Amos 3:1–6:14

GOD’S REASONS FOR PUNISHING ISRAEL

3 Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, Israelites, against the entire clan that I brought from the land of Egypt:ak

2 I have known only youal

out of all the clans of the earth;

therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.am

3 Can two walk togetheran

without agreeing to meet?

4 Does a lion roarao in the forest

when it has no prey?

Does a young lion growl from its lair

unless it has captured something?

5 Does a bird land in a trap on the ground

if there is no bait for it?

Does a trap spring from the ground

when it has caught nothing?

6 If a trumpeta is blown in a city,

aren’t people afraid?b

If a disasterc occurs in a city,

hasn’t the Lord done it?d

7 Indeed, the Lord God does nothing

without revealing his counsel

to his servants the prophets.e

8 A lion has roared;f

who will not fear?

The Lord God has spoken;g

who will not prophesy?h

9 Proclaim on the citadels in Ashdodi

and on the citadels in the land of Egypt:

Assemble on the mountains of Samaria,j

and see the great turmoil in the city

and the acts of oppression within it.k

10 The people are incapable of doing rightl—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

those who store up violence and destructionm

in their citadels.

11 Therefore, the Lord God says:

An enemyn will surround the land;

he will destroyo your strongholds

and plunder your citadels.p

12 The Lord says:

As the shepherd snatches two legs

or a piece of an ear

from the lion’s mouth,q

so the Israelites who live in Samaria

will be rescued

with only the corner of a bedr

or theA cushionB of a couch.C,s

13 Listen and testifyt against the house of Jacob—

this is the declaration of the Lord God,

the God of Armies.

14 I will punish the altars of Bethelu

on the day I punish Israel for its crimes;

the horns of the altarv will be cut off

and fall to the ground.w

15 I will demolish the winter housex

and the summer house;y

the houses inlaid with ivoryz will be destroyed,

and the great housesaa will come to an end.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

SOCIAL AND SPIRITUAL CORRUPTION

4 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashanab

who are on the hill of Samaria,

women who oppress the poor

and crush the needy,ac

who say to their husbands,

“Bring us something to drink.”ad

2 The Lord God has swornae by his holiness:af

Look, the days are comingD

when you will be taken away with hooks,ag

every last one of you with fishhooks.ah

3 You will go through breaches in the wall,ai

each woman straight ahead,

and you will be driven along toward Harmon.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

4 Come to Bethel and rebel;

rebel even more at Gilgal!aj

Bring your sacrifices every morning,ak

your tenths every three days.

5 Offer leavened bread as a thanksgiving sacrifice,al

and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings,am

for that is what you Israelites love to do!an

This is the declaration of the Lord God.

GOD’S DISCIPLINE AND ISRAEL’S APOSTASY

6 I gave you absolutely nothing to eatA,ao

in all your cities,

a shortage of food in all your communities,

yet you did not return to me.ap

This is the Lord’s declaration.

7 I also withheld the rain from youaq

while there were still three months until harvest.

I sent rain on one city

but no rain on another.ar

One field received rain

while a field with no rain withered.a

8 Two or three cities staggered

to another city to drink waterb

but were not satisfied,c

yet you did not returnd to me.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

9 I struck you with blight and mildew;e

the locust devouredf

your many gardens and vineyards,

your fig trees and olive trees,g

yet you did not return to me.h

This is the Lord’s declaration.

10 I sent plagues like those of Egypt;i

I killed your young men with the sword,j

along with your captured horses.k

I caused the stench of your camp

to fill your nostrils,l

yet you did not return to me.m

This is the Lord’s declaration.

11 I overthrew some of you

as IB overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,n

and you were like a burning stick

snatched from a fire,o

yet you did not return to mep—

This is the Lord’s declaration.

12 Therefore, Israel, that is what I will do to you,

and since I will do that to you,

Israel, prepare to meet your God!q

13 He is here:

the one who forms the mountains,r

creates the wind,s

and reveals his thoughts to man,t

the one who makes the dawn out of darkness

and strides on the heights of the earth.u

The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name.v

LAMENTATION FOR ISRAEL

5 Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament,w house of Israel:

2 She has fallen;

Virgin Israelx will never rise again.y

She lies abandoned on her land

with no one to raise her up.z

3 For the Lord God says:

The city that marches out a thousand strong

will have only a hundred left,aa

and the one that marches out a hundred strong

will have only ten leftab in the house of Israel.

SEEK GOD AND LIVE

4 For the Lord says to the house of Israel:

Seek me and live!ac

5 Do not seek Bethelad

or go to Gilgalae

or journey to Beer-sheba,af

for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,

and Bethel will come to nothing.

6 Seek the Lordag and live,

or he will spread like fireah

throughout the house of Joseph;

it will consume everything

with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.ai

7 Those who turn justice into wormwoodaj

also throw righteousness to the ground.

8 The one who made the Pleiades and Orion,ak

who turns darknessA into dawnal

and darkens day into night,am

who summons the water of the seaan

and pours it out over the surface of the earthao—

the Lord is his name.ap

9 He brings destructionB on the strong,C,aq

and it falls on the fortress.ar

10 They hate the one who convicts the guiltyas

at the city gate,

and they despiseat the one who speaks with integrity.

11 Therefore, because you trample on the poorau

and exact a grain tax from him,

you will never live in the houses of cut stoneav

you have built;

you will never drink the wine

from the lush vineyards

you have planted.aw

12 For I know your crimes are many

and your sins innumerable.

They oppress the righteous,a take a bribe,

and deprive the poor of justiceb at the city gates.

13 Therefore, those who have insight will keep silentD,c

at such a time,

for the days are evil.

14 Pursue good and not evil

so that you may live,

and the Lord, the God of Armies,

will be with you

as you have claimed.d

15 Hate evil and love good;e

establish justice at the city gate.f

Perhaps the Lord, the God of Armies, will be graciousg

to the remnant of Joseph.h

16 Therefore the Lord, the God of Armies, the Lord, says:

There will be wailing in all the public squares;i

they will cry out in anguishA in all the streets.

The farmer will be called on to mourn,j

and professional mournersB,k to wail.

17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards,l

for I will pass among you.m

The Lord has spoken.

THE DAY OF THE LORD

18 Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord!n

What will the day of the Lord be for you?

It will be darkness and not light.o

19 It will be like a man who flees from a lionp

only to have a bear confront him.

He goes home and rests his hand against the wall

only to have a snake bite him.

20 Won’t the day of the Lord

be darkness rather than light,q

even gloom without any brightness in it?r

21 I hate, I despise, your feasts!s

I can’t stand the stench

of your solemn assemblies.t

22 Even if you offer me

your burnt offerings and grain offerings,u

I will not accept them;v

I will have no regard

for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.w

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps.x

24 But let justice flow like water,

and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.y

25 “House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the wilderness?z 26 But you have taken upC Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god,* images you have made for yourselves.aa 27 So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.”ab The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name.ac He has spoken.

WOE TO THE COMPLACENT

6 Woe to those who are at ease in Zionad

and to those who feel secure on the hill of Samaria—

the notable people in this first of the nations,

those the house of Israel comes to.

2 Cross over to Calnehae and see;

go from there to great Hamath;af

then go down to Gathag of the Philistines.

Are you better than these kingdoms?

Is their territory larger than yours?

3 You dismiss any thought of the evil dayah

and bring in a reign of violence.ai

4 They lie on beds inlaid with ivory,aj

sprawled out on their couches,ak

and dine on lambs from the flockal

and calves from the stall.

5 They improvise songsA to the sound of the harpam

and inventB their own musical instruments like David.an

6 They drink wine by the bowlfulao

and anoint themselves with the finest oils

but do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.ap

7 Therefore, they will now go into exile

as the first of the captives,aq

and the feastinga of those who sprawl out

will come to an end.

ISRAEL’S PRIDE JUDGED

8 The Lord God has sworn by himselfb—this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Armies:

I loathe Jacob’s pridec

and hate his citadels,d

so I will hand over the citye and everything in it.

9 And if there are ten men left in one house, they will die.f 10 A close relativeC and burnerD,g will remove his corpseE from the house. He will call to someone in the inner recesses of the house, “Any more with you?”

That person will reply, “None.”

Then he will say, “Silence, because the Lord’s name must not be invoked.”h

11 For the Lord commands:

The large house will be smashed to pieces,

and the small house to rubble.i

12 Do horses gallop on the cliffs?

Does anyone plow there with oxen?F

Yet you have turned justice into poisonj

and the fruit of righteousness into wormwoodk—

13 you who rejoice over Lo-debarl

and say, “Didn’t we capture Karnaim

for ourselves by our own strength?”m

14 But look, I am raising up a nation

against you, house of Israeln—

this is the declaration of the Lord,

the God of Armies—

and they will oppress you

from the entrance of HamathG,o

to the…