Amos 1–6

¹The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and in the days of King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years^a before the earthquake.^*

Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors

²And he said:

The Lord roars from Zion

and utters his voice from Jerusalem;

the pastures of the shepherds wither,

and the top of Carmel dries up.^*

³Thus says the Lord:

For three transgressions of Damascus,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,^b

because they have threshed Gilead

with threshing sledges of iron.^*

⁴So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael,

and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.^*

⁵I will break the gate bars of Damascus

and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven

and the one who holds the scepter from Beth-eden,

and the people of Aram shall go into exile to Kir,

says the Lord.^*

⁶Thus says the Lord:

For three transgressions of Gaza,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,^c

because they carried into exile entire communities,

to hand them over to Edom.^*

⁷So I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza,

and it shall devour its strongholds.

⁸I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod

and the one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;

I will turn my hand against Ekron,

and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,

says the Lord God.^*

⁹Thus says the Lord:

For three transgressions of Tyre,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,^d

because they delivered entire communities over to Edom

and did not remember the covenant of kinship.^*

¹⁰So I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre,

and it shall devour its strongholds.^*

¹¹Thus says the Lord:

For three transgressions of Edom,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,^e

because he pursued his brother with the sword

and cast off all pity;

he maintained his anger perpetually^f

and kept his wrath^g forever.^*

¹²So I will send a fire on Teman,

and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.^*

¹³Thus says the Lord:

For three transgressions of the Ammonites,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,^h

because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead

in order to enlarge their territory.^*

¹⁴So I will kindle a fire against the wall of Rabbah,

and it shall devour its strongholds,

with shouting on the day of battle,

with a storm on the day of the whirlwind;^*

¹⁵then their king shall go into exile,

he and his officials together,

says the Lord.^*

²Thus says the Lord:

For three transgressions of Moab,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,ⁱ

because he burned to lime

the bones of the king of Edom.^*

²So I will send a fire on Moab,

and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth,

and Moab shall die amid uproar,

amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;^*

³I will cut off the ruler from its midst

and will kill all its officials with him,

says the Lord.^*

Judgment on Judah

⁴Thus says the Lord:

For three transgressions of Judah,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,^j

because they have rejected the instruction of the Lord

and have not kept his statutes,

but they have been led astray by the same lies

after which their ancestors walked.^*

⁵So I will send a fire on Judah,

and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.^*

Judgment on Israel

⁶Thus says the Lord:

For three transgressions of Israel,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,^k

because they sell the righteous for silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals—^*

⁷they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth

and push the afflicted out of the way;

father and son go in to the same young woman,

so that my holy name is profaned;^*

⁸they lay themselves down beside every altar

on garments taken in pledge;

and in the house of their God they drink

wine bought with fines they imposed.^*

⁹Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them,

whose height was like the height of cedars

and who was as strong as oaks;

I destroyed his fruit above

and his roots beneath.^*

¹⁰Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt

and led you forty years in the wilderness,

to possess the land of the Amorite.^*

¹¹And I raised up some of your children to be prophets

and some of your youths to be nazirites.

Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?

says the Lord.^*

¹²But you made the nazirites drink wine

and commanded the prophets,

saying, “You shall not prophesy.”^*

¹³So, I will press you down in your place,

just as a cart presses down

when it is full of sheaves.^l*

¹⁴Flight shall perish from the swift,

and the strong shall not retain their strength,

nor shall the mighty save their lives;^*

¹⁵those who handle the bow shall not stand,

and those who are swift of foot shall not save themselves,

nor shall those who ride horses save their lives;^*

¹⁶and those who are stout of heart among the mighty

shall flee away naked on that day,

says the Lord.^*

Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

³Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:^*

²You only have I known

of all the families of the earth;

therefore I will punish you

for all your iniquities.^*

³Do two walk together

unless they have made an appointment?^*

⁴Does a lion roar in the forest

when it has no prey?

Does a young lion cry out from its den

if it has caught nothing?^*

⁵Does a bird fall into a snare on the earth

when there is no trap for it?

Does a snare spring up from the ground

when it has taken nothing?

⁶Is a trumpet blown in a city,

and the people are not afraid?

Does disaster befall a city

unless the Lord has done it?^*

⁷Surely the Lord God does nothing

without revealing his secret

to his servants the prophets.^*

⁸The lion has roared;

who will not fear?

The Lord God has spoken;

who can but prophesy?^*

⁹Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod

and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt,

and say, “Assemble yourselves on Mount^m Samaria,

and see what great tumults are within it

and what oppressions are in its midst.”^*

¹⁰They do not know how to do right, says the Lord,

those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.^*

¹¹Therefore thus says the Lord God:

An adversary shall surround the land

and strip you of your defense,

and your strongholds shall be plundered.^*

¹²Thus says the Lord: As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who live in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and partⁿ of a bed.^*

¹³Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,

says the Lord God, the God of hosts:^*

¹⁴On the day I punish Israel for its transgressions,

I will punish the altars of Bethel,

and the horns of the altar shall be cut off

and fall to the ground.

¹⁵I will tear down the winter house as well as the summer house,

and the houses of ivory shall perish,

and the great houses^o shall come to an end,

says the Lord.^*

⁴Hear this word, you cows of Bashan

who are on Mount Samaria,

who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,

who say to their husbands, “Bring something to drink!”^*

²The Lord God has sworn by his holiness:

The time is surely coming upon you

when they shall take you away with hooks,

even the last of you with fishhooks.^*

³Through breaches in the wall you shall leave,

each one straight ahead,

and you shall be flung out into Harmon,^p

says the Lord.

⁴Come to Bethel—and transgress;

to Gilgal—and multiply transgression;

bring your sacrifices every morning,

your tithes every three days;^*

⁵bring a thank offering of leavened bread

and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them;

for so you love to do, O people of Israel!

says the Lord God.^*

Israel Rejects Correction

⁶I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities

and lack of bread in all your places;

yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.^*

⁷And I also withheld the rain from you

when there were still three months to the harvest;

I would send rain on one city

and send no rain on another city;

one field would be rained upon,

and the field on which it did not rain withered;

⁸so two or three towns wandered to one town

to drink water and were not satisfied;

yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.^*

⁹I struck you with blight and mildew;

I laid waste^q your gardens and your vineyards;

the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees;

yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.^*

¹⁰I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;

I killed your young men with the sword;

I carried away your horses;^r

and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;

yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.^*

¹¹I overthrew some of you

as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

and you were like a brand snatched from the fire;

yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.^*

¹²Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;

because I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, O Israel!^*

¹³For the one who forms the mountains, creates the wind,

reveals his thoughts to mortals,

makes the morning darkness,

and treads on the heights of the earth—

the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!^*

A Lament for Israel’s Sin

⁵Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:^*

²Fallen, no more to rise,

is maiden Israel;

forsaken on her land,

with no one to raise her up.^*

³For thus says the Lord God:

The city that marched out a thousand

shall have a hundred left,

and that which marched out a hundred

shall have ten left.^s*

⁴For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:

Seek me and live,^*

⁵but do not seek Bethel,

and do not enter into Gilgal

or cross over to Beer-sheba,

for Gilgal shall surely go into exile,

and Bethel shall come to nothing.^*

⁶Seek the Lord and live,

or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire,

and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.^*

⁷Ah, you who turn justice to wormwood

and bring righteousness to the ground!

⁸The one who made the Pleiades and Orion

and turns deep darkness into the morning

and darkens the day into night,

who calls for the water of the sea

and pours it out on the surface of the earth, …