Amos 1-9
New American Standard Bible
Judgment on Neighbor Nations
1 The words of Amos, who was among the (A)sheepherders from (B)Tekoa, which he saw in visions concerning Israel in the days of (C)Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of (D)Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the (E)earthquake.
2 And he said,
“The (F)Lord roars from Zion,
And from Jerusalem He utters His voice;
And the shepherds’ (G)pasture grounds mourn,
And the [a](H)summit of Carmel dries up.”
3 This is what the Lord says:
“For (I)three offenses of (J)Damascus, and for four,
I will not [b]revoke its punishment,
Because they threshed Gilead with iron sledges.
4 So I will send fire upon the house of Hazael,
And it will consume the citadels of (K)Ben-hadad.
5 I will also (L)break the gate bar of Damascus,
And eliminate every inhabitant from the [c]Valley of Aven,
As well as him who holds the scepter, from Beth-eden;
So the people of Aram will be exiled to (M)Kir,”
Says the Lord.
6 This is what the Lord says:
“For three offenses of (N)Gaza, and for four,
I will not revoke its punishment,
Because they led into exile an entire population
To (O)turn them over to Edom.
7 So I will send fire on the wall of Gaza
And it will consume her citadels.
8 I will also eliminate every inhabitant from (P)Ashdod,
As well as him who holds the scepter, from (Q)Ashkelon;
And I will direct My [d]power against Ekron,
And the remnant of the (R)Philistines will perish,”
Says the Lord [e]God.
9 This is what the Lord says:
“For three offenses of (S)Tyre, and for four,
I will not revoke its punishment,
Because they turned an entire population over to Edom
And did not remember the covenant of [f](T)brotherhood.
10 So I will (U)send fire on the wall of Tyre,
And it will consume her citadels.”
11 This is what the Lord says:
“For three offenses of (V)Edom, and for four,
I will not revoke its punishment,
Because he (W)pursued his brother with the sword
And stifled his compassion;
His anger also (X)tore continually,
And he maintained his fury forever.
12 So I will send fire upon (Y)Teman
And it will consume the citadels of Bozrah.”
13 This is what the Lord says:
“For three offenses of the sons of (Z)Ammon, and for four,
I will not revoke its punishment,
Because they (AA)ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead
In order to (AB)enlarge their borders.
14 So I will kindle a fire on the wall of (AC)Rabbah,
And it will consume her citadels
Amid [g](AD)war cries on the day of battle,
And amid a (AE)storm on the day of tempest.
15 Their (AF)king will go into exile,
He and his princes together,” says the Lord.
Judgment on Moab
2 This is what the Lord says:
“For three offenses of (AG)Moab, and for four,
I will not [h]revoke its punishment,
Because he (AH)burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.
2 So I will send fire upon Moab
And it will consume the citadels of (AI)Kerioth;
And Moab will die amid the (AJ)panic of battle,
Amid war cries and the sound of a trumpet.
3 I will also eliminate the [i](AK)judge from her midst
And slay all her (AL)leaders with him,” says the Lord.
Judgment on Judah
4 This is what the Lord says:
“For three offenses of (AM)Judah, and for four,
I will not revoke its punishment,
Because they (AN)rejected the Law of the Lord
And have not kept His statutes;
Their [j](AO)lies also have led them astray,
Those which their (AP)fathers followed.
5 So I will (AQ)send fire upon Judah,
And it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.”
Judgment on Israel
6 This is what the Lord says:
“For three offenses of (AR)Israel, and for four,
I will not revoke its punishment,
Because they (AS)sell the righteous for [k]money,
And the needy for a pair of sandals.
7 These who [l]trample the head of the (AT)helpless to the dust of the earth
Also (AU)divert the way of the humble;
And a (AV)man and his father [m]resort to the same [n]girl
So as to profane My holy name.
8 And on garments (AW)seized as pledges they stretch out beside (AX)every altar,
And in the house of their God they (AY)drink the wine of those who have been fined.
9 “Yet it was I who destroyed the (AZ)Amorite before them,
[o]Though his (BA)height was like the height of cedars
And he was as strong as the oaks;
I also destroyed his (BB)fruit above and his roots below.
10 And it was I who (BC)brought you up from the land of Egypt,
And led you in the wilderness for (BD)forty years
So that you might take possession of the land of the (BE)Amorite.
11 Then I (BF)raised up some of your sons to be prophets,
And some of your young men to be (BG)Nazirites.
Is this not so, you sons of Israel?” declares the Lord.
12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine,
And you commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You (BH)shall not prophesy!’
13 Behold, I am (BI)making a rut in the ground beneath you,
Just as a wagon makes a rut when filled with sheaves.
14 (BJ)Refuge will be lost from the swift,
And the strong will not strengthen his power,
Nor the (BK)warrior save his [p]life.
15 The one who (BL)grasps the bow will not stand his ground,
The swift of foot will not escape,
Nor will the one who rides the (BM)horse save his [q]life.
16 Even the [r]bravest among the warriors will (BN)flee naked on that day,” declares the Lord.
All the Tribes Are Guilty
3 Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire [s](BO)family which [t]He brought up from the land of Egypt:
2 “(BP)You only have I [u]known among all the families of the earth;
Therefore I will [v](BQ)punish you for all your wrongdoing.”
3 Do two people walk together unless they have agreed to meet?
4 Does a (BR)lion roar in the forest when he has no prey?
Does a young lion [w]growl from his den unless he has captured something?
5 Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no [x]device in it?
Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all?
6 If a (BS)trumpet is blown in a city, will the people not tremble?
If a (BT)disaster occurs in a city, has the Lord not brought it about?
7 [y]Certainly the Lord [z]God does nothing
Unless He (BU)reveals His secret plan
To His servants the prophets.
8 A (BV)lion has roared! Who will not fear?
The (BW)Lord God has spoken! (BX)Who can do anything but prophesy?
9 Proclaim on the citadels in (BY)Ashdod and on the citadels in the land of Egypt and say, “Assemble yourselves on the (BZ)mountains of Samaria and see the great panic within her and the (CA)oppressions in her midst. 10 But they (CB)do not know how to do what is right,” declares the Lord, “these who (CC)store up [aa]violence and devastation in their citadels.”
11 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says:
“An (CD)enemy, one surrounding the land,
Will take down your fortifications from you,
And your (CE)citadels will be looted.”
12 This is what the Lord says:
“Just as the shepherd [ab](CF)snatches from the lion’s mouth a couple of legs or a piece of an ear,
So will the sons of Israel living in Samaria be [ac]snatched away—
With the (CG)corner of a bed and the [ad](CH)cover of a couch!
13 Hear and (CI)testify against the house of Jacob,”
Declares the Lord God, the God of armies.
14 “For on the day that I punish Israel’s offenses,
I will also punish the altars of (CJ)Bethel;
The horns of the altar will be cut off,
And will fall to the ground.
15 I will also strike the (CK)winter house together with the (CL)summer house;
The houses of [ae](CM)ivory will also perish,
And the (CN)great houses will come to an end,”
Declares the Lord.
“Yet You Have Not Returned to Me”
4 Hear this word, you [af]cows of (CO)Bashan who are on the (CP)mountain of Samaria,
Who (CQ)exploit the poor, who oppress the needy,
[ag]And say to their [ah]husbands, “Bring now, that we may (CR)drink!”
2 The Lord [ai]God has (CS)sworn by His (CT)holiness,
“For behold, the days are coming upon you
When [aj]they will take you away with (CU)meat hooks,
And the last of you with (CV)fish hooks.
3 You will (CW)go out through holes in the walls,
One in front of the other,
And you [ak]will be hurled to Harmon,” declares the Lord.
4 “Enter Bethel and do wrong;
In Gilgal multiply wrongdoing!
(CX)Bring your sacrifices every morning,
Your tithes every three days.
5 [al]Offer a (CY)thanksgiving offering also from that which is leavened,
And proclaim (CZ)[am]voluntary offerings, make them known.
For so you (DA)love to do, you sons of Israel,”
Declares the Lord God.
6 “But I gave you also (DB)cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
And lack of bread in all your places;
Yet you have (DC)not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
7 “Furthermore, I (DD)withheld the rain from you
While there were still three months until harvest.
Then I would send rain on one city,
But on (DE)another city I would not send rain;
One part would be rained on,
While the part not rained on would dry up.
8 So the people of two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink (DF)water,
But would (DG)not be satisfied;
Yet you have (DH)not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
9 “I (DI)struck you with scorching wind and mildew;
The (DJ)caterpillar was devouring
Your many gardens and vineyards, fig trees and olive trees;
Yet you have (DK)not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
10 “I sent a (DL)plague among you [an]as in Egypt;
I (DM)killed your young men with the sword, along with your (DN)captured horses,
And I made the (DO)stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils;
Yet you have (DP)not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
11 “I overthrew you, as (DQ)God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
And you were like a (DR)log snatched from a fire;
Yet you have (DS)not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
12 “Therefore so I will do to you, Israel;
Because I will do this to you,
Prepare to (DT)meet your God, Israel.”
