Amos 1–9

1These are the words of Amos, one of the shepherds from the town of Tekoa. He saw this vision about Israel two years before the earthquake. It was at the time Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.

²Amos said,

“The Lord will roar from Jerusalem;

he will send his voice from Jerusalem.

The pastures of the shepherds will become dry,

and even the top of Mount Carmel will dry up.”

Israel’s Neighbors Are Punished

The People of Aram

³This is what the Lord says:

“For the many crimes of Damascus,

I will punish them.

They drove over the people of Gilead

with threshing boards that had iron teeth.

⁴So I will send fire upon the house of Hazael

that will destroy the strong towers of Ben-Hadad.

⁵I will break down the bar of the gate to Damascus

and destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven,

as well as the leader of Beth Eden.

The people of Aram will be taken captive to the country of Kir,” says the Lord.

The People of Philistia

⁶This is what the Lord says:

“For the many crimes of Gaza,

I will punish them.

They sold all the people of one area

as slaves to Edom.

⁷So I will send a fire on the walls of Gaza

that will destroy the city’s strong buildings.

⁸I will destroy the king of the city of Ashdod,

as well as the leader of Ashkelon.

Then I will turn against the people of the city of Ekron,

and the last of the Philistines will die,” says the Lord God.

The People of Phoenicia

⁹This is what the Lord says:

“For the many crimes of Tyre,

I will punish them.

They sold all the people of one area

as slaves to Edom,

and they forgot the agreement among relatives they had made with Israel.

¹⁰So I will send fire on the walls of Tyre

that will destroy the city’s strong buildings.”

The People of Edom

¹¹This is what the Lord says:

“For the many crimes of Edom,

I will punish them.

They hunted down their relatives, the Israelites, with the sword,

showing them no mercy.

They were angry all the time

and kept on being very angry.

¹²So I will send fire on the city of Teman

that will even destroy the strong buildings of Bozrah.” ⁿ

The People of Ammon

¹³This is what the Lord says:

“For the many crimes of Ammon,

I will punish them.

They ripped open the pregnant women in Gilead

so they could take over that land

and make their own country larger.

¹⁴So I will send fire on the city wall of Rabbah

that will destroy its strong buildings.

It will come during a day of battle,

during a stormy day with strong winds.

¹⁵Then their king and leaders will be taken captive;

they will all be taken away together,” says the Lord.

The People of Moab

2This is what the Lord says:

“For the many crimes of Moab,

I will punish them.

They burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.

²So I will send fire on Moab

that will destroy the strong buildings of the city of Kerioth.

The people of Moab will die in a great noise,

in the middle of the sounds of war and trumpets.

³So I will bring an end to the king of Moab,

and I will kill all its leaders with him,” says the Lord.

The People of Judah

⁴This is what the Lord says:

“For the many crimes of Judah,

I will punish them.

They rejected the teachings of the Lord

and did not keep his commands;

they followed the same gods

as their ancestors had followed.

⁵So I will send fire on Judah,

and it will destroy the strong buildings of Jerusalem.”

Israel Is Punished

⁶This is what the Lord says:

“For the many crimes of Israel,

I will punish them.

For silver, they sell people who have done nothing wrong;

they sell the poor to buy a pair of sandals.

⁷They walk on poor people as if they were dirt,

and they refuse to be fair to those who are suffering.

Fathers and sons have sexual relations with the same woman,

and so they ruin my holy name.

⁸As they worship at their altars,

they lie down on clothes taken from the poor.

They fine people,

and with that money they buy wine to drink in the house of their god.

⁹“But it was I who destroyed the Amorites before them,

who were tall like cedar trees and as strong as oaks—

I destroyed them completely.

¹⁰It was I who brought you from the land of Egypt

and led you for forty years through the desert

so I could give you the land of the Amorites.

¹¹I made some of your children to be prophets

and some of your young people to be Nazirites.

People of Israel, isn’t this true?” says the Lord.

¹²“But you made the Nazirites drink wine

and told the prophets not to prophesy.

¹³Now I will make you get stuck,

as a wagon loaded with grain gets stuck.

¹⁴No one will escape, not even the fastest runner.

Strong people will not be strong enough;

warriors will not be able to save themselves.

¹⁵Soldiers with bows and arrows will not stand and fight,

and even fast runners will not get away;

soldiers on horses will not escape alive.

¹⁶At that time even the bravest warriors

will run away without their armor,” says the Lord.

Warning to Israel

3Listen to this word that the Lord has spoken against you, people of Israel, against the whole family he brought out of Egypt.

²“I have chosen only you

out of all the families of the earth,

so I will punish you

for all your sins.”

