Amos 5:4-17 - Seek God And Live
4 Jehovah said to the house of Israel: Seek me and you will live! 5 Do not seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal. Do not pass to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into captivity (exile), and Bethel will come to nothing. 6 Seek Jehovah, and you will live. Lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it will devour, and there will be none to quench it in Bethel. 7 You who turn justice to wormwood (a curse), and cast righteousness down to the earth
8 seek the creator of the cluster of stars named Pleiades and the star constellation Orion. He turns the shadow of death into morning, and makes the day dark with night. He calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth. Jehovah is his name! 9 He brings sudden destruction upon the strong. Destruction comes upon the fortress.
10 You hate the one who reproves in the gate, and abhor him who speaks the truth (with integrity). 11 You impose unfair rent on the poor and defraud a tribute of grain from them. You haave built houses of hewn stone yet you will not live in them. You planted pleasant vineyards, but you will not drink the wine from them. 12 I know you have many transgressions and your sins are great. You afflict the righteous. You take bribes. You refuse to help the needy at the gate. 13 The prudent will keep silent for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil, that you may live. Jehovah, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have said. 15 Hate evil, and love good! Establish justice in the gate. It may be that Jehovah, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16 Listen to Jehovah the God of Hosts, the Almighty: Wailing will be in all the broad ways. They will say in all the streets, Alas! Alas! They will call the farmer to mourning, and the professional mourner to lamentation and crying. 17 All vineyards will lament. For I will pass through your midst, said Jehovah.