Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.
The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she {Or, lieth forsaken}is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel.
For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live;
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 {Or, become vanity (Hebrew: Aven)}come to nought.
Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el.
Ye who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth,
seek him that maketh the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth {Or, deep darkness}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 (Jehovah is his name);
that {Or, causeth destruction to flash forth}bringeth sudden destruction upon the strong, so that destruction cometh upon the fortress.
They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
Forasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, and take exactions from him 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 the wine thereof.
For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins— ye that afflict the just, that take a bribe, and that turn aside the needy in the gate from their right.
Therefore he that is prudent shall keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time.
Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be with you, as ye say.
Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, {Hebrew: and proclaim wailing to such as are skillful in lamentation.}and such as are skilful in lamentation to wailing.
And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.
Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! Wherefore would ye have the day of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light.
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; {Or, and}or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
I hate, I despise your feasts, and I {Hebrew: will not smell a savor.}will take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Yea, though ye offer me {Or, burnt-offerings with your meal-offerings}your burnt-offerings and meal-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the {Or, ever-flowing}peace-offerings of your fat beasts.
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Did ye bring unto me sacrifices and {Or, meal-offerings}offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
Yea, ye {Or, shall take up…And I will cause &c.}have borne the tabernacle of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith Jehovah, whose name is the God of hosts.
Querverweise zu Amos 5,8 Amos 5,8
That maketh the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,And the chambers of the south;
He uncovereth deep things out of darkness,And bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought; that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth— Jehovah, the God of hosts, is his name.
it is he that buildeth his chambers in the heavens, and hath founded his vault upon the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; Jehovah is his name.
For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought; that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth— Jehovah, the God of hosts, is his name.
Canst thou bind the {Or, chain Or, sweet influences}cluster of the Pleiades,Or loose the bands of Orion?
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began,And caused the dayspring to know its place;
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
they, and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every {Hebrew: wing.}sort.
And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life.
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him: and Jehovah shut him in.
And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.
And the waters prevailed, and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered.
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
Canst thou lead forth {Or, the signs of the Zodiac}the Mazzaroth in their season?Or canst thou guide the Bear with her {Hebrew: sons.}train?
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,And the wicked be shaken out of it?
And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days;
they saw not one another, neither rose any one from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a cloud out of the sea, as small as a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, {Or, Yoke}Make ready thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.
Such as sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,Being bound in affliction and iron,
Because they rebelled against the words of God,And contemned the counsel of the Most High:
Therefore he brought down their heart with labor;They fell down, and there was none to help.
Then they cried unto Jehovah in their trouble,And he saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,And brake their bonds in sunder.
And it came to pass in the morning watch, that Jehovah looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians.
And he {According to Septuagint and Syriac, bound.}took off their chariot wheels, {Or, and made them to drive}and they drove them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for Jehovah fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.
And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its {Or, wonted flow}strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and Jehovah {Hebrew: shook off.}overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, even all the host of Pharaoh that went in after them into the sea; there remained not so much as one of them.
And it came to pass in a little while, that the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel:
The people that sat in darknessSaw a great light,And to them that sat in the region and shadow of death,To them did light spring up.
Thou makest darkness, and it is night,Wherein all the beasts of the forest creep forth.
Whether it be for correction, or for his {Or, earth}land,Or for lovingkindness, that he cause it to come.
To shine upon them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death;To guide our feet into the way of peace.
He sent darkness, and made it dark;And they rebelled not against his words.
Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds,That abundance of waters may cover thee?
We grope for the wall like the blind; yea, we grope as they that have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; {Or, we are in dark places like the dead}among them that are lusty we are as dead men.