³Two people will not walk together

unless they have agreed to do so.

⁴A lion in the forest does not roar

unless it has caught an animal;

it does not growl in its den

when it has caught nothing.

⁵A bird will not fall into a trap

where there is no bait;

the trap will not spring shut

if there is nothing to catch.

⁶When a trumpet blows a warning in a city,

the people tremble.

When trouble comes to a city,

the Lord has caused it.

⁷Before the Lord God does anything,

he tells his plans to his servants the prophets.

⁸The lion has roared!

Who wouldn’t be afraid?

The Lord God has spoken.

Who will not prophesy?

⁹Announce this to the strong buildings of Ashdod

and to the strong buildings of Egypt:

“Come to the mountains of Samaria,

where you will see great confusion

and people hurting others.”

¹⁰“The people don’t know how to do what is right,” says the Lord.

“Their strong buildings are filled with treasures they took by force from others.”

¹¹So this is what the Lord God says:

“An enemy will take over the land

and pull down your strongholds;

he will take the treasures out of your strong buildings.”

¹²This is what the Lord says:

“A shepherd might save from a lion’s mouth

only two leg bones or a scrap of an ear of his sheep.

In the same way only a few Israelites in Samaria will be saved—

people who now sit on their beds

and on their couches.”

¹³“Listen and be witnesses against the family of Jacob,” says the Lord God, the God All-Powerful.

¹⁴“When I punish Israel for their sins,

I will also destroy the altars at Bethel.

The corners of the altar will be cut off,

and they will fall to the ground.

¹⁵I will tear down the winter house,

together with the summer house.

The houses decorated with ivory will be destroyed,

and the great houses will come to an end,” says the Lord.

Israel Will Not Return

4Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan ⁿ on the Mountain of Samaria.

You take things from the poor

and crush people who are in need.

Then you command your husbands,

“Bring us something to drink!”

²The Lord God has promised this:

“Just as surely as I am a holy God,

the time will come

when you will be taken away by hooks,

and what is left of you with fishhooks.

³You will go straight out of the city

through holes in the walls,

and you will be thrown on the garbage dump,” says the Lord.

⁴“Come to the city of Bethel and sin;

come to Gilgal and sin even more.

Offer your sacrifices every morning,

and bring one-tenth of your crops every three days.

⁵Offer bread made with yeast as a sacrifice to show your thanks,

and brag about the special offerings you bring,

because this is what you love to do, Israelites,” says the Lord God.

⁶“I did not give you any food in your cities,

and there was not enough to eat in any of your towns,

but you did not come back to me,” says the Lord.

⁷“I held back the rain from you

three months before harvest time.

Then I let it rain on one city

but not on another.

Rain fell on one field,

but another field got none and dried up.

⁸People weak from thirst went from town to town for water,

but they could not get enough to drink.

Still you did not come back to me,” says the Lord.

⁹“I made your crops die from disease and mildew.

When your gardens and your vineyards got larger,

locusts ate your fig and olive trees.

But still you did not come back to me,” says the Lord.

¹⁰“I sent disasters against you,

as I did to Egypt.

I killed your young men with swords,

and your horses were taken from you.

I made you smell the stink from all the dead bodies,

but still you did not come back to me,” says the Lord.

¹¹“I destroyed some of you

as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

You were like a burning stick pulled from a fire,

but still you did not come back to me,” says the Lord.

¹²“So this is what I will do to you, Israel;

because I will do this to you,

get ready to meet your God, Israel.”

¹³He is the one who makes the mountains

and creates the wind

and makes his thoughts known to people.

He changes the dawn into darkness

and walks over the mountains of the earth.

His name is the Lord God All-Powerful.

Israel Needs to Repent

5Listen to this funeral song that I sing about you, people of Israel.

²“The young girl Israel has fallen,

and she will not rise up again.

She was left alone in her own land,

and there is no one to help her up.”

³This is what the Lord God says:

“If a thousand soldiers leave a city,

only a hundred will return;

if a hundred soldiers leave a city,

only ten will return.”

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

“Come to me and live.

⁵But do not look in Bethel

or go to Gilgal,

and do not go down to Beersheba.

The people of Gilgal will be taken away as captives,

and Bethel will become nothing.”

⁶Come to the Lord and live,

or he will move like fire against the descendants of Joseph.

The fire will burn Bethel,

and there will be no one to put it out.

⁷You turn justice upside down,

and you throw on the ground what is right.

⁸God is the one who made the star groups Pleiades and Orion;

he changes darkness into the morning light,

and the day into dark night.

He calls for the waters of the sea

to pour out on the earth.

The Lord is…