13 For behold, He who (DU)forms mountains and (DV)creates the wind,
And (DW)declares to a person what are His thoughts,
He who (DX)makes dawn into darkness
And (DY)treads on the high places of the earth,
(DZ)The Lord God of armies is His name.
“Seek Me So That You May Live”
5 Hear this word which I am taking up for you as a (EA)song of mourning, house of Israel:
2 She has fallen, she will (EB)not rise again—
The (EC)virgin Israel.
She lies unnoticed on her land;
There is (ED)no one to raise her up.
3 For this is what the Lord [ao]God says:
“The city which goes forth a thousand strong
Will have a (EE)hundred left,
And the one which goes forth a hundred strong
Will have (EF)ten left to the house of Israel.”
4 For this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel:
“(EG)Seek Me (EH)so that you may live.
5 But do not [ap]resort to (EI)Bethel
And do not come to (EJ)Gilgal,
Nor cross over to (EK)Beersheba;
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
And Bethel will [aq]come to nothing.
6 (EL)Seek the Lord so that you may live,
Or He will break through like a (EM)fire, [ar]house of Joseph,
And it will consume with no one to extinguish it for Bethel,
7 For those who turn (EN)justice into wormwood,
And [as]throw righteousness to the earth.”
8 He who made the (EO)Pleiades and Orion,
And (EP)changes deep darkness into morning,
[at]Who also (EQ)darkens day into night,
Who (ER)calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the surface of the earth,
The (ES)Lord is His name.
9 It is He who (ET)makes destruction flash upon the strong,
So that (EU)destruction comes upon the fortress.
10 They hate him who (EV)rebukes in the [au]gate,
And they (EW)despise him who speaks with integrity.
11 Therefore because you impose heavy [av]rent on the poor
And take a tribute of grain from them,
Though you have built (EX)houses of cut stone,
Yet you will not live in them;
You have planted beautiful vineyards, yet you will (EY)not drink their wine.
12 For I know your offenses are many and your sins are great,
You who are (EZ)hostile to the righteous and accept bribes,
And [aw]turn away the poor from justice at the [ax]gate.
13 Therefore at [ay]such a time the prudent person (FA)keeps quiet, because it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil, so that you may live;
And so may the Lord God of armies be with you,
(FB)Just as you have said!
15 (FC)Hate evil, love good,
And establish justice in the [az]gate!
Perhaps the Lord God of armies
(FD)Will be gracious to the (FE)remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore this is what the Lord God of armies, the Lord says:
“There is (FF)mourning in all the public squares,
And in all the streets they say, ‘Oh no! Oh no!’
They also call the (FG)farmer to mourning
And [ba](FH)professional mourners to mourning rites.
17 And in all the (FI)vineyards there is mourning,
Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord.
18 Woe to you who are longing for the (FJ)day of the Lord,
For what [bb]purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?
It will be (FK)darkness and not light;
19 As when a man (FL)flees from a lion
And a bear confronts him,
[bc]Or he goes home, leans with his hand against the wall,
And a snake bites him.
20 Will the day of the Lord not be (FM)darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?
21 “I hate, I (FN)reject your festivals,
Nor do I [bd](FO)delight in your festive assemblies.
22 Even though you (FP)offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the (FQ)peace offerings of your fattened oxen.
23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
24 But let (FR)justice roll out like waters,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 “[be](FS)Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel? 26 (FT)You also carried along [bf]Sikkuth your king and [bg]Kiyyun, your images, [bh]the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. 27 Therefore I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of armies.
“Carefree in Zion”
6 (FU)Woe to those who are carefree in Zion,
And to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria,
The (FV)dignitaries of the foremost of nations,
To whom the house of Israel comes.
2 Go over to (FW)Calneh and look,
And go from there to (FX)Hamath the great,
Then go down to (FY)Gath of the Philistines.
Are [bi]they better than these kingdoms,
Or is their territory greater than yours?
3 Are you (FZ)postponing the day of disaster,
And would you (GA)bring near the seat of violence?
4 Those who lie on beds of ivory,
And lounge around on their (GB)couches,
And (GC)eat lambs from the flock,
And calves from the midst of the fattened cattle,
5 Who improvise to the sound of the harp,
And like David have [bj]composed (GD)songs for themselves,
6 Who (GE)drink wine from sacred bowls
While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils—
Yet they have not (GF)grieved over the collapse of Joseph.
7 Therefore, they will now (GG)go into exile at the head of the exiles,
And the revelry of those who (GH)lounge around will come to an end.
8 The Lord [bk]God has (GI)sworn by Himself, the Lord God of armies has declared:
“I (GJ)loathe the arrogance of Jacob,
And [bl]detest his (GK)citadels;
Therefore I will (GL)give up the city and [bm]all it contains.”
9 And it will be, if (GM)ten men are left in one house, they will die. 10 Then one’s [bn]uncle, or his (GN)undertaker, will lift him up to carry out his bones from the house, and he will say to the one who is in the innermost part of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” And that one will say, “No one.” Then he will [bo]answer, “(GO)Keep quiet! For [bp]the name of the Lord is (GP)not to be mentioned.” 11 For behold, the Lord is going to (GQ)command that the (GR)great house be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.
12 Do horses run on rocks?
Or does one [bq]plow them with oxen?
Yet you have turned (GS)justice into poison,
And the fruit of righteousness into [br]wormwood,
13 You who rejoice in [bs](GT)Lodebar,
[bt]And say, “Have we not (GU)by our own strength taken [bu]Karnaim for ourselves?”
14 “For behold, (GV)I am going to raise up a nation against you,
House of Israel,” declares the Lord God of armies,
“And they will torment you from the (GW)entrance of Hamath
To the (GX)brook of the Arabah.”
Warning through Visions
7 This is what the Lord [bv]God showed me, and behold, He was forming a (GY)swarm of locusts [bw]when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing. 2 And it came about, [bx]when it had (GZ)finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said,
“(HA)Lord God, please pardon!
How can Jacob stand?
For he is (HB)small.”
3 The Lord (HC)relented of this.
“It shall not be,” said the Lord.
4 So the Lord God showed me, and behold, the Lord God was calling to contend with them by (HD)fire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the [by]farmland. 5 Then I said,
“(HE)Lord God, please stop!
(HF)How can Jacob stand?
For he is small.”
6 The Lord (HG)relented of this.
“This too shall not be,” said the Lord God.
7 So He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing [bz]by a [ca]vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “(HH)What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“Behold I am about to put a (HI)plumb line
In the midst of My people Israel.
I will not [cb](HJ)spare them any longer.
9 The (HK)high places of Isaac will become deserted,
And the (HL)sanctuaries of Israel will be in ruins.
Then I will (HM)rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
Amos Accused; Gives an Answer
10 Then Amaziah, the (HN)priest of Bethel, sent word to (HO)Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has (HP)conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words. 11 For this is what Amos says: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’” 12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “(HQ)Go, you seer, flee to the land of Judah; and eat bread there and do your prophesying there! 13 But (HR)do not prophesy at Bethel any longer, for it is a (HS)sanctuary of the king and a royal [cc]residence.”
14 Then Amos replied to Amaziah, “I am not a prophet, nor am I the (HT)son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a [cd]grower of sycamore figs. 15 But the Lord took me from [ce]following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go (HU)prophesy to My people Israel.’ 16 So now hear the word of the Lord: you are saying, ‘You (HV)shall not prophesy against Israel (HW)nor shall you [cf]prophesy against the house of Isaac.’ 17 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘Your (HX)wife will become a prostitute in the city, your (HY)sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be parceled up by a measuring line, and you yourself will die [cg]upon (HZ)unclean soil. Furthermore Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’”
Basket of Fruit and Israel’s Captivity
8 This is what the Lord [ch]God showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. 2 And He said, “What do you see, Amos?” And (IA)I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The (IB)end has come for My people Israel. I will not [ci](IC)spare them any longer. 3 [cj]The (ID)songs of the palace will turn to (IE)wailing on that day,” declares the Lord God. “The (IF)corpses will be many; in every place [ck]they will throw them out. [cl]Hush!”
4 Hear this, you who [cm](IG)trample the needy, to put an end to the humble of the land, 5 saying,
“When will the (IH)new moon [cn]be over,
So that we may sell grain;
And the (II)Sabbath, so that we may open the wheat market,
To make the [co]ephah smaller and the [cp]shekel bigger,
And to (IJ)cheat with dishonest scales,
6 So as to (IK)buy the helpless for [cq]money,
And the needy for a pair of sandals,
And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”
7 The Lord has (IL)sworn by the (IM)pride of Jacob,
“Indeed, I will (IN)never forget any of their deeds.
8 Because of this will the land not (IO)quake,
And everyone who lives in it (IP)mourn?
