Amos 3–4

Chapter 3

Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel—against the entire family I rescued from Egypt:

²“From among all the families on the earth,

I have been intimate with you alone.

That is why I must punish you

for all your sins.”

Witnesses against Guilty Israel

³Can two people walk together

without agreeing on the direction?

⁴Does a lion ever roar in a thicket

without first finding a victim?

Does a young lion growl in its den

without first catching its prey?

⁵Does a bird ever get caught in a trap

that has no bait?

Does a trap spring shut

when there’s nothing to catch?

⁶When the ram’s horn blows a warning,

shouldn’t the people be alarmed?

Does disaster come to a city

unless the Lord has planned it?

⁷Indeed, the Sovereign Lord never does anything

until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets.

⁸The lion has roared—

so who isn’t frightened?

The Sovereign Lord has spoken—

so who can refuse to proclaim his message?

⁹Announce this to the leaders of Philistia

and to the great ones of Egypt:

“Take your seats now on the hills around Samaria,

and witness the chaos and oppression in Israel.”

¹⁰“My people have forgotten how to do right,”

says the Lord.

“Their fortresses are filled with wealth

taken by theft and violence.

¹¹Therefore,” says the Sovereign Lord,

“an enemy is coming!

He will surround them and shatter their defenses.

Then he will plunder all their fortresses.”

¹²This is what the Lord says:

“A shepherd who tries to rescue a sheep from a lion’s mouth

will recover only two legs or a piece of an ear.

So it will be for the Israelites in Samaria lying on luxurious beds,

and for the people of Damascus reclining on couches.

¹³“Now listen to this, and announce it throughout all Israel,” says the Lord, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.

¹⁴“On the very day I punish Israel for its sins,

I will destroy the pagan altars at Bethel.

The horns of the altar will be cut off

and fall to the ground.

¹⁵And I will destroy the beautiful homes of the wealthy—

their winter mansions and their summer houses, too—

all their palaces filled with ivory,”

says the Lord.

Chapter 4

Israel’s Failure to Learn

¹Listen to me, you fat cows

living in Samaria,

you women who oppress the poor

and crush the needy,

and who are always calling to your husbands,

“Bring us another drink!”

²The Sovereign Lord has sworn this by his holiness:

“The time will come when you will be led away

with hooks in your noses.

Every last one of you will be dragged away

like a fish on a hook!

³You will be led out through the ruins of the wall;

you will be thrown from your fortresses,”

says the Lord.

⁴“Go ahead and offer sacrifices to the idols at Bethel.

Keep on disobeying at Gilgal.

Offer sacrifices each morning,

and bring your tithes every three days.

⁵Present your bread made with yeast

as an offering of thanksgiving.

Then give your extra voluntary offerings

so you can brag about it everywhere!

This is the kind of thing you Israelites love to do,”

says the Sovereign Lord.

⁶“I brought hunger to every city

and famine to every town.

But still you would not return to me,”

says the Lord.

⁷“I kept the rain from falling

when your crops needed it the most.

I sent rain on one town

but withheld it from another.

Rain fell on one field,

while another field withered away.

⁸People staggered from town to town looking for water,

but there was never enough.

But still you would not return to me,”

says the Lord.

⁹“I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew.

Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees.

But still you would not return to me,”

says the Lord.

¹⁰“I sent plagues on you

like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago.

I killed your young men in war

and led all your horses away.

The stench of death filled the air!

But still you would not return to me,”

says the Lord.

¹¹“I destroyed some of your cities,

as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Those of you who survived

were like charred sticks pulled from a fire.

But still you would not return to me,”

says the Lord.

¹²“Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced.

Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!”

¹³For the Lord is the one who shaped the mountains,

stirs up the winds, and reveals his thoughts to mankind.

He turns the light of dawn into darkness

and treads on the heights of the earth.

The Lord God of Heaven’s Armies is his name!