1 Hear this word which I atake up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel:
2 The virgin of Israel has fallen; She will rise no more. She lies forsaken on her land; Thereis no one to raise her up.
3 For thus says the Lord God: “The city that goes out by a thousand Shall have a hundred left, And that which goes out by a hundred Shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”
A Call to Repentance
4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: a“Seek Me band live;
5 But do not seek aBethel, Nor enter Gilgal, Nor pass over to bBeersheba; For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, And cBethel shall come to nothing.
6aSeek the Lord and live, Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, And devour it, With no one to quench it in Bethel—
7 You who aturn justice to wormwood, And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!”
8 He made the aPleiades and Orion; He turns the shadow of death into morning bAnd makes the day dark as night; He ccalls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth; dThe Lordis His name.
9 He1 rains ruin upon the strong, So that fury comes upon the fortress.
10aThey hate the one who rebukes in the gate, And they babhor the one who speaks uprightly.
11aTherefore, because you1 tread down the poor And take grain1 taxes from him, Though byou have built houses of hewn stone, Yet you shall not dwell in them; You have planted1 pleasant vineyards, But you shall not drink wine from them.
12 For I aknow your manifold transgressions And your mighty sins: bAfflicting the just and taking bribes; cDiverting the poor fromjustice at the gate.
13 Therefore athe prudent keep silent at that time, For it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil, That you may live; So the Lord God of hosts will be with you, aAs you have spoken.
15aHate evil, love good; Establish justice in the gate. bIt may be that the Lord God of hosts Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
The Day of the Lord
16 Therefore the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, says this: “Thereshallbe wailing in all streets, And they shall say in all the highways, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmer to mourning, aAnd skillful lamenters to wailing.
17 In all vineyards thereshallbe wailing, For aI will pass through you,” Says the Lord.
18aWoe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good isbthe day of the Lord to you? It willbe darkness, and not light.
19 It willbeaas though a man fled from a lion, And a bear met him! Or asthough he went into the house, Leaned his hand on the wall, And a serpent bit him!
20Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? Isitnot very dark, with no brightness in it?
21 “Ia hate, I despise your feast days, And bI do not savor your sacred assemblies.
22aThough you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.
23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.
24aBut let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream.
25 “Dida you offer Me sacrifices and offerings In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 You also carried1 Sikkuth ayour king And Chiun, your idols, The star of your gods, Which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will send you into captivity abeyond Damascus,” Says the Lord, bwhose name is the God of hosts.
In order to impress Israel the more, Amos begins this his third appeal by a "dirge" over its destruction, mourning over those who were full of joy, and thought themselves safe and enviable. As if a living man, in the midst of his pride and luxury and buoyant recklessness of heart, could see his own funeral procession, and hear, as it were, over himself the "earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." It would give solemn thoughts, even though he should impatiently put them from him. So must it to Israel, when after the tide of victories of Jeroboam II, Amos said, "Hear this word which I am lifting up," as a heavy weight, to cast it down "against" or "upon you," a funeral "dirge," O house of Israel. Human greatness is so unstable, human strength so fleeting, that the prophet of decay finds a response in man' s own conscience, however he may silence or resent it. He would not resent it, unless he felt its force.
Dionysius: "Amos, an Israelite, mourneth over Israel, as Samuel did over Saul I Samuel 15:35, or as Isaiah says, "I will weep bitterly; labor not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people" Isaiah 22:4; images of Him who wept over Jerusalem." "So are they bewailed, who know not why they are bewailed, the more miserable, because they know not their own misery."
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