Indeed, all of it will (IQ)rise up like the Nile,
And it will be tossed about
And subside like the Nile of Egypt.
9 And it will come about on that day,” declares the Lord God,
“That I will make the (IR)sun go down at noon,
And (IS)make the earth dark in [cr]broad daylight.
10 Then I will (IT)turn your festivals into mourning,
And all your songs into songs of mourning;
And I will put (IU)sackcloth around everyone’s waist,
And [cs]baldness on every head.
And I will make it (IV)like a time of mourning for an only son,
And the end of it will be like a bitter day.
11 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
“When I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
But rather (IW)for hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
And from the north even to the east;
They will roam about to (IX)seek the word of the Lord,
But they will not find it.
13 On that day the beautiful (IY)virgins
And the young men will (IZ)faint from thirst.
14 As for those who swear by the [ct](JA)guilt of Samaria,
And say, ‘As your god lives, (JB)Dan,’
And, ‘As the way of (JC)Beersheba lives,’
They will fall and (JD)not rise again.”
God’s Judgment Unavoidable
9 I saw the Lord standing beside the (JE)altar, and He said,
“Strike the pillar capitals so that the (JF)thresholds will shake,
And (JG)break them on the heads of them all!
Then I will (JH)put to death the rest of them with the sword;
They will (JI)not have a fugitive who will flee,
Nor a survivor who will escape.
2 Though they dig into (JJ)Sheol,
From there My hand will take them;
And though they (JK)ascend to heaven,
From there I will bring them down.
3 And though they hide on the summit of Carmel,
I will (JL)track them down and take them from there;
And though they (JM)hide themselves from My sight on the bottom of the sea,
I will command the (JN)serpent from there, and it will bite them.
4 And though they go into (JO)captivity before their enemies,
From there I will command the sword and it will kill them,
And I will (JP)set My eyes against them for harm and not for good.”
5 The Lord [cu]God of armies,
The One who (JQ)touches the land so that it quakes,
And (JR)all those who live in it mourn,
And all of it rises up like the Nile
And subsides like the Nile of Egypt;
6 The One who builds His (JS)upper chambers in the heavens
And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth,
He who (JT)calls for the waters of the sea
And (JU)pours them out on the face of the earth,
(JV)The Lord is His name.
7 “Are you not as the sons of (JW)Ethiopia to Me,
You sons of Israel?” declares the Lord.
“Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt,
And the (JX)Philistines from Caphtor and the (JY)Arameans from (JZ)Kir?
8 Behold, the (KA)eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom,
And I will (KB)eliminate it from the face of the earth;
Nevertheless, I will (KC)not totally eliminate the house of Jacob,”
Declares the Lord.
9 “For behold, I am commanding,
And I will (KD)shake the house of Israel among all nations
As grain is shaken in a sieve,
But not a pebble will fall to the ground.
10 All the (KE)sinners of My people will die by the sword,
Those who say, ‘(KF)The catastrophe will not overtake or confront us.’
The Restoration of Israel
11 “On that day I will (KG)raise up the fallen [cv](KH)shelter of David,
And wall up its (KI)gaps;
I will also raise up its ruins
And rebuild it as in the (KJ)days of old;
12 (KK)So that they may [cw]possess the remnant of (KL)Edom
And all the [cx]nations who are (KM)called by My name,”
Declares the Lord who does this.
13 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When the (KN)plowman will overtake the reaper,
And the one who treads grapes will overtake him who sows the seed;
When the (KO)mountains will drip grape juice,
And all the hills will come apart.
14 I will also (KP)restore the fortunes of My people Israel,
And they will (KQ)rebuild the desolated cities and live in them;
They will also (KR)plant vineyards and drink their wine,
And make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will also plant them on their land,
And (KS)they will not be uprooted again from their land
Which I have given them,”
Says the Lord your God.
Notas al pie
- Amos 1:2 Lit head
- Amos 1:3 Lit cause it to turn back, and so throughout the ch
- Amos 1:5 Possibly Baalbek
- Amos 1:8 Lit hand
- Amos 1:8 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Amos 1:9 Lit brothers
- Amos 1:14 Or shouts
- Amos 2:1 Lit cause it to turn back, and so throughout the ch
- Amos 2:3 Or executive officer
- Amos 2:4 Or false gods
- Amos 2:6 Lit silver
- Amos 2:7 Or pant for the dust...on the head of the helpless
- Amos 2:7 Lit go
- Amos 2:7 Possibly a prostitute, or a temple prostitute
- Amos 2:9 Lit Whose height
- Amos 2:14 Lit soul
- Amos 2:15 Lit soul
- Amos 2:16 Lit strong of his heart
- Amos 3:1 I.e., nation
- Amos 3:1 Lit I
- Amos 3:2 Or chosen
- Amos 3:2 Lit visit
- Amos 3:4 Lit give his voice
- Amos 3:5 Lit snare
- Amos 3:7 Or For
- Amos 3:7 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
- Amos 3:10 I.e., the plunder from violence
- Amos 3:12 Or rescues
- Amos 3:12 Or rescued
- Amos 3:12 Or headrest; lit damask
- Amos 3:15 I.e., ivory inlay
- Amos 4:1 I.e., haughty, prominent women
- Amos 4:1 Lit Who
- Amos 4:1 Lit lords
- Amos 4:2 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
- Amos 4:2 Lit he
- Amos 4:3 As in LXX; MT will hurl
- Amos 4:5 Lit Offer up in smoke
- Amos 4:5 Or freewill offerings
- Amos 4:10 Lit in the way of Egypt
- Amos 5:3 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
- Amos 5:5 Lit seek
- Amos 5:5 Lit be
- Amos 5:6 Or in the house
- Amos 5:7 Lit they have thrown
- Amos 5:8 Lit And He darkened
- Amos 5:10 I.e., the place where court was held
- Amos 5:11 Or tax
- Amos 5:12 Lit they turn
- Amos 5:12 I.e., the place where court was held
- Amos 5:13 Lit that time
- Amos 5:15 I.e., the place where court was held
- Amos 5:16 Lit those who know mourning
- Amos 5:18 Lit will this be to you, the day
- Amos 5:19 Or Then
- Amos 5:21 Lit like to smell your
- Amos 5:25 Or You presented Me with the sacrifices and a grain offering
- Amos 5:26 Or Sakkuth (Saturn), or the tabernacle of your Moloch
- Amos 5:26 Or Kaiwan (Saturn), or stands of
- Amos 5:26 Or your star gods
- Amos 6:2 Or you
- Amos 6:5 Or invented musical instruments
- Amos 6:8 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Amos 6:8 Lit hate
- Amos 6:8 Lit its fullness
- Amos 6:10 Or beloved one
- Amos 6:10 Lit say
- Amos 6:10 Lit not to make mention in the name of
- Amos 6:12 Another reading is plow the sea with oxen
- Amos 6:12 I.e., bitterness
- Amos 6:13 Lit nothing
- Amos 6:13 Lit Who say
- Amos 6:13 Lit a pair of horns
- Amos 7:1 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
- Amos 7:1 Lit at the beginning of the coming up of
- Amos 7:2 Lit if
- Amos 7:4 Lit plot of land
- Amos 7:7 Or on
- Amos 7:7 Lit wall of a plumb line
- Amos 7:8 Lit pass him by
- Amos 7:13 Lit house
- Amos 7:14 Or picker
- Amos 7:15 Lit behind
- Amos 7:16 Lit drivel
- Amos 7:17 Or in an unclean land
- Amos 8:1 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
- Amos 8:2 Lit pass him by
- Amos 8:3 Lit They will howl the palace songs
- Amos 8:3 Lit he has thrown
- Amos 8:3 An order for sacred silence
- Amos 8:4 Or snap at
- Amos 8:5 Lit pass by
- Amos 8:5 About 1 cubic foot or 0.03 cubic meters
- Amos 8:5 About 0.5 oz. or 14 gm
- Amos 8:6 Lit silver
- Amos 8:9 Lit a day of light
- Amos 8:10 I.e., shaved as a sign of mourning
- Amos 8:14 Or Ashimah
- Amos 9:5 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
- Amos 9:11 Heb sukkah; i.e., hut or dwelling
- Amos 9:12 Or take possession of
- Amos 9:12 Or Gentiles
Amos 1-9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
1 The 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.(A)
Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors
2 And 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.(B)
3 Thus 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.(C)
4 So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.(D)
5 I 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.(E)
6 Thus 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.(F)
7 So I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza,
and it shall devour its strongholds.
