Amos 5
A Call to
Repentance |
1 |
Hear ye this word which I take up against
you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
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2 |
The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall
no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to
raise her up.
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3 |
For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall
leave a hundred, and that which went forth by a hundred shall
leave ten, to the house of Israel.
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4 |
For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye
shall live:
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5 |
but seek not Beth-el, nor enter into
Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into
captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought.
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6 |
Seek the LORD, and
ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el.
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7 |
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and
leave off righteousness in the earth,
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8 |
seek him that maketh the seven
stars and Ori'on, Job. 9.9 ; 38.31 and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh
the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and
poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
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9 |
that strengtheneth the spoiled against
the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the
fortress.
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10 |
They hate him that rebuketh in the
gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
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11 |
Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye
have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye
have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of
them.
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12 |
For I know your manifold transgressions
and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and
they turn aside the poor in the gate from their
right.
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13 |
Therefore the prudent shall keep silence
in that time; for it is an evil time.
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14 |
Seek good, and not evil, that ye may
live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall
be with you, as ye have spoken.
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15 |
Hate the evil, and love the good, and
establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of
Joseph.
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16 |
Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the
highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to
mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to
wailing.
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17 |
And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.
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18 |
Woe unto you that desire the day of the
LORD! to what end is it for you? the day
of the LORD is darkness, and not
light.
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19 |
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a
bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the
wall, and a serpent bit him.
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20 |
Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very
dark, and no brightness in it?
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21 |
I hate, I despise your feast days, and
I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
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22 |
Though ye offer me burnt offerings and
your meat offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I
regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Is. 1.11-14
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23 |
Take thou away from me the noise of thy
songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
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24 |
But let judgment run down as waters, and
righteousness as a mighty stream.
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25 |
Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and
offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of
Israel?
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26 |
But ye have borne the tabernacle of your
Moloch 2 and
Chi'un your images, the star of your god, which ye made to
yourselves.
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27 |
Therefore will I cause you to go into
captivity beyond Damascus, Acts 7.42, 43 saith
the LORD, whose name is The God of
hosts.
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