amos 5:27 : Dt 32:17-19; Jer 38:17; S Am 4:13; Ac 7:42-43*

New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.

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