Amos 5 Parallel Bible Translations

Amos 5 ▼
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1 Listen, you people of Israel! Listen to this funeral song I am singing: Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel: Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you:
2 “The virgin Israel has fallen, never to rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, with no one to help her up.” “Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up.” “Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up.”
3 The Sovereign LORD says: “When a city sends a thousand men to battle, only a hundred will return. When a town sends a hundred, only ten will come back alive.” For thus says the Lord GOD: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.” 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.”
4 Now this is what the LORD says to the family of Israel: “Come back to me and live! For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; This is what the LORD says to Israel: “Seek me and live;
5 Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel; don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile, and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.” but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.” do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”
6 Come back to the LORD and live! Otherwise, he will roar through Israel like a fire, devouring you completely. Your gods in Bethel won’t be able to quench the flames. Seek the LORD and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.
7 You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt. O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth! There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.
8 It is the LORD who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The LORD is his name! He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name; He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land— the LORD is his name.
9 With blinding speed and power he destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses. who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin.
10 How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth! They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth.
11 You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent. Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses, you will never live in them. Though you plant lush vineyards, you will never drink wine from them. Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know the vast number of your sins and the depth of your rebellions. You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
13 So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time. Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil.
14 Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed. Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.
15 Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore, this is what the Lord, the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, says: “There will be crying in all the public squares and mourning in every street. Call for the farmers to weep with you, and summon professional mourners to wail. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: “In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says: “There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail.
17 There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will destroy them all,” says the LORD. and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD. There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD.
18 What sorrow awaits you who say, “If only the day of the LORD were here!” You have no idea what you are wishing for. That day will bring darkness, not light. Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light, Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light.
19 In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion— only to meet a bear. Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house— and he’s bitten by a snake. as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.
20 Yes, the day of the LORD will be dark and hopeless, without a ray of joy or hope. Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light— pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?
21 “I hate all your show and pretense— the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me.
22 I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.
23 Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
25 “Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel? “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
26 No, you served your pagan gods—Sakkuth your king god and Kaiwan your star god—the images you made for yourselves. You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god — which you made for yourselves.
27 So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Heaven’s Armies. and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty.
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