Amos 2
World English Bible
2 Yahweh says:
“For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime;
2 but I will send a fire on Moab,
and it will devour the palaces of Kerioth;
and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet;
3 and I will cut off the judge from among them,
and will kill all its princes with him,”
says Yahweh.
4 Yahweh says:
“For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
because they have rejected Yahweh’s law,
and have not kept his statutes,
and their lies have led them astray,
after which their fathers walked;
5 but I will send a fire on Judah,
and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”
6 Yahweh says:
“For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
because they have sold the righteous for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals;
7 They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor,
and deny justice to the oppressed;
and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;
8 and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge;
and in the house of their God[a] they drink the wine of those who have been fined.
9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them,
whose height was like the height of the cedars,
and he was strong as the oaks;
yet I destroyed his fruit from above,
and his roots from beneath.
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.
11 I raised up some of your sons for prophets,
and some of your young men for Nazirites.
Isn’t this true,
you children of Israel?” says Yahweh.
12 “But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink,
and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Don’t prophesy!’
13 Behold,[b] I will crush you in your place,
as a cart crushes that is full of grain.
14 Flight will perish from the swift;
and the strong won’t strengthen his force;
neither shall the mighty deliver himself;
15 neither shall he stand who handles the bow;
and he who is swift of foot won’t escape;
neither shall he who rides the horse deliver himself;
16 and he who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked on that day,”
says Yahweh.
Amos 2
International Standard Version
A Warning to Moab
2 This is what the Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Moab
because they[a] cremated the bones of the king of Edom,
burning them[b] to lime.
2 So I will send down fire upon Moab,
and it will devour the fortified citadels of Kerioth.
Moab will die in the uproar of battle,[c]
with a war cry
and with the trumpeting of the ram’s horn.
3 I will execute their rulers among them,
killing all of their officials as well,”
says the Lord.
A Warning to Judah
4 This is what the Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Judah
—and now for a fourth—
I will not turn away;
because they[d] rejected the Law of the Lord
and did not keep his statutes.
Their own lies made them wander off,
following along the same path their ancestors walked.
5 So I will send down fire upon Judah,
and it will devour the fortified citadels of Jerusalem.”
A Warning to Israel
6 This is what the Lord says:
“For three transgressions of Israel
—and now for a fourth—
I will not turn away;
because they sold the righteous for money,
and the poor for sandals,
7 moving quickly[e] to rub the face[f] of the needy in the dirt.
Corrupting[g] the ways of the humble,
a man and his father go to the same woman,
deliberately defiling my holy name.
8 They lay down beside every altar,
on garments pledged as collateral,[h]
drinking wine paid for through fines
imposed by the temple of their gods.
9 Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorites in front of them,
though their height seemed like a cedar,[i]
though their strength seemed like an oak,
but whose fruit I destroyed from above
and the roots from beneath.
10 Furthermore, I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
leading you in the wilderness for 40 years,
to take possession of the land of the Amorites.
11 I also raised up your sons to be prophets,
and from your young men I raised up Nazirites.[j]
Is this not true, people of Israel?”
declares the Lord.
12 “But you forced the Nazirites to drink wine,
and commanded the prophets,
‘You are not to prophesy!’
13 “Oh, how I am burdened down with you,
as a wagon is overloaded with harvested grain!
14 So the swift runner will not escape,[k]
the valiant will not fortify his strength,
and the mighty warrior will not save his life.
15 The skilled archer will not be able to stand,
the swift runner will not survive,
and the mounted rider will not preserve his own life.
16 Even the bravest of elite troops will run away naked at that time,”
declares the Lord.
Footnotes
- Amos 2:1 Lit. he; i.e. the nation personified as an individual
- Amos 2:1 The Heb. lacks burning them
- Amos 2:2 The Heb. lacks of battle
- Amos 2:4 Lit. he; i.e. the nation personified as an individual
- Amos 2:7 Lit. They chase
- Amos 2:7 Lit. head
- Amos 2:7 Lit. turning aside
- Amos 2:8 I.e. violating Deut 24:10-13 in addition to idolatry
- Amos 2:9 I.e. a genus of coniferous evergreen in the family Pinaceae
- Amos 2:11 I.e. men who make a special vow with God (cf. Num 6:1-21)
- Amos 2:14 Lit. So flight will escape the swift runner
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