8 I 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.(G)
9 Thus 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.(H)
10 So I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre,
and it shall devour its strongholds.(I)
11 Thus 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.(J)
12 So I will send a fire on Teman,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.(K)
13 Thus 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.(L)
14 So 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;(M)
15 then their king shall go into exile,
he and his officials together,
says the Lord.(N)
2 Thus 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.(O)
2 So 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;(P)
3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst
and will kill all its officials with him,
says the Lord.(Q)
Judgment on Judah
4 Thus 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.(R)
5 So I will send a fire on Judah,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.(S)
Judgment on Israel
6 Thus 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—(T)
7 they 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;(U)
8 they 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.(V)
9 Yet 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.(W)
10 Also 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.(X)
11 And 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.(Y)
12 But you made the nazirites drink wine
and commanded the prophets,
saying, “You shall not prophesy.”(Z)
13 So, I will press you down in your place,
just as a cart presses down
when it is full of sheaves.[l](AA)
14 Flight shall perish from the swift,
and the strong shall not retain their strength,
nor shall the mighty save their lives;(AB)
15 those 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;(AC)
16 and those who are stout of heart among the mighty
shall flee away naked on that day,
says the Lord.(AD)
Israel’s Guilt and Punishment
3 Hear 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:(AE)
2 You only have I known
of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
for all your iniquities.(AF)
3 Do two walk together
unless they have made an appointment?(AG)
4 Does 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?(AH)
5 Does 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?
6 Is a trumpet blown in a city,
and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster befall a city
unless the Lord has done it?(AI)
7 Surely the Lord God does nothing
without revealing his secret
to his servants the prophets.(AJ)
8 The lion has roared;
who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken;
who can but prophesy?(AK)
9 Proclaim 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.”(AL)
10 They do not know how to do right, says the Lord,
those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.(AM)
11 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
An adversary shall surround the land
and strip you of your defense,
and your strongholds shall be plundered.(AN)
12 Thus 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 part[n] of a bed.(AO)
13 Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,
says the Lord God, the God of hosts:(AP)
14 On 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.
15 I 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.(AQ)
4 Hear 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!”(AR)
2 The 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.(AS)
3 Through breaches in the wall you shall leave,
each one straight ahead,
and you shall be flung out into Harmon,[p]
says the Lord.
4 Come to Bethel—and transgress;
to Gilgal—and multiply transgression;
bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three days;(AT)
5 bring 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.(AU)
Israel Rejects Correction
6 I 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.(AV)
7 And 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;
8 so 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.(AW)
9 I 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.(AX)
10 I 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.(AY)
11 I 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.(AZ)
12 Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel!(BA)
13 For 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!(BB)
A Lament for Israel’s Sin
5 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:(BC)
2 Fallen, no more to rise,
is maiden Israel;
forsaken on her land,
with no one to raise her up.(BD)
3 For 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](BE)
4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:
Seek me and live,(BF)
5 but 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.(BG)
6 Seek 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.(BH)
7 Ah, you who turn justice to wormwood
and bring righteousness to the ground!
8 The 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,
the Lord is his name,(BI)
9 who makes destruction flash out against the strong,
so that destruction comes upon the fortress.
10 They hate the one who reproves in the gate,
and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.(BJ)
11 Therefore because you trample on the poor
and take from them levies of grain,
you have built houses of hewn stone,
but you shall not live in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.(BK)
12 For I know how many are your transgressions
and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe
and push aside the needy in the gate.(BL)
13 Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time,
for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil,
that you may live,
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
just as you have said.(BM)
15 Hate evil and love good,
and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.(BN)
16 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord:
In all the squares there shall be wailing,
and in all the streets they shall say, “Alas! Alas!”
They shall call the farmers to mourning
and those skilled in lamentation to wailing;(BO)
17 in all the vineyards there shall be wailing,
for I will pass through the midst of you,
says the Lord.(BP)
The Day of the Lord a Dark Day
18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
Why do you want the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, not light,(BQ)
19 as if someone fled from a lion
and was met by a bear
or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall
and was bitten by a snake.(BR)
20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light,
and gloom with no brightness in it?(BS)
21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.(BT)
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.(BU)
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like water
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.(BV)
25 Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?(BW) 26 You shall take up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, your images,[t] which you made for yourselves; 27 therefore I will take you into exile beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.(BX)
Complacent Self-Indulgence Will Be Punished
6 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion
and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
the notables of the first of the nations,
to whom the house of Israel resorts!(BY)
2 Cross over to Calneh and see;
from there go to Hamath the great;
then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better[u] than these kingdoms?
Or is your[v] territory greater than their[w] territory,(BZ)
3 you who put far away the evil day
and bring near a reign of violence?(CA)
4 Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory
and lounge on their couches
and eat lambs from the flock
and calves from the stall,(CB)
5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp
and like David improvise on instruments of music,(CC)
6 who drink wine from bowls
and anoint themselves with the finest oils
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!(CD)
7 Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile,
and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.(CE)
8 The Lord God has sworn by himself
(says the Lord, the God of hosts):
I abhor the pride of Jacob
and hate his strongholds,
and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.(CF)
9 If ten people remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And if a relative, one who burns it,[x] takes up the body to bring it out of the house and says to someone in the innermost parts of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” the answer will come, “No.” Then the relative[y] shall say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”
11 For the Lord commands,
and he will shatter the great house to bits
and the little house to pieces.(CG)
12 Do horses run on rocky crags?
Does one plow the sea with oxen?[z]
But you have turned justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,(CH)
13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar,[aa]
who say, “Have we not by our own strength
taken Karnaim[ab] for ourselves?”
14 Indeed, I am raising up against you a nation,
O house of Israel, says the Lord, the God of hosts,
and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath
to the Wadi Arabah.(CI)
Locusts, Fire, and a Plumb Line
7 This is what the Lord God showed me: he was forming locusts at the time the latter growth began to sprout (it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings).(CJ) 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,
“O Lord God, forgive, I beg you!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”(CK)
3 The Lord relented concerning this;
“It shall not be,” said the Lord.(CL)
4 This is what the Lord God showed me: the Lord God was calling for judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. 5 Then I said,
“O Lord God, cease, I beg you!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”(CM)
6 The Lord relented concerning this;
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.(CN)
7 This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“See, I am setting a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will spare them no longer;(CO)
9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”(CP)
Amaziah Complains to the King
10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words.(CQ) 11 For thus Amos has said,
‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel must go into exile
away from his land.’ ”(CR)
12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there, 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”(CS)
14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am[ac] no prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I am[ad] a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees,(CT) 15 and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’(CU)
16 “Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.
You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’(CV)
17 Therefore thus says the Lord:
Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
and your land shall be parceled out by line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.”(CW)
The Basket of Fruit
8 This is what the Lord God showed me: a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,
“The end[ae] has come upon my people Israel;
I will spare them no longer.(CX)
3 The songs of the temple[af] shall become wailings on that day,”
says the Lord God;
“the dead bodies shall be many,
cast out in every place. Be silent!”(CY)
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,(CZ)
5 saying, “When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel heavier
and practice deceit with false balances,(DA)
6 buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”(DB)
7 The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.(DC)
8 Shall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who lives in it,
and all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?(DD)
9 On that day, says the Lord God,
I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.(DE)
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation;
I will bring sackcloth on all loins
and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.(DF)
11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord God,
when I will send a famine on the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.(DG)
12 They shall wander from sea to sea
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
but they shall not find it.(DH)
13 On that day the beautiful young women and the young men
shall faint for thirst.(DI)
14 Those who swear by Ashimah of Samaria
and say, “As your god lives, O Dan,”
and, “As the way of Beer-sheba lives”—
they shall fall and never rise again.(DJ)
The Destruction of Israel
9 I saw the Lord standing beside[ag] the altar, and he said:
Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake
and shatter them on the heads of all the people,[ah]
and those who are left I will kill with the sword;
not one of them shall flee away,
not one of them shall escape.(DK)
2 Though they dig into Sheol,
from there shall my hand take them;
though they climb up to heaven,
from there I will bring them down.(DL)
3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
from there I will search out and take them;
and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.(DM)
4 And though they go into captivity in front of their enemies,
there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them;
and I will fix my eyes on them
for harm and not for good.(DN)
5 The Lord, God of hosts,
he who touches the earth and it melts,
and all who live in it mourn,
and all of it rises like the Nile
and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt,(DO)
6 who builds his upper chambers in the heavens
and founds his vault upon the earth,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—
the Lord is his name.(DP)
7 Are you not like the Cushites to me,
O people of Israel? says the Lord.
Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt
and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?(DQ)
8 The eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it from the face of the earth
—except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,
says the Lord.(DR)
9 For I will command
and shake the house of Israel among all the nations,
as one shakes with a sieve
but no pebble shall fall to the ground.(DS)
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
who say, “Evil shall not overtake or meet us.”(DT)
The Restoration of David’s Kingdom
11 On that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its[ai] breaches
and raise up its[aj] ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,(DU)
12 in order that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,
says the Lord who does this.(DV)
13 The time is surely coming, says the Lord,
when the one who plows shall catch up with the one who reaps
and the treader of grapes with the one who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.(DW)
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.(DX)
15 I will plant them upon their land,
and they shall never again be plucked up
out of the land that I have given them,
says the Lord your God.(DY)
Notas al pie
- 1.1 Or during two years
- 1.3 Heb cause it to return
- 1.6 Heb cause it to return
- 1.9 Heb cause it to return
- 1.11 Heb cause it to return
- 1.11 Syr Vg: Heb and his anger tore perpetually
- 1.11 Gk Syr Vg: Heb and his wrath kept
- 1.13 Heb cause it to return
- 2.1 Heb cause it to return
- 2.4 Heb cause it to return
- 2.6 Heb cause it to return
- 2.13 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 3.9 Gk Syr: Heb the mountains of
- 3.12 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 3.15 Or many houses
- 4.3 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 4.9 Cn: Heb the multitude of
- 4.10 Heb with the captivity of your horses
- 5.3 Heb adds to the house of Israel
- 5.26 Heb your images, your star god
- 6.2 Or Are they better
- 6.2 Heb their
- 6.2 Heb your
- 6.10 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 6.10 Heb he
- 6.12 Or Does one plow them with oxen
- 6.13 Or in a thing of nothingness
- 6.13 Or horns
- 7.14 Or was
- 7.14 Or was
- 8.2 In Heb the word for end is related to the word for summer fruit
- 8.3 Or palace
- 9.1 Or on
- 9.1 Heb all of them
- 9.11 Gk: Heb their
- 9.11 Gk: Heb his
Amos 1-9
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
1 The words of Amos, who was among herdsmen of Thecua: which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Ozias king of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joas king of Israel two years before the earthquake.
2 And he said: The Lord will roar from Sion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the beautiful places of the shepherds have mourned, and the top of Carmel is withered.
3 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Damascus, and for four I will not convert it: because they have thrashed Galaad with iron wains.
4 And I will send a fire into the house of Azael, and it shall devour the houses of Benadad.
5 And I will break the bar of Damascus: and I will cut off the inhabitants from the plain of the idol, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of pleasure: and the people of Syria shall be carried away to Cyrene, saith the Lord.
6 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Gaza, and for four I will not convert it: because they have carried away a perfect captivity to shut them up in Edom.
7 And I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour the houses thereof.
8 And I will cut off the inhabitant from Azotus, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ascalon: and I will turn my hand against Accaron, and the rest of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God.
9 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Tyre, and for four I will not convert it: because they have shut up an entire captivity in Edom, and have not remembered the covenant of brethren.
10 And I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour the houses thereof.
11 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Edom, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath pursued his brother with the sword, and hath cast off all pity, and hath carried on his fury, and hath kept his wrath to the end.
12 I will send a fire into Theman: and it shall devour the houses of Bosra.
13 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of the children of Ammon, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath ripped up the women with child of Galaad to enlarge his border.
14 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabba: and it shall devour the houses thereof with shouting in the day of battle, and with a whirlwind in the day of trouble.
15 And Melchom shall go into captivity, both he, and his princes together, saith the Lord.
2 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Moab, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath burnt the bones of the king of Edom even to ashes.
2 And I will send a fire into Moab, and it shall devour the houses of Carioth: and Moab shall die with a noise, with the sound of the trumpet:
3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all his princes with him, saith the Lord.
4 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Juda, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath cast away the law of the Lord, and hath not kept his commandments: for their idols have caused them to err, after which their fathers have walked.
5 And I will send a fire into Juda, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem.
6 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Israel, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath sold the just man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of shoes.
7 They bruise the heads of the poor upon the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the humble: and the son and his father have gone to the same young woman, to profane my holy name.
8 And they sat down upon garments laid to pledge by every altar: and drank the wine of the condemned in the house of their God.
9 Yet I cast out the Amorrhite before their face: whose height was like the height of cedars, and who was strong as an oak: and I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots beneath.
10 It is I that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and I led you forty years through the wilderness, that you might possess the land of the Amorrhite.
11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not so, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord?
12 And you will present wine to the Nazarites: and command the prophets, saying: Prophesy not.
13 Behold, I will screak under you as a wain screaketh that is laden with hay.
14 And flight shall perish from the swift, and the valiant shall not possess his strength, neither shall the strong save his life.
15 And he that holdeth the bow shall not stand, and the swift of foot shall not escape, neither shall the rider of the horse save his life.
16 And the stout of heart among the valiant shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord.
3 Hear the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O ye children of Israel: concerning the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:
2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities.
3 Shall two walk together except they be agreed?
4 Will a lion roar in the forest, if he have no prey? will the lion's whelp cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?
5 Will the bird fall into the snare upon the earth, if there be no fowler? Shall the snare be taken up from the earth, before it hath taken somewhat?
6 Shall the trumpet sound in a city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done?
7 For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who shall not prophesy?
9 Publish it in the houses of Azotus, and in the houses of the land of Egypt, and say: Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the many follies in the midst thereof, and them that suffer oppression in the inner rooms thereof.
10 And they have not known to do the right thing, saith the Lord, storing up iniquity, and robberies in their houses.
11 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: The land shall be in tribulation, and shall be compassed about: and thy strength shall be taken away from thee, and thy houses shall be spoiled.
12 Thus saith the Lord: As if a shepherd should get out of the lion's mouth two legs, or the tip of the ear: so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in a piece of a bed, and in the couch of Damascus.
13 Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord the God of hosts:
14 That in the day when I shall begin to visit the transgressions of Israel, I will visit upon him, and upon the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altars shall be cut off, and shall fall to the ground.
15 And I will strike the winter house with the summer house: and the houses of ivory shall perish, and many houses shall be destroyed, saith the Lord.
4 Hear this word, ye fat kine that are in the mountains of Samaria: you that oppress the needy, and crush the poor: that say to your masters: Bring, and we will drink.
2 The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that lo, the days shall come upon you, when they shall lift you up on pikes, and what shall remain of you in boiling pots.
3 And you shall go out at the breaches one over against the other, and you shall be cast forth into Armon, saith the Lord.
4 Come ye to Bethel, and do wickedly: to Galgal, and multiply transgressions: and bring in the morning your victims, your tithes in three days.
5 And offer a sacrifice of praise with leaven: and call free offerings, and proclaim it: for so you would do, O children of Israel, saith the Lord God.
6 Whereupon I also have given you dulness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet you have not returned to me, saith the Lord.
7 I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon: and the piece whereupon I rained not, withered.
8 And two and three cities went to one city to drink water, and were not filled: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord.
9 I struck you with a burning wind, and with mildew, the palmerworm hath eaten up your many gardens, and your vineyards: your olive groves, and fig groves: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord.
10 I sent death upon you in the way of Egypt, I slew your young men with the sword, even to the captivity of your horses: and I made the stench of your camp to come up into your nostrils: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord.
11 I destroyed some of you, as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, and you were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord.
12 Therefore I will do these things to thee, O Israel: and after I shall have done these things to thee, be prepared to meet thy God, O Israel.
13 For behold he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind, and declareth his word to man, he that maketh the morning mist, and walketh upon the high places of the earth: the Lord the God of hosts is his name.
5 Hear ye this word, which I take up concerning you for a lamentation. The house of Israel is fallen, and it shall rise no more.
2 The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up.
3 For thus saith the Lord God: The city, out of which came forth a thousand, there shall be left in it a hundred: and out of which there came a hundred, there shall be left in it ten, in the house of Israel.
4 For thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and you shall live.
5 But seek not Bethel, and go not into Galgal, neither shall you pass over to Bersabee: for Galgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall be unprofitable.
6 Seek ye the Lord, and live: lest the house of Joseph be burnt with fire, and it shall devour, and there shall be none to quench Bethel.
7 You that turn judgment into wormwood, and forsake justice in the land,
8 Seek him that maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and that turneth darkness into morning, and that changeth day into night: that calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.
9 He that with a smile bringeth destruction upon the strong, and waste upon the mighty.
10 They have hated him that rebuketh in the gate: and have abhorred him that speaketh perfectly.
11 Therefore because you robbed the poor, and took the choice prey from him: you shall build houses with square stone, and shall not dwell in them: you shall plant most delightful vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them.
12 Because I know your manifold crimes, and your grievous sins: enemies of the just, taking bribes, and oppressing the poor in the gate.
13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence at that time, for it is an evil time.
14 Seek ye good, and not evil, that you may live: and the Lord the God of hosts will be with you, as you have said.
15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be the Lord the God of hosts may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of hosts the sovereign Lord: In every street there shall be wailing: and in all places that are without, they shall say: Alas, alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful in lamentation to lament.
17 And in all vineyards there shall be wailing: because I will pass through in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.
18 Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.
19 As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him: or enter into the house, and lean with his hand upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.
20 Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and no brightness in it?
21 I hate, and have rejected your festivities: and I will not receive the odour of your assemblies.
22 And if you offer me holocausts, and your gifts, I will not receive them: neither will I regard the vows of your fat beasts.
