Amos 1–9

1ST CHAPTER

¹These are the words of Amos, one of the sheep farmers from Tekoa. He saw ⸤a vision⸥ about Israel during the reigns of Judah’s King Uzziah and Israel’s King Jeroboam, son of Joash. This happened two years before the earthquake. 

²He said: 

The Lord roars from Zion, 

and his voice thunders from Jerusalem. 

The pastures of the shepherds are turning brown, 

and the top of ⸤Mount⸥ Carmel is dried up. 

Damascus Will Be Judged for Its Crimes

³This is what the Lord says: 

Because Damascus has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime, 

I will not change my plans. 

The Arameans have crushed ⸤the people of⸥ Gilead 

with iron-spiked threshing^asledges. 

⁴I will send a fire on the house of Hazael 

and burn down the palaces of Ben Hadad. 

⁵I will break the bars ⸤on the gates⸥ of Damascus. 

I will cut off those living in Aven Valley 

and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden. 

The people of Aram will go into captivity at Kir. 

The Lord has said this. 

Gaza Will Be Judged for Its Crimes

⁶This is what the Lord says: 

Because Gaza has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime, 

I will not change my plans. 

The Philistines have taken all the people captive 

in order to hand them over to the Edomites. 

⁷I will send a fire on the walls of Gaza 

and burn down its palaces. 

⁸I will cut off those living in Ashdod 

and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon. 

I will turn my power against Ekron. 

The rest of the Philistines will die. 

The Almighty Lord has said this. 

Tyre Will Be Judged for Its Crimes

⁹This is what the Lord says: 

Because Tyre has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime, 

I will not change my plans. 

The Tyrians have handed all the people over to the Edomites. 

The Tyrians didn’t remember their treaty with their relatives. 

¹⁰I will send a fire on the walls of Tyre 

and burn down its palaces. 

Edom Will Be Judged for Its Crimes

¹¹This is what the Lord says: 

Because Edom has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime, 

I will not change my plans. 

The Edomites pursued their relatives with swords. 

They refused to show any compassion to them. 

Their anger was unstoppable. 

They refused to control their fury. 

¹²I will send a fire on Teman 

and burn down the palaces of Bozrah. 

Ammon Will Be Judged for Its Crimes

¹³This is what the Lord says: 

Because Ammon has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime, 

I will not change my plans. 

The Ammonites enlarged their territory 

by ripping open pregnant women in Gilead. 

¹⁴I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah 

and burn down its palaces 

while troops are shouting on the day of battle 

and winds are howling on the day of the storm. 

¹⁵Their king will go into captivity along with his officials. 

The Lord has said this. 

2ND CHAPTER

Moab Will Be Judged for Its Crimes

¹This is what the Lord says: 

Because Moab has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime, 

I will not change my plans. 

The Moabites have cremated Edom’s king. 

²I will send a fire on Moab 

and burn down the palaces of Kerioth. 

Moab will die during the noise of battle 

while troops are shouting and rams’ horns are blowing. 

³I will take their judges away from them. 

I will kill all their officials at the same time. 

The Lord has said this. 

Judah Will Be Judged for Its Crimes

⁴This is what the Lord says: 

Because Judah has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime, 

I will not change my plans. 

The people of Judah have rejected the Lord’s Teachings 

and haven’t kept his laws. 

They have been led astray by false teachings, 

the same ones their ancestors followed. 

⁵I will send a fire on Judah 

and burn down the palaces of Jerusalem. 

Israel Will Be Judged for Its Crimes

⁶This is what the Lord says: 

Because Israel has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime, 

I will not change my plans. 

The people of Israel sell the righteous for money 

and the needy for a pair of sandals. 

⁷They stomp the heads of the poor into the dust. 

They push the humble out of the way. 

Father and son sleep with the same woman. 

They dishonor my holy name. 

⁸Beside every altar, they spread themselves out on clothes 

taken as security. 

In the temples of their gods, they drink the wine 

that they bought with fines. 

⁹I destroyed the Amorites in front of them, 

although the Amorites were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks. 

I destroyed their fruit above the ground and their roots below it. 

¹⁰I brought you out of Egypt. 

I led you through the desert for 40 years 

so that you could take possession of the land of the Amorites. 

¹¹I also sent you prophets from among your children 

and Nazirites from among your youths. 

Isn’t that so, people of Israel? 

The Lord has declared this. 

¹²You made the Nazirites drink wine. 

You commanded the prophets to stop prophesying. 

¹³I am going to crush you as an overloaded wagon crushes a person. 

¹⁴Runners will not be able to escape. 

Strong men will find that their strength is useless. 

Soldiers will not be able to save themselves. 

¹⁵Archers will not stand their ground. 

Fast runners will not be able to escape. 

Horsemen will not be able to save themselves. 

¹⁶Brave soldiers will run away naked that day. 

