Amos 3:1-5:17

English Standard Version

^2 (B)“You only have I known
    of all the families of the earth;
^(C)therefore I will punish you
    for all your iniquities.

³ “Do two walk together,
    unless they have agreed to meet?
⁴ Does a lion roar in the forest,
    when he has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out from his den,
    if he has taken nothing?
⁵ Does a bird fall in 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?
^6 (D)Is a trumpet blown in a city,
    and the people are not afraid?
^(E)Does disaster come to a city,
    unless the Lord has done it?

⁷ “For the Lord God does nothing
    ^(F)without revealing his secret
    to his servants the prophets.
⁸ The lion has roared;
    who will not fear?
^(G)The Lord God has spoken;
    who can but prophesy?”

⁹ Proclaim to the strongholds in ^(H)Ashdod
    and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt,
and say, “Assemble yourselves on ^(I)the mountains of Samaria,
    and see the great tumults within her,
    and ^(J)the oppressed in her midst.”
¹⁰ “They do not know how to do right,” declares the Lord,
    ^(K)“those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.”

^(L)“An adversary shall surround the land
    and bring down^[a] your defenses from you,
    and ^(M)your strongholds shall be plundered.”

¹³ “Hear, ^(Q)and testify against the house of Jacob,”
    declares the Lord God, ^(R)the God of hosts,
¹⁴ “that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions,
    ^(S)I will punish the altars of Bethel,
and ^(T)the horns of the altar shall be cut off
    and fall to the ground.
^15 (U)I will strike ^(V)the winter house along with ^(W)the summer house,
    and ^(X)the houses of ivory shall perish,
and the great houses^[c] shall come to an end,”
declares the Lord.

4 “Hear this word, ^(Y)you cows of Bashan,
    who are ^(Z)on the mountain of Samaria,
^(AA)who oppress the poor, ^(AB)who crush the needy,
    who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’
^2 (AC)The Lord God has sworn by his holiness
    that, behold, the days are coming upon you,
^(AD)when they shall take you away with hooks,
    ^(AE)even the last of you with fishhooks.
^3 (AF)And you shall go out through the breaches,
    each one straight ahead;
    and you shall be cast out into Harmon,”
declares the Lord.

^4 (AG)“Come to Bethel, and transgress;
    to ^(AH)Gilgal, and multiply transgression;
^(AI)bring your ^(AJ)sacrifices every morning,
    your tithes every three days;
⁵ offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of ^(AK)that which is leavened,
    and proclaim ^(AL)freewill offerings, publish them;
    ^(AM)for so you love to do, O people of Israel!”
declares the Lord God.

⁷ “I also ^(AP)withheld the rain from you
    when there were yet three months to the harvest;
^(AQ)I would send rain on one city,
    and send no rain on another city;
one field would have rain,
    and the field on which it did not rain would wither;
⁸ so two or three cities ^(AR)would wander to another city
    to drink water, and would not be satisfied;
^(AS)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.

^9 (AT)“I struck you with blight and mildew;
    your many gardens and your vineyards,
    your fig trees and your olive trees ^(AU)the locust devoured;
^(AV)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.

¹⁰ “I sent among you a pestilence ^(AW)after the manner of Egypt;
    I killed your young men with the sword,
and ^(AX)carried away your horses,^[d]
    and ^(AY)I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;
^(AZ)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.

¹¹ “I overthrew some of you,
    ^(BA)as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
    and you were ^(BB)as a brand^[e] plucked out of the burning;
^(BC)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.

¹² “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
    because I will do this to you,
    prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

¹³ For behold, ^(BD)he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,
    and ^(BE)declares to man what is his thought,
^(BF)who makes the morning darkness,
    and ^(BG)treads on the heights of the earth—
    ^(BH)the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

² “Fallen, no more to rise,
    is ^(BJ)the virgin Israel;
forsaken on her land,
    with none to raise her up.”

“The city that went out a thousand
    shall have a hundred left,
and that which went out a hundred
    shall have ten left
    to the house of Israel.”

^(BK)“Seek me and live;
⁵     but do not seek ^(BL)Bethel,
and do not enter into ^(BM)Gilgal
    or cross over to ^(BN)Beersheba;
for ^(BO)Gilgal shall surely go into exile,
    and ^(BP)Bethel shall come to nothing.”

^6 (BQ)Seek the Lord and live,
    ^(BR)lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
    and it devour, with none to quench it for ^(BS)Bethel,
⁷ O ^(BT)you who turn justice to wormwood^[f]
    and cast down righteousness to the earth!

⁸ He who made the ^(BU)Pleiades and Orion,
    and turns deep darkness into the morning
    and ^(BV)darkens the day into night,
who ^(BW)calls for the waters of the sea
    ^(BX)and pours them out on the surface of the earth,
^(BY)the Lord is his name;
^9 (BZ)who makes destruction flash forth against the strong,
    so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

^10 (CA)They hate him who reproves ^(CB)in the gate,
    and they ^(CC)abhor him who speaks the truth.
¹¹ Therefore because you ^(CD)trample on^[g] the poor
    and you exact taxes of grain from him,
^(CE)you have built houses of hewn stone,
    but you shall not dwell in them;
^(CF)you have planted pleasant vineyards,
    but you shall not drink their wine.
¹² For I know how many are your transgressions
    and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who ^(CG)take a bribe,
    and ^(CH)turn aside the needy ^(CI)in the gate.
¹³ Therefore he who is prudent will ^(CJ)keep silent in such a time,
    ^(CK)for it is an evil time.

^14 (CL)Seek good, and not evil,
    that you may live;
and so the Lord, ^(CM)the God of hosts, will be with you,
    as you have said.
^15 (CN)Hate evil, and love good,
    and establish justice ^(CO)in the gate;
^(CP)it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
    will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

“In all the squares ^(CR)there shall be wailing,
    and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’
They shall call the farmers to mourning
    and ^(CS)to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation,
¹⁷ and in all vineyards there shall be wailing,
    for ^(CT)I will pass through your midst,”
says the Lord.