23 Take away from me the tumult of thy songs: and I will not hear the canticles of thy harp.
24 But judgment shall be revealed as water, and justice as a mighty torrent.
25 Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel?
26 But you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.
27 And I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the God of hosts is his name.
6 Woe to you that are wealthy in Sion, and to you that have confidence in the mountain of Samaria: ye great men, heads of the people, that go in with state into the house of Israel.
2 Pass ye over to Chalane, and see, and go from thence into Emath the great: and go down into Geth of the Philistines, and to all the best kingdoms of these: if their border be larger than your border.
3 You that are separated unto the evil day: and that approach to the throne of iniquity;
4 You that sleep upon beds of ivory, and are wanton on your couches: that eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the herd;
5 You that sing to the sound of the psaltery: they have thought themselves to have instruments of music like David;
6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best ointments: and they are not concerned for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Wherefore now they shall go captive at the head of them that go into captivity: and the faction of the luxurious ones shall be taken away.
8 The Lord God hath sworn by his own soul, saith the Lord the God of hosts: I detest the pride of Jacob, and I hate his houses, and I will deliver up the city with the inhabitants thereof.
9 And if there remain ten men in one house, they also shall die.
10 And a man's kinsman shall take him up, and shall burn him, that he may carry the bones out of the house; and he shall say to him that is in the inner rooms of the house: Is there yet any with thee?
11 And he shall answer: There is an end. And he shall say to him: Hold thy peace, and mention not the name of the Lord.
12 For behold the Lord hath commanded, and he will strike the greater house with breaches, and the lesser house with clefts.
13 Can horses run upon the rocks, or can any one plough with buffles? for you have turned judgment into bitterness, and the fruit of justice into wormwood.
14 You that rejoice in a thing of nought: you that say: Have we not taken unto us horns by our own strength?
15 But behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel, saith the Lord the God of hosts; and they shall destroy you from the entrance of Emath, even to the torrent of the desert.
7 These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the locust was formed in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter rain, and lo, it was the latter rain after the king's mowing.
2 And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, I said: O Lord God, be merciful, I beseech thee: who shall raise up Jacob, for he is very little?
3 The Lord had pity upon this: It shall not be, said the Lord.
4 These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the Lord called for judgment unto fire, and it devoured the great deep, and ate up a part at the same time.
5 And I said: O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee, who shall raise up Jacob, for he is a little one?
6 The Lord had pity upon this. Yea this also shall not be, said the Lord God.
7 These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold the Lord was standing upon a plastered wall, and in his hand a mason's trowel.
8 And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A mason's trowel. And the Lord said: Behold, I will lay down the trowel in the midst of my people Israel. I will plaster them over no more.
9 And the high places of the idol shall be thrown down, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste: and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
10 And Amasias the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying: Amos hath rebelled against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
11 For thus saith Amos: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be carried away captive out of their own land.
12 And Amasias said to Amos: Thou seer, go, flee away into the land of Juda: and eat bread there, and prophesy there.
13 But prophesy not again any more in Bethel: because it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom.
14 And Amos answered and said to Amasias: I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet: but I am a herdsman plucking wild figs.
15 And the Lord took me when I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel.
16 And now hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, thou shalt not prophesy against Israel, and thou shalt not drop thy word upon the house of the idol.
17 Therefore thus saith the Lord: Thy wife shall play the harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be measured by a line: and thou shalt die in a polluted land, and Israel shall go into captivity out of their land.
8 These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold a hook to draw down the fruit.
2 And he said: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A hook to draw down fruit. And the Lord said to me: The end is come upon my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more.
3 And the hinges of the temple shall screak in that day, saith the Lord God: many shall die: silence shall be cast in every place.
4 Hear this, you that crush the poor, and make the needy of the land to fail,
5 Saying: When will the month be over, and we shall sell our wares: and the sabbath, and we shall open the corn: that we may lessen the measure, and increase the sicle, and may convey in deceitful balances,
6 That we may possess the needy for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes, and may sell the refuse of the corn?
7 The Lord hath sworn against the pride of Jacob: surely I will never forget all their works.
8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein: and rise up altogether as a river, and be cast out, and run down as the river of Egypt?
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that the sun shall go down at midday, and I will make the earth dark in the day of light:
10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation: and I will bring up sackcloth upon every back of yours, and baldness upon every head: and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the latter end thereof as a bitter day.
11 Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord.
12 And they shall move from sea to sea, and from the north to the east: they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
13 In that day the fair virgins, and the young men shall faint for thirst.
14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say: Thy God, O Dan, liveth: and the way of Bersabee liveth: and they shall fall, and shall rise no more.
9 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the hinges, and let the lintels be shook: for there is covetousness in the head of them all, and I will slay the last of them with the sword: there shall be no flight for them: they shall flee, and he that shall flee of them shall not be delivered.
2 Though they go down even to hell, thence shall my hand bring them out: and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.
3 And though they be hid in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them away from thence: and though they hide themselves from my eyes in the depth of the sea, there will I command the serpent and he shall bite them.
4 And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
5 And the Lord the God of hosts is he who toucheth the earth, and it shall melt: and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up as a river, and shall run down as the river of Egypt.
6 He that buildeth his ascension in heaven, and hath founded his bundle upon the earth: who calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord is his name.
7 Are not you as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel, saith the Lord? did not I bring up Israel, out of the land of Egypt: and the Philistines out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of Cyrene?
8 Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth: but yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.
9 For behold I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve: and there shall not a little stone fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners of my people shall fall by the sword: who say: The evils shall not approach, and shall not come upon us.
11 In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen: and I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof, and repair what was fallen: and I will rebuild it as in the days of old.
12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all nations, because my name is invoked upon them: saith the Lord that doth these things.
13 Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed: and the mountains shall drop sweetness, and every hill shall be tilled.
14 And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel: and they shall build the abandoned cities, and inhabit them: and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them: and shall make gardens, and eat the fruits of them. And I will plant them upon their own land: and I will no more pluck them out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.
Amos 1-9
The Message
1 The Message of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa, that he received on behalf of Israel. It came to him in visions during the time that Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam II son of Joash was king of Israel, two years before the big earthquake.
Swallowing the Same Old Lies
2 The Message:
God roars from Zion,
shouts from Jerusalem!
The thunderclap voice withers the pastures tended by shepherds,
shrivels Mount Carmel’s proud peak.
3-5 God’s Message:
“Because of the three great sins of Damascus
—make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She pounded Gilead to a pulp, pounded her senseless
with iron hammers and mauls.
For that, I’m setting the palace of Hazael on fire.
I’m torching Ben-hadad’s forts.
I’m going to smash the Damascus gates
and banish the crime king who lives in Sin Valley,
the vice boss who gives orders from Paradise Palace.
The people of the land will be sent back
to where they came from—to Kir.”
God’s Decree.
6-8 God’s Message:
“Because of the three great sins of Gaza
—make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She deported whole towns
and then sold the people to Edom.
For that, I’m burning down the walls of Gaza,
burning up all her forts.
I’ll banish the crime king from Ashdod,
the vice boss from Ashkelon.
I’ll raise my fist against Ekron,
and what’s left of the Philistines will die.”
God’s Decree.
9-10 God’s Message:
“Because of the three great sins of Tyre
—make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She deported whole towns to Edom,
breaking the treaty she had with her kin.
For that, I’m burning down the walls of Tyre,
burning up all her forts.”
11-12 God’s Message:
“Because of the three great sins of Edom
—make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She hunts down her brother to murder him.
She has no pity, she has no heart.
Her anger rampages day and night.
Her meanness never takes a timeout.
For that, I’m burning down her capital, Teman,
burning up the forts of Bozrah.”
13-15 God’s Message:
“Because of the three great sins of Ammon
—make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She ripped open pregnant women in Gilead
to get more land for herself.
For that, I’m burning down the walls of her capital, Rabbah,
burning up her forts.
Battle shouts! War whoops!
with a tornado to finish things off!
The king has been carted off to exile,
the king and his princes with him.”
God’s Decree.
* * *
2 1-3 God’s Message:
“Because of the three great sins of Moab
—make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She violated the corpse of Edom’s king,
burning it to cinders.
For that, I’m burning down Moab,
burning down the forts of Kerioth.
Moab will die in the shouting,
go out in the blare of war trumpets.
I’ll remove the king from the center
and kill all his princes with him.”
God’s Decree.
4-5 God’s Message:
“Because of the three great sins of Judah
—make that four—I’m not putting up with them any longer.
They rejected God’s revelation,
refused to keep my commands.
But they swallowed the same old lies
that got their ancestors onto dead-end roads.
For that, I’m burning down Judah,
burning down all the forts of Jerusalem.”
Destroyed from the Roots Up
6-8 God’s Message:
“Because of the three great sins of Israel
—make that four—I’m not putting up with them any longer.
They buy and sell upstanding people.
People for them are only things—ways of making money.
They’d sell a poor man for a pair of shoes.
They’d sell their own grandmother!
