rd

Amos 5

A lamentation for the captivitie of Israél.
1.Hear ye this word, which I lift up upon you, even a lamentation of the house of Israél.
2.The avirgin Israél is fallen, and shal no more rise: she is left upon her land, and there is none to raise her up.
3.For thus saith the Lord God, The city which went out by a thousand, shal leave an bhundreth: and that which went forth by an hundreth, shal leave ten to the house of Israél.
4.For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israél, Seek ye me, and ye shal live.
5.But seek not Beth-él, nor enter into c Gilgál, and go not to Beershéba: for Gilgál shal go into captivity, and Beth-él shal come to naught.
6.Seek the Lord, and ye shal live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joséph and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-él.
7.They turn djudgement to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth.
8.He emaketh Pleiades, and Orion, and he turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and he maketh the day dark as night: he calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the open earth: the Lord is his Name.
9.He strengtheneth the destroyer against the mightie: and the destroyer shal come against the fortress.
10.They have hated him, fthat rebuked in the gate: and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
11.For asmuch then as your treading is upon the poor, and gye take from him burdens of wheat, ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shal not dwell in them: ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shal not drink wine of them.
12.For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take rewards, and they oppress the poor in the gate.
13.Therefore hthe prudent shal keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time.
14.Seek good and not evil, that ye may live: and the Lord God of hostes shalbe with you, as you have spoken.
15.Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgement in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hostes will be merciful unto the remnant of Joséph.
16.Therefore the Lord God of hostes, the Lord saith thus, Mourning shalbe in all streets: and they shal say in all the hie ways, Alas, alas: and they shal call the ihousbandman to lamentation, and such as can mourn, to mourning.
17.And in all the vines shalbe lamentation: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord.
18.Wo unto you, that kdesire the day of the Lord: what have you to do with it? the day of the Lord is darkness and not light.
19.As if a man did flee from a lion, & a bear met him, or went into the house, & leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20.Shal not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even darkness and no light in it?
21.I hate and abhor your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
22.Though ye offer me burnt offerings and meat offerings, lI will not accept them neither will I regard the peace offering of your fat beasts.
23.Take thou away from me the multitude of thy songs (for I will not hear the melodie of thy viols)
24.And let judgement run down as mwaters, and righteousness as a mighty river.
25.Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, ô house of Israél?
26.But you have born nSiccúth your King and Chiun your images, and the star of your gods, which ye made to your selves.
27.Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose Name is the God of hostes.

Notes

2-a.
He so calls them because they so boasted of themselves, or because they were given to wantonness and deintines.
3-b.
Meaning, that the tenth part should scarcely be saved.
5-c.
In these places they worshipped new idols, which afore time served for the true honour of God: therefore he says that these shall not save them.
7-d.
Instead of judgement and equity they execute cruelty and oppression.
8-e.
He describes the power of God, Job 9.9.
10-f.
They hate the Prophets, which reprove them in the open assemblies.
11-g.
You take both his money and also his food wherewith he should live.
13-h.
God will so plague them, that they shall not suffer the godly once to open their mouths to admonish them of their fautes.
16-i.
So that all degrees shall have matter of lamentation for the great plagues.
18-k.
Thus he speaks because the wicked and hypocrites said they were content to abide God’s judgements, where as the godly tremble and fear, Jer. 30.7, Joel 2.11, Zeph. 1.15.
22-l.
Because you have corrupt my true service and remain obstinate in your vices, Is. 1.11, Jer. 6.10.
24-m.
Do your duty to God and to your neighbour, and so you shall feel his grace plentifully, if you show your abundant affections according to God’s word.
26-n.
That idol which you esteemed as your King, and carried about, as you did Chiun, in the which images you thought that there was a certain divinity.