Amos 5:4-17 - Seek God And Live

4 For thus says the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek me, and you shall live: 5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing. 6 Seek the LORD, and you shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel. 7 You who turn justice to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

8 Seek him that makes the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night: that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name: 9 That strengthens the plundered against the strong, so that the plundered shall come against the fortress.

10 They hate him that rebukes in the gate, and they abhor him that speaks uprightly. 11 Since therefore you tread upon the poor, and you take from him burdens of wheat: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine of them. 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. 13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken. 15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, says thus: Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the farmer to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to wailing. 17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through you, says the LORD.