The Prediction of Israel's captivity - Amos 5

The prediction of the captivity of Israel
1 - I have heard this word, which I lift up as a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.
2 - The virgin of Israel is fallen, and will not rise again; forsaken in her land, there is none to raise her.
3 - For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city out of which a thousand go forth shall keep a hundred; and the one out of which a hundred go forth shall keep ten for the house of Israel.
4 - For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and live.
5 - But seek not Bethel, neither come to Gilgal, nor go to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely be carried away into captivity, and Bethel shall be destroyed.
6 - Seek ye the LORD, and live, lest he break forth in the house of Joseph like a fire, and consume it, and let it not be erected in Bethel.
7 - Ye that turn judgment into allusn, and lay down righteousness to the ground,
8 - Seek what the Seven-Star and the Orion do, and turn the shadow of the night into the morning, and make the day as dark as the night, which calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the earth; the LORD is his name.
9 - Which causeth sudden destruction against the strong; so that destruction may come against the stronghold.
10 - They hate at the door of him that rebuke them, and abhor him that speaketh sincerely.
11 - Therefore, because you trample upon the poor and demand of him a tribute of wheat, you have built houses of hewn stones, but you shall not dwell in them; ye have planted, but ye shall not drink of his wine.
12 - For I know that your transgressions are many, and your sins grievous; you afflict the righteous, take redemption, and reject the needy at the door.
13 - Therefore he that is wise shall keep silence at that time, for the time shall be evil.
14 - Seek good, not evil, that ye may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you as you say.
15 - Hate evil, and love good; and establish judgment in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of hosts, will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
16 - Therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD; in all the streets shall there be mourning, and in all the highways shall say, Alas! There! And they shall call the husbandman to weeping, and to mourning those who know how to mourn.
17 - And in all the vineyards there shall be mourning; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith the LORD.
18 Woe unto them that desire the day of the LORD! Why do you want this day of the Lord? It will be darkness and not light.
19 - It is as if a man fled from before the lion, and the bear met him; or as if entering a house, his hand would lean against the wall, and be bitten by a snake.
20 - Is not the day of the LORD a darkness, and not light, and darkness, and there is no brightness?
21 - I hate, I despise your feasts, and your solemn assemblies shall not give me good smell.
22 - And if ye offer me burnt offerings, and offerings of food, I will not delight in them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23 - Turn away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the tunes of your violas.
24 - But let judgment run like the waters, and righteousness as the mighty brook.
25 - Thou hast offered me sacrifices and oblations in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?
26 - And ye took the tent of your Molech, and the image of your images, the star of your god, which ye made for yourselves.
27 - Therefore I will carry you captive beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

The vision of the destruction of the altar and promise of restoration - Amos 9

The vision of the destruction of the altar
1 - I saw the LORD standing on the altar; and said unto me, Strike the capital, and let the thresholds shake, and make all the pieces upon the heads of all them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword; none of them will be able to escape, none of them will escape.
2 - Though they dig to hell, my hand will take them away; and if I go up to heaven, I will bring them down from thence.
3 - And if they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will seek them, and I will bring them out from thence; and if I hide my eyes from the bottom of the sea, I will give orders to the serpent, and it will sting them.
4 - And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword to slay them; and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
5 - For the LORD God of hosts toucheth the earth, and it melteth, and all that dwell therein shall weep; and it shall go up as a river, and shall go down as the river of Egypt.
6 - He buildeth his upper chambers in the heaven, and hath founded his vault in the earth, and he that calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the earth; the LORD is his name.
7 - Are ye not, ye children of Israel, as the children of the Ethiopians? saith the LORD, Did I not bring up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines of Caphtor, and the Syrians of Kir?
8 - Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are against this sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; but I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.
9 - For, behold, I will give orders, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations, even as a grain is sifted in the screen, and no grain shall fall upon the earth.
10 - All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, It shall not overtake us, neither shall evil find us.

Promise of restoration
11 - And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will raise up the tabernacle that is fallen from David, and I will repair its breaches, and will build again its ruins, and build it as it was in the days of old;
12 - That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles which are called by my name, saith the LORD, that doeth these things.
13 - Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that he that tilleth shall overtake the reaper, and he that treadeth grapes to him that casteth the seed; and the mountains shall sprinkle with new wine, and all the hills shall melt.
14 - And I will bring the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the desolate cities, and dwell therein, and plant vineyards, and drink their wine, and make orchards, and eat the fruit thereof.
15 - And I will plant them in their own land, and they shall not be cut off from their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.