Amos 1:3-2:16

Contemporary English Version

Judgment on Syria

³^(A) The Lord said:

I will punish Syria^[a]
for countless crimes,
    and I won't change my mind.
They dragged logs with spikes^[b]
    over the people of Gilead.
⁴Now I will burn down the palaces
and fortresses of King Hazael
    and of King Benhadad.^[c]
⁵I will break through
    the gates of Damascus.
I will destroy the people^[d]
of Wicked Valley^[e]
    and the ruler of Beth-Eden.^[f]
Then the Syrians will be dragged
    as prisoners to Kir.^[g]
I, the Lord, have spoken!

Judgment on Philistia

⁶^(B) The Lord said:

I will punish Philistia^[h]
for countless crimes,
    and I won't change my mind.
They dragged off my people^[i]
    from town after town
to sell them as slaves
    to the Edomites.

⁷That's why I will burn down
the walls and fortresses
    of the city of Gaza.
⁸I will destroy the king^[j] of Ashdod
    and the ruler of Ashkelon.
I will strike down Ekron,^[k]
and that will be the end
    of the Philistines.
I, the Lord, have spoken!

Judgment on Phoenicia

⁹^(C) The Lord said:

I will punish Phoenicia^[l]
for countless crimes,
    and I won't change my mind.
They broke their treaty
and dragged off my people^[m]
    from town after town
to sell them as slaves
    to the Edomites.
¹⁰That's why I will send flames
to burn down the city of Tyre
    along with its fortresses.

Judgment on Edom

¹¹^(D) The Lord said:

I will punish Edom
for countless crimes,
    and I won't change my mind.
They killed their own relatives^[n]
and were so terribly furious
    that they showed no mercy.
¹²Now I will send fire to wipe out
the fortresses of Teman
    and Bozrah.^[o]

Judgment on Ammon

¹³^(E) The Lord said:

I will punish Ammon
for countless crimes,
and I won't change my mind.
In Gilead they ripped open
pregnant women,
just to take the land.

¹⁴Now I will send fire to destroy
the walls and fortresses
    of Rabbah.^[p]
Enemies will shout and attack
    like a whirlwind.
¹⁵Ammon's king and leaders
    will be dragged away.
I, the Lord, have spoken!

Judgment on Moab

2 ^(F) The Lord said:

I will punish Moab
for countless crimes,
    and I won't change my mind.
They made lime from the bones^[q]
    of the king of Edom.
²Now I will send fire to destroy
    the fortresses of Kerioth.^[r]
Battle shouts and trumpet blasts
will be heard as I destroy Moab
³    with its king and leaders.
I, the Lord, have spoken!

Judgment on Judah

⁴The Lord said:

I will punish Judah
for countless crimes,
    and I won't change my mind.
They have rejected my teachings
    and refused to obey me.
They were led astray
by the same false gods
    their ancestors worshiped.
⁵Now I will send fire on Judah
and destroy the fortresses
    of Jerusalem.

Judgment on Israel

⁶The Lord said:

I will punish Israel
for countless crimes,
    and I won't change my mind.
They sell honest people for money,
and the needy are sold
    for the price of sandals.
⁷They smear the poor in the dirt
and push aside
    those who are helpless.

My holy name is dishonored,
because fathers and sons sleep
    with the same young women.
⁸They lie down beside altars
on clothes taken
    as security for loans.
And they drink wine in my temple,
wine bought with the money
    they received from fines.

⁹^(G) Israel, the Amorites^[s] were there
    when you entered Canaan.
They were tall as cedars
    and strong as oaks.
But I wiped them out—
I destroyed their branches
    and their roots.
¹⁰I had rescued you from Egypt,
and for forty years I had led you
    through the desert.
Then I gave you the land
    of the Amorites.

¹¹^(H) I chose some of you
to be prophets
    and others to be Nazirites.^[t]
People of Israel,
you know this is true.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!
¹²But you commanded the prophets
    not to speak their message,
and you pressured the Nazirites
    into drinking wine.

¹³And so I will crush you,
just as a wagon full of grain
    crushes the ground.^[u]
¹⁴No matter how fast you run,
    you won't escape.
No matter how strong you are,
you will lose your strength
    and your life.
¹⁵Even if you are an expert
with a bow and arrow,
    you will retreat.
And you won't get away alive,
not even if you run fast
    or ride a horse.
¹⁶You may be brave and strong,
but you will run away,
    stripped naked.
I, the Lord, have spoken!

Footnotes

1.3 Syria: The Hebrew text has “Damascus,” the leading city of Syria.
1.3 logs with spikes: These were dragged over grain to thresh it.
1.4 Hazael … Benhadad: Two Syrian kings.
1.5 people: Or “king.”
1.5 Wicked Valley: The Hebrew text has “Aven Valley,” probably the fertile valley between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon mountains.
1.5 I will … Beth-Eden: Or “I will destroy the people of Wicked Valley and the king who rules from Beth-Eden.” Beth-Eden was a city-state on the banks of the Euphrates River.
1.5 Kir: The exact location of this country is not known; in 9.7 Amos refers to Kir as the original home of the Syrians, and so the verse probably means that the Syrians will lose everything they have gained as a people.
1.6 Philistia: The Hebrew text has “Gaza,” one of the main Philistine cities.
1.6 my people: The people of Israel.
1.8 king: Or “people.”
1.8 Ashdod … Ashkelon … Ekron: Philistine cities.
1.9 Phoenicia: The Hebrew text has “Tyre,” which was one of the two Phoenician cities; the other was Sidon, which is not mentioned by Amos.
1.9 my people: See the note at 1.6.
1.11 their own relatives: The Edomites were descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob, the ancestor of the Israelites.
1.12 Teman and Bozrah: These stand for all of Edom; Teman may have been a city or a district. Bozrah, the chief city of northern Edom, was 48 kilometers southeast of the Dead Sea.
1.14 Rabbah: The capital city of Ammon.
2.1 They … bones: They dug up the bodies of kings and made lime out of them to use as whitewash on their houses and walls.
2.2 Kerioth: A leading city of Moab and a center for the worship of Chemosh, the chief god of Moab.
2.9 Amorites: This word is used for all the people who lived in Canaan at the time Israel took over the land.
2.11 Nazirites: People who promised the Lord that they would never drink wine or cut their hair or come in contact with a dead body.
2.13 ground: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 13.