They grind the penniless into the dirt,
shove the luckless into the ditch.
Everyone and his brother sleeps with the ‘sacred whore’—
a sacrilege against my Holy Name.
Stuff they’ve extorted from the poor
is piled up at the shrine of their god,
While they sit around drinking wine
they’ve conned from their victims.
9-11 “In contrast, I was always on your side.
I destroyed the Amorites who confronted you,
Amorites with the stature of great cedars,
tough as thick oaks.
I destroyed them from the top branches down.
I destroyed them from the roots up.
And yes, I’m the One who delivered you from Egypt,
led you safely through the wilderness for forty years
And then handed you the country of the Amorites
like a piece of cake on a platter.
I raised up some of your young men to be prophets,
set aside your best youth for training in holiness.
Isn’t this so, Israel?”
God’s Decree.
12-13 “But you made the youth-in-training break training,
and you told the young prophets, ‘Don’t prophesy!’
You’re too much for me.
I’m hard-pressed—to the breaking point.
I’m like a wagon piled high and overloaded,
creaking and groaning.
14-16 “When I go into action, what will you do?
There’s no place to run no matter how fast you run.
The strength of the strong won’t count.
Fighters won’t make it.
Skilled archers won’t make it.
Fast runners won’t make it.
Chariot drivers won’t make it.
Even the bravest of all your warriors
Won’t make it.
He’ll run off for dear life, stripped naked.”
God’s Decree.
The Lion Has Roared
3 Listen to this, Israel. God is calling you to account—and I mean all of you, everyone connected with the family that he delivered out of Egypt. Listen!
2 “Out of all the families on earth,
I picked you.
Therefore, because of your special calling,
I’m holding you responsible for all your sins.”
3-7 Do two people walk hand in hand
if they aren’t going to the same place?
Does a lion roar in the forest
if there’s no carcass to devour?
Does a young lion growl with pleasure
if he hasn’t caught his supper?
Does a bird fall to the ground
if it hasn’t been hit with a stone?
Does a trap spring shut
if nothing trips it?
When the alarm goes off in the city,
aren’t people alarmed?
And when disaster strikes the city,
doesn’t God stand behind it?
The fact is, God, the Master, does nothing
without first telling his prophets the whole story.
8 The lion has roared—
who isn’t frightened?
God has spoken—
what prophet can keep quiet?
* * *
9-11 Announce to the forts of Assyria,
announce to the forts of Egypt—
Tell them, “Gather on the Samaritan mountains, take a good, hard look:
what a snake pit of brutality and terror!
They can’t—or won’t—do one thing right.” God said so.
“They stockpile violence and blight.
Therefore”—this is God’s Word—“an enemy will surround the country.
He’ll strip you of your power and plunder your forts.”
12 God’s Message:
“In the same way that a shepherd
trying to save a lamb from a lion
Manages to recover
just a pair of legs or the scrap of an ear,
So will little be saved of the Israelites
who live in Samaria—
A couple of old chairs at most,
the broken leg of a table.
13-15 “Listen and bring witness against Jacob’s family”—
this is God’s Word, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
“Note well! The day I make Israel pay for its sins,
pay for the sin-altars of worship at Bethel,
The horned altars will all be dehorned
and scattered around.
I’ll tear down the winter palace,
smash the summer palace—all your fancy buildings.
The luxury homes will be demolished,
all those pretentious houses.”
God’s Decree.
You Never Got Hungry for God
4 “Listen to this, you cows of Bashan
grazing on the slopes of Samaria.
You women! Mean to the poor,
cruel to the down-and-out!
Indolent and pampered, you demand of your husbands,
‘Bring us a tall, cool drink!’
2-3 “This is serious—I, God, have sworn by my holiness!
Be well warned: Judgment Day is coming!
They’re going to rope you up and haul you off,
keep the stragglers in line with cattle prods.
They’ll drag you through the ruined city walls,
forcing you out single file,
And kick you to kingdom come.”
God’s Decree.
4-5 “Come along to Bethel and sin!
And then to Gilgal and sin some more!
Bring your sacrifices for morning worship.
Every third day bring your tithe.
Burn pure sacrifices—thank offerings.
Speak up—announce freewill offerings!
That’s the sort of religious show
you Israelites just love.”
God’s Decree.
6 “You know, don’t you, that I’m the One
who emptied your pantries and cleaned out your cupboards,
Who left you hungry and standing in bread lines?
But you never got hungry for me. You continued to ignore me.”
God’s Decree.
7-8 “Yes, and I’m the One who stopped the rains
three months short of harvest.
I’d make it rain on one village
but not on another.
I’d make it rain on one field
but not on another—and that one would dry up.
People would stagger from village to village
crazed for water and never quenching their thirst.
But you never got thirsty for me.
You ignored me.”
God’s Decree.
9 “I hit your crops with disease
and withered your orchards and gardens.
Locusts devoured your olive and fig trees,
but you continued to ignore me.”
God’s Decree.
10 “I revisited you with the old Egyptian plagues,
killed your choice young men and prize horses.
The stink of rot in your camps was so strong
that you held your noses—
But you didn’t notice me.
You continued to ignore me.”
God’s Decree.
11 “I hit you with earthquake and fire,
left you devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick
snatched from the flames.
But you never looked my way.
You continued to ignore me.”
God’s Decree.
12 “All this I have done to you, Israel,
and this is why I have done it.
Time’s up, O Israel!
Prepare to meet your God!”
13 Look who’s here: Mountain-Shaper! Wind-Maker!
He laid out the whole plot before Adam.
He brings everything out of nothing,
like dawn out of darkness.
He strides across the alpine ridges.
His name is God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
All Show, No Substance
5 Listen to this, family of Israel,
this Message I’m sending in bold print, this tragic warning:
2 “Virgin Israel has fallen flat on her face.
She’ll never stand up again.
She’s been left where she’s fallen.
No one offers to help her up.”
3 This is the Message, God’s Word:
“The city that marches out with a thousand
will end up with a hundred.
The city that marches out with a hundred
will end up with ten. Oh, family of Israel!”
4-5 God’s Message to the family of Israel:
“Seek me and live.
Don’t fool around at those shrines of Bethel,
Don’t waste time taking trips to Gilgal,
and don’t bother going down to Beer-sheba.
Gilgal is here today and gone tomorrow
and Bethel is all show, no substance.”
6 So seek God and live! You don’t want to end up
with nothing to show for your life
But a pile of ashes, a house burned to the ground.
For God will send just such a fire,
and the firefighters will show up too late.
Raw Truth Is Never Popular
7-9 Woe to you who turn justice to vinegar
and stomp righteousness into the mud.
Do you realize where you are? You’re in a cosmos
star-flung with constellations by God,
A world God wakes up each morning
and puts to bed each night.
God dips water from the ocean
and gives the land a drink.
God, God-revealed, does all this.
And he can destroy it as easily as make it.
He can turn this vast wonder into total waste.
10-12 People hate this kind of talk.
Raw truth is never popular.
But here it is, bluntly spoken:
Because you run roughshod over the poor
and take the bread right out of their mouths,
You’re never going to move into
the luxury homes you have built.
You’re never going to drink wine
from the expensive vineyards you’ve planted.
I know precisely the extent of your violations,
the enormity of your sins. Appalling!
You bully right-living people,
taking bribes right and left and kicking the poor when they’re down.
13 Justice is a lost cause. Evil is epidemic.
Decent people throw up their hands.
Protest and rebuke are useless,
a waste of breath.
14 Seek good and not evil—
and live!
You talk about God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
being your best friend.
Well, live like it,
and maybe it will happen.
15 Hate evil and love good,
then work it out in the public square.
Maybe God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
will notice your remnant and be gracious.
16-17 Now again, my Master’s Message, God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
“Go out into the streets and lament loudly!
Fill the malls and shops with cries of doom!
Weep loudly, ‘Not me! Not us, Not now!’
Empty offices, stores, factories, workplaces.
Enlist everyone in the general lament.
I want to hear it loud and clear when I make my visit.”
God’s Decree.
Time to Face Hard Reality, Not Fantasy
18-20 Woe to all of you who want God’s Judgment Day!
Why would you want to see God, want him to come?
When God comes, it will be bad news before it’s good news,
the worst of times, not the best of times.
Here’s what it’s like: A man runs from a lion
right into the jaws of a bear.
A woman goes home after a hard day’s work
and is raped by a neighbor.
At God’s coming we face hard reality, not fantasy—
a black cloud with no silver lining.
21-24 “I can’t stand your religious meetings.
I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.
25-27 “Didn’t you, dear family of Israel, worship me faithfully for forty years in the wilderness, bringing the sacrifices and offerings I commanded? How is it you’ve stooped to dragging gimcrack statues of your so-called rulers around, hauling the cheap images of all your star-gods here and there? Since you like them so much, you can take them with you when I drive you into exile beyond Damascus.” God’s Message, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
Those Who Live Only for Today
6 1-2 Woe to you who think you live on easy street in Zion,
who think Mount Samaria is the good life.
