Amos 5:5-15

5Do not seek Bethel! Do not visit Gilgal! Do not journey down to Beer Sheba! For the people of Gilgal will certainly be carried into exile; and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.”

6Seek the Lord so you can live! Otherwise he will break out like fire against Joseph’s family; the fire will consume and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel.

7The Israelites turn justice into bitterness; they throw what is fair and right to the ground.

8(But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion; he can turn the darkness into morning and daylight into night. He summons the water of the seas and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name!

9He flashes destruction down upon the strong so that destruction overwhelms the fortified places.)

10The Israelites hate anyone who arbitrates at the city gate; they despise anyone who speaks honestly.

11Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops and exact a grain tax from them, you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone, nor will you drink the wine from the fine vineyards you planted.

12Certainly I am aware of your many rebellious acts and your numerous sins. You torment the innocent, you take bribes, and you deny justice to the needy at the city gate.

13For this reason whoever is smart keeps quiet in such a time, for it is an evil time.

14Seek good and not evil so you can live! Then the Lord, the God who commands armies, just might be with you, as you claim he is.

15Hate what is wrong, love what is right! Promote justice at the city gate! Maybe the Lord, the God who commands armies, will have mercy on those who are left from Joseph.