Amos 1:3–2:6

^3–5God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Damascus

—make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.

She pounded Gilead to a pulp, pounded her senseless

with iron hammers and mauls.

For that, I’m setting the palace of Hazael on fire.

I’m torching Ben-hadad’s forts.

I’m going to smash the Damascus gates

and banish the crime king who lives in Sin Valley,

the vice boss who gives orders from Paradise Palace.

The people of the land will be sent back

to where they came from—to Kir.”

God’s Decree.

^6–8God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Gaza

—make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.

She deported whole towns

and then sold the people to Edom.

For that, I’m burning down the walls of Gaza,

burning up all her forts.

I’ll banish the crime king from Ashdod,

the vice boss from Ashkelon.

I’ll raise my fist against Ekron,

and what’s left of the Philistines will die.”

God’s Decree.

^9–10God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Tyre

—make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.

She deported whole towns to Edom,

breaking the treaty she had with her kin.

For that, I’m burning down the walls of Tyre,

burning up all her forts.”

^11–12God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Edom

—make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.

She hunts down her brother to murder him.

She has no pity, she has no heart.

Her anger rampages day and night.

Her meanness never takes a time-out.

For that, I’m burning down her capital, Teman,

burning up the forts of Bozrah.”

^13–15God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Ammon

—make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.

She ripped open pregnant women in Gilead

to get more land for herself.

For that, I’m burning down the walls of her capital, Rabbah,

burning up her forts.

Battle shouts! War whoops!

with a tornado to finish things off!

The king has been carted off to exile,

the king and his princes with him.”

God’s Decree.

^1–32God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Moab

—make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.

She violated the corpse of Edom’s king,

burning it to cinders.

For that, I’m burning down Moab,

burning down the forts of Kerioth.

Moab will die in the shouting,

go out in the blare of war trumpets.

I’ll remove the king from the center

and kill all his princes with him.”

God’s Decree.

^4–5God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Judah

—make that four—I’m not putting up with them any longer.

They rejected God’s revelation,

refused to keep my commands.

But they swallowed the same old lies

that got their ancestors onto dead-end roads.

For that, I’m burning down Judah,

burning down all the forts of Jerusalem.”

Destroyed from the Roots Up

^6–8God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Israel

—make that four—I’m not putting up with them any longer.

They buy and sell upstanding people.

People for them are only things—ways of making money.

They’d sell a poor man for a pair of shoes.

They’d sell their own grandmother!