You assume you’re at the top of the heap,
voted the number-one best place to live.
Well, wake up and look around. Get off your pedestal.
Take a look at Calneh.
Go and visit Great Hamath.
Look in on Gath of the Philistines.
Doesn’t that take you off your high horse?
Compared to them, you’re not much, are you?
3-6 Woe to you who are rushing headlong to disaster!
Catastrophe is just around the corner!
Woe to those who live in luxury
and expect everyone else to serve them!
Woe to those who live only for today,
indifferent to the fate of others!
Woe to the playboys, the playgirls,
who think life is a party held just for them!
Woe to those addicted to feeling good—life without pain!
those obsessed with looking good—life without wrinkles!
They could not care less
about their country going to ruin.
7 But here’s what’s really coming:
a forced march into exile.
They’ll leave the country whining,
a rag-tag bunch of good-for-nothings.
You’ve Made a Shambles of Justice
8 God, the Master, has sworn, and solemnly stands by his Word.
The God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks:
“I hate the arrogance of Jacob.
I have nothing but contempt for his forts.
I’m about to hand over the city
and everyone in it.”
9-10 Ten men are in a house, all dead. A relative comes and gets the bodies to prepare them for a decent burial. He discovers a survivor huddled in a closet and asks, “Are there any more?” The answer: “Not a soul. But hush! God must not be mentioned in this desecrated place.”
11 Note well: God issues the orders.
He’ll knock large houses to smithereens.
He’ll smash little houses to bits.
12-13 Do you hold a horse race in a field of rocks?
Do you plow the sea with oxen?
You’d cripple the horses
and drown the oxen.
And yet you’ve made a shambles of justice,
a bloated corpse of righteousness,
Bragging of your trivial pursuits,
beating up on the weak and crowing, “Look what I’ve done!”
14 “Enjoy it while you can, you Israelites.
I’ve got a pagan army on the move against you”
—this is your God speaking, God-of-the-Angel-Armies—
“And they’ll make hash of you,
from one end of the country to the other.”
To Die Homeless and Friendless
7 1-2 God, my Master, showed me this vision: He was preparing a locust swarm. The first cutting, which went to the king, was complete, and the second crop was just sprouting. The locusts ate everything green. Not even a blade of grass was left.
I called out, “God, my Master! Excuse me, but what’s going to come of Jacob? He’s so small.”
3 God gave in.
“It won’t happen,” he said.
* * *
4 God showed me this vision: Oh! God, my Master God was calling up a firestorm. It burned up the ocean. Then it burned up the Promised Land.
5 I said, “God, my Master! Hold it—please! What’s going to come of Jacob? He’s so small.”
6 God gave in.
“All right, this won’t happen either,” God, my Master, said.
* * *
7 God showed me this vision: My Master was standing beside a wall. In his hand he held a plumb line.
8-9 God said to me, “What do you see, Amos?”
I said, “A plumb line.”
Then my Master said, “Look what I’ve done. I’ve hung a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I’ve spared them for the last time. This is it!
“Isaac’s sex-and-religion shrines will be smashed,
Israel’s unholy shrines will be knocked to pieces.
I’m raising my sword against the royal family of Jeroboam.”
10 Amaziah, priest at the shrine at Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel:
“Amos is plotting to get rid of you; and he’s doing it as an insider, working from within Israel. His talk will destroy the country. He’s got to be silenced. Do you know what Amos is saying?
11 ‘Jeroboam will be killed.
Israel is headed for exile.’”
12-13 Then Amaziah confronted Amos: “Seer, be on your way! Get out of here and go back to Judah where you came from! Hang out there. Do your preaching there. But no more preaching at Bethel! Don’t show your face here again. This is the king’s chapel. This is a royal shrine.”
14-15 But Amos stood up to Amaziah: “I never set up to be a preacher, never had plans to be a preacher. I raised cattle and I pruned trees. Then God took me off the farm and said, ‘Go preach to my people Israel.’
16-17 “So listen to God’s Word. You tell me, ‘Don’t preach to Israel. Don’t say anything against the family of Isaac.’ But here’s what God is telling you:
Your wife will become a whore in town.
Your children will get killed.
Your land will be auctioned off.
You will die homeless and friendless.
And Israel will be hauled off to exile, far from home.”
You Who Give Little and Take Much
8 My Master God showed me this vision: A bowl of fresh fruit.
2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?”
I said, “A bowl of fresh, ripe fruit.”
God said, “Right. So, I’m calling it quits with my people Israel. I’m no longer acting as if everything is just fine.”
3 “The royal singers will wail when it happens.”
My Master God said so.
“Corpses will be strewn here, there, and everywhere.
Hush!”
4-6 Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak,
you who treat poor people as less than nothing,
Who say, “When’s my next paycheck coming
so I can go out and live it up?
How long till the weekend
when I can go out and have a good time?”
Who give little and take much,
and never do an honest day’s work.
You exploit the poor, using them—
and then, when they’re used up, you discard them.
7-8 God swears against the arrogance of Jacob:
“I’m keeping track of their every last sin.”
God’s oath will shake earth’s foundations,
dissolve the whole world into tears.
God’s oath will sweep in like a river that rises,
flooding houses and lands,
And then recedes,
leaving behind a sea of mud.
9-10 “On Judgment Day, watch out!”
These are the words of God, my Master.
“I’ll turn off the sun at noon.
In the middle of the day the earth will go black.
I’ll turn your parties into funerals
and make every song you sing a dirge.
Everyone will walk around in rags,
with sunken eyes and bald heads.
Think of the worst that could happen
—your only son, say, murdered.
That’s a hint of Judgment Day
—that and much more.
11-12 “Oh yes, Judgment Day is coming!”
These are the words of my Master God.
“I’ll send a famine through the whole country.
It won’t be food or water that’s lacking, but my Word.
People will drift from one end of the country to the other,
roam to the north, wander to the east.
They’ll go anywhere, listen to anyone,
hoping to hear God’s Word—but they won’t hear it.
13-14 “On Judgment Day,
lovely young girls will faint of Word-thirst,
robust young men will faint of God-thirst,
Along with those who take oaths at the Samaria Sin-and-Sex Center,
saying, ‘As the lord god of Dan is my witness!’
and ‘The lady goddess of Beer-sheba bless you!’
Their lives will fall to pieces.
They’ll never put it together again.”
Israel Thrown into a Sieve
9 1-4 I saw my Master standing beside the altar at the shrine. He said:
“Hit the tops of the shrine’s pillars,
make the floor shake.
The roof’s about to fall on the heads of the people,
and whoever’s still alive, I’ll kill.
No one will get away,
no runaways will make it.
If they dig their way down into the underworld,
I’ll find them and bring them up.
If they climb to the stars,
I’ll find them and bring them down.
If they hide out at the top of Mount Carmel,
I’ll find them and bring them back.
If they dive to the bottom of the ocean,
I’ll send Dragon to swallow them up.
If they’re captured alive by their enemies,
I’ll send Sword to kill them.
I’ve made up my mind
to hurt them, not help them.”
5-6 My Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
touches the earth, a mere touch, and it trembles.
The whole world goes into mourning.
Earth swells like the Nile at flood stage;
then the water subsides, like the great Nile of Egypt.
God builds his palace—towers soaring high in the skies,
foundations set on the rock-firm earth.
He calls ocean waters and they come,
then he ladles them out on the earth.
God, your God, does all this.
* * *
7-8 “Do you Israelites think you’re any better than the far-off Cushites?” God’s Decree.
“Am I not involved with all nations? Didn’t I bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, the Arameans from Qir? But you can be sure that I, God, the Master, have my eye on the Kingdom of Sin. I’m going to wipe it off the face of the earth. Still, I won’t totally destroy the family of Jacob.” God’s Decree.
9-10 “I’m still giving the orders around here. I’m throwing Israel into a sieve among all the nations and shaking them good, shaking out all the sin, all the sinners. No real grain will be lost, but all the sinners will be sifted out and thrown away, the people who say, ‘Nothing bad will ever happen in our lifetime. It won’t even come close.’
Blessings Like Wine Pouring off the Mountains
11-12 “But also on that Judgment Day I will restore David’s house that has fallen to pieces. I’ll repair the holes in the roof, replace the broken windows, fix it up like new. David’s people will be strong again and seize what’s left of enemy Edom, plus everyone else under my sovereign judgment.” God’s Decree. He will do this.
13-15 “Yes indeed, it won’t be long now.” God’s Decree.
“Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won’t be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once—and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills. I’ll make everything right again for my people Israel:
“They’ll rebuild their ruined cities.
They’ll plant vineyards and drink good wine.
They’ll work their gardens and eat fresh vegetables.
And I’ll plant them, plant them on their own land.
They’ll never again be uprooted from the land I’ve given them.”
God, your God, says so.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson