1Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel:
2“The virgin of Israel has fallen;
She shall rise no more.
She is cast down on her land;
there is no one to raise her up.”
3For the Lord Yahweh says:
“The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left,
and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”
4For Yahweh says to the house of Israel:
“Seek me, and you will live;
5but don’t seek Bethel,
nor enter into Gilgal,
and don’t pass to Beersheba;
for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
and Bethel shall come to nothing.
6Seek Yahweh, and you will live,
lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.
7You who turn justice to wormwood,
and cast down righteousness to the earth!
8Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion,
and turns the shadow of death into the morning,
and makes the day dark with night;
who calls for the waters of the sea,
and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name,
9who brings sudden destruction on the strong,
so that destruction comes on the fortress.
10They hate him who reproves in the gate,
and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.
11Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat,
you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them.
You have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.
12For I know how many are your offenses,
and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the just,
who take a bribe,
and who turn away the needy in the courts.
13Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time,
for it is an evil time.
14Seek good, and not evil,
that you may live;
and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you,
as you say.
15Hate evil, love good,
and establish justice in the courts.
It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
16Therefore Yahweh, the God of Armies, the Lord, says:
“Wailing will be in all the wide ways.
They will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’
They will call the farmer to mourning,
and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
17In all vineyards there will be wailing,
for I will pass through the middle of you,” says Yahweh.
18“Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh!
Why do you long for the day of Yahweh?
It is darkness,
and not light.
19As if a man fled from a lion,
and a bear met him;
or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall,
and a snake bit him.
20Won’t the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light?
Even very dark, and no brightness in it?
1Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel:
2“The virgin of Israel has fallen;
She shall rise no more.
She is cast down on her land;
there is no one to raise her up.”
3For the Lord Yahweh says:
“The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left,
and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”
4For Yahweh says to the house of Israel:
“Seek me, and you will live;
5but don’t seek Bethel,
nor enter into Gilgal,
and don’t pass to Beersheba;
for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
and Bethel shall come to nothing.
6Seek Yahweh, and you will live,
lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.
7You who turn justice to wormwood,
and cast down righteousness to the earth!
8Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion,
and turns the shadow of death into the morning,
and makes the day dark with night;
who calls for the waters of the sea,
and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name,
9who brings sudden destruction on the strong,
so that destruction comes on the fortress.
10They hate him who reproves in the gate,
and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.
11Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat,
you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them.
You have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.
12For I know how many are your offenses,
and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the just,
who take a bribe,
and who turn away the needy in the courts.
13Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time,
for it is an evil time.
14Seek good, and not evil,
that you may live;
and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you,
as you say.
15Hate evil, love good,
and establish justice in the courts.
It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
16Therefore Yahweh, the God of Armies, the Lord, says:
“Wailing will be in all the wide ways.
They will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’
They will call the farmer to mourning,
and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
17In all vineyards there will be wailing,
for I will pass through the middle of you,” says Yahweh.
18“Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh!
Why do you long for the day of Yahweh?
It is darkness,
and not light.
19As if a man fled from a lion,
and a bear met him;
or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall,
and a snake bit him.
20Won’t the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light?
Even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21I hate, I despise your feasts,
and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.
22Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings,
I will not accept them;
neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.
23Take away from me the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24But let justice roll on like rivers,
and righteousness like a mighty stream.
25“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel? 26You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves. 27Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says Yahweh, whose name is the God of Armies.
After their rebellious actions and attitude, where did it leave God’s people? What was going to happen to them? They were facing judgement and punishment. Being exiled and taken away as slaves into a foreign land. It is quite remarkable that no matter how God warned His people – whether by famine, drought, locusts, plagues or war (Amos 4:6-13) they still ignored Him.
You see even in His wrath, God was merciful to His people. He always warned His people through prophets or through different events before punishing them, to try and steer them away from going down the wrong path – a path that ultimately led to pain, brokenness and sorrow. And warnings about sin and judgement apply to people today just as much as they did to Israel in Amos’ time. Because we have been warned, we have no excuse when judgement comes. Do not take lightly the warnings in God’s Word about judgement. God is not trying to be a killjoy and spoil your fun. Remember the truth about following Jesus: “As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him” (Psalm 18:30). His warnings are a way of Him showing mercy to you. The Israelites did not heed God’s warnings, and therefore they were heading for judgement.
In Amos 8:1-2 it says, “This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A basket of summer fruit.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them.’” Summer fruit is overripe fruit. Do you know what overripe fruit is like? It looks good on the outside but rotting at the core. God says to His people, “You look fine on the outside, but because of all these things you are ripe for judgement.” They looked great and prosperous on the outside, but inside they were full of jealousy, corruption, lust and greed.
And it’s quite ironic because despite not living in a right relationship with God, the people were looking forward to “the day of the Lord!” Amos 5:18-19 says, “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you desire the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion and a bear met him.” That sounds like a bad day. The people talked about how much they couldn’t wait for God to come to them and to deliver them from all of our enemies and all of their troubles. But Amos says, “No you don’t. You don’t wish for the day of the Lord because as it stands the day of the Lord will not be a good day for you!” Amos refers to “the day of the Lord” five times. And each time it refers to a day of judgement.
This attitude is very common. People say, “God when will you come back and fix all of my problems?” But Amos says, “I’m not sure that you want that.” Because if you are not in a right relationship with Jesus, then His coming and His judgement will be like “darkness and not light; like you are running away from a lion only to run into a bear” (Amos 5:19). I hope we see the picture – it’s not good and it’s not something to look forward to if you have never trusted Jesus as your Saviour and Lord. The Israelites had no reason to look forward to this “day of the Lord” for as Amos says, it will be a day of “mourning, lamentation, bitterness, a famine of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:10-12).
All of us are accountable to God and we all must answer to Him for how we have lived (Romans 14:10-12). Are you prepared, ready and looking forward to standing before Him and meeting Him face to face? (Amos 4:12)