mourners to wail.
17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,' says the Lord .
18 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 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 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light- pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?
21 'I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.
22 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 the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
25 'Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
26 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 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,' says the Lord , whose name is God Almighty.
6 Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come!
2 Go to Calneh and look at it; go from there to great Hamath, and then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are they better off than your two kingdoms? Is their land larger than yours?
3 You put off the evil day and bring near a reign of terror.
4 You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves.
5 You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments.
6 You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
7 Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end.
8 The Sovereign Lord has sworn by himself-the Lord God Almighty declares: 'I abhor the pride of Jacob and detest his fortresses; I will deliver up the city and everything in it.'
9 If ten men are left in one house, they too will die.
10 And if a relative who is to burn the bodies comes to carry them out of the house and asks anyone still hiding there, 'Is anyone with you?' and he says, 'No,' then he will say, 'Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord .'
11 For the Lord has given the command, and he will smash the great house into pieces and the small house into bits.
12 Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness-
13 you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar and say, 'Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?'
14 For the Lord God Almighty declares, 'I will stir up a nation against you, O house of Israel, that will oppress you all the way from Lebo Hamath to the valley of the Arabah.'
7 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king's share had been harvested and just as the second crop was coming up.
2 When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, 'Sovereign Lord , forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!'
3 So the Lord relented. 'This will not happen,' the Lord said.
4 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land.
5 Then I cried out, 'Sovereign Lord , I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!'
6 So the Lord relented. 'This will not happen either,' the Sovereign Lord said.
7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand.
8 And the Lord asked me, 'What do you see, Amos?' 'A plumb line,' I replied. Then the Lord said, 'Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
9 'The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.'
