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          DASV: Amos 5    

1 Hear this word of lament which I take up about you, O house of Israel:
2 "The virgin of Israel is fallen,
           she will not rise again.
     She lies abandoned on her land,
           there is no one to raise her up."

3 For this is what the sovereign LORD says:
     "The city that marched out a thousand
           will have a hundred left,
     and the town that marched out a hundred
           will have ten left for the house of Israel."

4 For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel,
     "Seek me and live.
5       But do not seek Bethel,
           or enter into Gilgal,
           or travel down to Beersheba,
     for Gilgal will surely go into captivity,
           and Bethel will be brought to nothing."

6 Seek the LORD and you will live,
     or else he will break out against the house of Joseph like a fire,
           and it devour,
     and there will be no one in Bethel to extinguish it.
7 You who turn justice to bitterness,
     and throw down righteousness to the ground.
8 It is he who made the constellations of Pleiades and Orion,
     and turns the darkness into the morning,
      and turns the day into the dark of night;
      who calls for the waters of the sea,
     and pours them out on the surface of the earth,
           the LORD is his name.
9 He flashes destruction down on the strong,
     so that destruction comes upon the fortress.
10 They hate the one who reproves in the city gate,
     and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.
11 Therefore because you trample on the poor,
     and exact taxes of grain from him;
      while you may have built houses of carefully cut stone,
     you will not live in them.
      Although you have planted fine vineyards,
     you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know your crimes are many,
     and your sins are great --
      you who oppress the just,
     who take a bribe,
      and turn away the needy
     from receiving justice in the city gate.
13 Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time;
     for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil,
     that you may live;
      so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you,
     just as you have claimed.
15 Hate the evil,
     and love the good,
           and establish justice in the city gate.
      It may be that the LORD, the God of hosts,
     will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of hosts,
the sovereign ruler says:
     "In all the public squares there will be wailing;
            they will mourn in all the streets,
           'Alas! Alas!'
     They will call the farmers to mourning,
           and those skilful in lament to wailing.
17 In all the vineyards there will be wailing,
      for I will pass through your midst,"
                says the LORD.

18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!
      Why would you want the day of the LORD?
           It is darkness, and not light.
19 It will be as if a man fled from a lion,
     only to meet a bear;
      then escaping into a house,
     rests his hand on the wall,
           only to be bitten by a snake.
20 Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light,
     total darkness, without a glimmer of light in it?

21 "I hate, I despise your feasts,
     and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 Even though you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
     I will not accept them;
      I will not look favorably on your fattened peace offerings.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
     for I cannot stand to listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like a deluge,
     and righteousness like an unfailing stream.
25 Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years,
     O house of Israel?
26 Now you must carry Sikkuth, your king
     and Kiyyun, your star god,
           which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,"
      says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

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