The Lord has declared this. 

3RD CHAPTER

The Lord Will Punish Israel for Its Immoral Behavior

¹Listen to this message which I, the Lord, have spoken against you Israelites, against your whole family that I brought out of Egypt. 

²Out of all the families on earth, I have known no one else but you. 

That is why I am going to punish you for all your sins. 

³Do two people ever walk together without meeting first? 

⁴Does a lion roar in the forest if it has no prey? 

Does a young lion growl in its den unless it has caught something? 

⁵Does a bird land in a trap on the ground if there’s no bait in it? 

Does a trap spring up from the ground unless it has caught something? 

⁶If a ram’s horn sounds an alarm in a city, won’t the people be alarmed? 

If there is a disaster in a city, hasn’t the Lord done it? 

⁷Certainly, the Almighty Lord doesn’t do anything 

unless he ⸤first⸥ reveals his secret to his servants the prophets. 

⁸The lion has roared. Who isn’t afraid? 

The Almighty Lord has spoken. Who can keep from prophesying? 

⁹Announce in the palaces of Ashdod and in the palaces of Egypt, 

“Gather together on the mountains of Samaria. 

See the widespread confusion and oppression in Samaria.” 

¹⁰Those who collect profits in their palaces 

through violent and destructive acts 

don’t know how to do what is right, declares the Lord. 

¹¹This is what the Almighty Lord says: 

An enemy will surround your land, 

strip you of your defenses, 

and loot your palaces. 

¹²This is what the Lord says: 

As a shepherd rescues two legs or a piece of an ear out of a lion’s mouth, 

so the Israelites living in Samaria will be rescued, 

⸤having only⸥ a corner of a bed or a piece of a couch.^a

¹³Listen, and testify against the descendants of Jacob, 

declares the Almighty Lord, the God of Armies. 

¹⁴On the day I punish Israel for its disobedience, 

I will also destroy the altars at Bethel. 

The horns of the altar will be cut off and will fall to the ground. 

¹⁵I will tear down winter houses as well as summer houses. 

Houses ⸤decorated⸥ with ivory will be destroyed. 

Mansions will be demolished, declares the Lord. 

4TH CHAPTER

The Lord Will Punish the Women of Samaria

¹Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan who live on Mount Samaria. 

You women oppress the poor and abuse the needy. 

You say to your husbands, “Get some wine! Let’s drink!” 

²The Almighty Lord has taken an oath on his holiness: 

Surely, the time is going to come 

when you will be taken away on hooks, 

and the rest of you on fishhooks. 

³Each of you will leave ⸤the city⸥ 

through breaks in the wall, one woman ahead of another. 

You will be thrown into a garbage dump. 

The Lord declares this. 

⁴Go to Bethel and sin. 

Go to Gilgal and sin even more. 

Bring your sacrifices every morning. 

Bring a tenth of your income every three days. 

⁵Burn bread as a thank offering. 

Brag and boast about your freewill offerings. 

This is what you people of Israel love to do. 

The Almighty Lord declares this. 

⁶I left you with nothing to eat in any of your cities. 

I left you with no food in your entire land. 

And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord. 

⁷I stopped the rain from falling 

three months before the harvest. 

I sent rain on one city and not on another. 

One field had rain. 

Another field had none and dried up. 

⁸So people from two or three cities staggered 

as they walked to another city in order to get a drink of water. 

But they couldn’t get enough. 

And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord. 

⁹I struck your ⸤crops⸥ with blight and mildew. 

Locusts repeatedly devoured your gardens, vineyards, 

fig trees, and olive trees. 

And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord. 

¹⁰I sent plagues on you as I did to Egypt. 

With swords I killed your best young men along with your captured horses. 

I made the stench from your camps fill your noses. 

And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord. 

¹¹I destroyed some of you as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. 

You were like a burning log snatched from a fire. 

And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord. 

¹²This is what I will do to you, Israel. 

Prepare to meet your God. 

This is what I will do to you, Israel! 

¹³God forms the mountains and creates the wind. 

He reveals his thoughts to humans. 

He makes dawn and dusk ⸤appear⸥. 

He walks on the high places of the earth. 

His name is the Lord God of Armies. 

5TH CHAPTER

A Funeral Song about Israel

¹Listen to this message, this funeral song that I sing about you, nation of Israel: 

²The people of Israel have fallen, 

never to rise again. 

They lie abandoned in their own land. 

There is no one to help them. 

³This is what the Almighty Lord says: 

The city that sends 1,000 troops off to war 

will have ⸤only⸥ 100 left. 

The one that sends 100 troops off to war 

will have ⸤only⸥ 10 left for the nation of Israel. 

A Threefold Call to Turn Away from Sin

⁴This is what the Lord says to the nation of Israel: 

Search for me and live! 

⁵But don’t search ⸤for…