Amos 3–4

The Lord Judges His Chosen People

3People of Israel, listen to the Lord’s message. It is against you. It is against the whole family he brought up out of Egypt. He says,

²“Out of all of the families on earth

I have chosen only you.

So I will punish you

because you have committed so many sins.”

³Do two people walk together

unless they’ve agreed to do so?

⁴Does a lion roar in the bushes

when it doesn’t have any food?

Does it growl in its den

when it hasn’t caught anything?

⁵Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground

where no one has set a trap for it?

Does a net spring up from the earth

when there isn’t anything for it to catch?

⁶When someone blows a trumpet in a city,

don’t the people tremble with fear?

When trouble comes to a city,

hasn’t the Lord caused it?

⁷The Lord and King never does anything

without telling his servants the prophets about it.

⁸A lion has roared.

Who isn’t afraid?

The Lord and King has spoken.

Who can do anything but prophesy?

⁹Speak to the people in the forts of Ashdod and Egypt.

Tell them, “Gather together

on the mountains of Samaria.

Look at the great trouble in that city.

Its people are committing many crimes.”

¹⁰“They do not know how to do what is right,”

announces the Lord.

“They pile up stolen goods in their forts.”

¹¹So the Lord and King says,

“Enemies will take over your land.

They will pull down your places of safety.

They will rob your forts.”

¹²The Lord says,

“Suppose a shepherd saves only two leg bones

from a lion’s mouth.

Or he might save only a piece of an ear.

That is how the Israelites will be saved.

They sit in Samaria

on the edge of their beds.

They lie down in Damascus

on their couches.”

¹³“Listen to me,” announces the Lord. “Witness against the people of Jacob,” says the Lord God who rules over all.

¹⁴“I will punish Israel for their sins.

When I do, I will destroy their altars at Bethel.

The horns that stick out from the upper corners

of their main altar will be cut off.

They will fall to the ground.

¹⁵I will tear their winter houses down.

I will also pull down their summer houses.

The houses they have decorated with ivory will be destroyed.

And their princely houses will be torn down,”

announces the Lord.

Israel Has Not Returned to the Lord

4Listen to the Lord’s message,

you women who live on the hill of Samaria.

You treat poor people badly.

You crush those who are in need.

You say to your husbands,

“Bring us some drinks!”

But you are already as fat

as the cows in Bashan.

²The Lord and King has taken an oath

in his own holy name.

He says, “You can be sure

that the time will come

when your enemies will put hooks in your faces.

They will lead every one of you away with fishhooks.

³Each of you will go straight out

through a gap in the wall.

You will be thrown out of the city

on the hill where you crush others,”

announces the Lord.

⁴“People of Samaria, go to Bethel and sin!

Go to Gilgal! Sin there even more!

Bring your sacrifices every morning.

Every third year, bring a tenth

of everything you produce.

⁵Bake some bread with yeast.

Burn it as a thank offering.

Brag about the offerings you freely give.

That is what you Israelites love to do,”

announces the Lord and King.

⁶“I made sure your stomachs were empty in every city.

You did not have enough bread in any of your towns.

In spite of that, you still have not returned to me,”

announces the Lord.

⁷“I also held rain back from you.

The time to harvest crops

was still three months away.

I sent rain on one town.

But I held it back from another.

One field had rain.

Another did not. So it dried up.

⁸People wandered from town to town to look for water.

But they did not get enough to drink.

In spite of that, you still have not returned to me,”

announces the Lord.

⁹“Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards.

I sent hot winds to dry them up completely.

Locusts ate up your fig and olive trees.

In spite of that, you still have not returned to me,”

announces the Lord.

¹⁰“I sent plagues on you,

just as I did on Egypt.

I killed your young men with swords.

I also let the horses you had captured be killed.

I filled your noses with the bad smell of your camps.

In spite of that, you still have not returned to me,”

announces the Lord.

¹¹“I destroyed some of you,

just as I did Sodom and Gomorrah.

You were like a burning stick that was pulled out of the fire.

In spite of that, you still have not returned to me,”

announces the Lord.

¹²“People of Israel, I will punish you.

Because I will do that to you,

prepare to meet your God!”

¹³The Lord forms the mountains.

He creates the wind.

He makes his thoughts known to human beings.

He turns sunrise into darkness.

He rules over the highest places on earth.

His name is The Lord God Who Rules Over All.