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Amos 6-9
Easy-to-Read Version
Amos 6-9
Easy-to-Read Version
Israel’s Good Times Will Be Taken Away
6 Oh, look at the people enjoying life in Zion,
and those on Mount Samaria who feel so safe.
They are such important leaders of a most important nation.
The “House of Israel” comes to you for advice.
2 Go look at Calneh.
From there, go to the large city Hamath.
Go to the Philistine city of Gath.[a]
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Their countries are larger than yours.
3 You people are rushing toward the day of punishment.
You bring near the rule of violence.
4 But now you lie on ivory beds
and stretch out on your couches.
You eat tender young lambs from the flock
and young calves from the stable.
5 You play your harps,
and like David, you practice on[b] your musical instruments.
6 You drink wine in fancy cups.[c]
You use the best perfumes.
And it doesn’t even bother you
that Joseph’s family is being destroyed.
7 You people are stretched out on your couches now, but your good times will end. You will be taken away as prisoners to a foreign country, and you will be some of the first people taken. 8 The Lord God used his own name and made an oath. The Lord God All-Powerful said,
“I hate what Jacob is proud of.
I hate his strong towers.
So I will let an enemy take the city
and everything in it.”
There Will Be Few Israelites Left Alive
9 At that time ten people in one house might survive, but they too will die. 10 And when someone dies, a relative will come to get the body so that it can be taken out and burned.[d] Relatives will come to take away the bones. They will call to anyone who might be hiding back in the house, “Are there any other dead bodies in there with you?”
That person will answer, “No, ….”[e]
But the relative will interrupt and say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”
11 Look, the Lord will give the command,
and the large houses will be broken to pieces,
and the small houses will be broken to small pieces.
12 Do horses run over loose rocks?
No, and people don’t use cows for plowing.
But you turned everything upside down.
You changed justice and goodness to bitter poison.
13 You are so excited about defeating Lo Debar.[f]
And you boast, “We have taken Karnaim[g] by our own strength.”
14 “But Israel, I will bring a nation against you that will bring troubles to your whole country from Lebo Hamath to Arabah Brook.” This is what the Lord God All-Powerful said.
The Vision of the Locusts
7 This is what the Lord God showed me: He was making locusts. This was at the time the second crop began to grow, after the king’s people had cut the first crop. 2 Before the locusts could eat all the grass in the country, I said, “Lord God, I beg you, forgive us! Jacob cannot survive! He is too small!”
3 Then the Lord changed his mind about this. The Lord said, “It will not happen.”
The Vision of the Fire
4 This is what the Lord God showed me: I saw the Lord God calling for judgment by fire. The fire destroyed the ocean and was beginning to eat up the land. 5 But I said, “Lord God, stop, I beg you! Jacob cannot survive! He is too small!”
6 Then the Lord changed his mind about this. The Lord God said, “It will not happen either.”
The Vision of the Plumb Line
7 This is what the Lord showed me: He stood by a wall with a plumb line[h] in his hand. (The wall had been marked with a plumb line.) 8 The Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
I said, “A plumb line.”
Then the Lord said to me, “See, I will put a plumb line among my people Israel. I will not let their ‘crooked ways’ pass inspection anymore. 9 Isaac’s high places will be destroyed. Israel’s holy places will be made into a pile of rocks. I will attack and kill Jeroboam’s[i] family with swords.”
Amaziah Tries to Stop Amos
10 Amaziah, a priest at Bethel,[j] sent this message to Jeroboam, the king of Israel: “Amos is making plans against you. He is trying to make the people of Israel fight against you. He has been speaking so much that this country cannot hold all his words. 11 Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and the people of Israel will be taken as prisoners out of their country.’”
12 Amaziah also said to Amos, “You seer, go down to Judah and eat there.[k] Do your prophesying there. 13 But don’t prophesy anymore here at Bethel. This is Jeroboam’s holy place. This is Israel’s temple.”
14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am not a professional prophet, and I am not from a prophet’s family. I raise cattle and take care of sycamore trees. 15 I was a shepherd and the Lord took me from following the sheep. The Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 So listen to the Lord’s message. You tell me, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel. Don’t speak against Isaac’s family.’ 17 But the Lord says, ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city. Your sons and daughters will be killed with swords. Other people will take your land and divide it among themselves, and you will die in a foreign[l] country. The people of Israel will definitely be taken from this country as prisoners.’”
The Vision of the Ripe Fruit
8 This is what the Lord God showed me: I saw a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”
Then the Lord said to me, “The end[m] has come to my people Israel. I will not ignore their sins anymore. 3 Their temple songs will become funeral songs.” This is what the Lord God said. “There will be dead bodies everywhere. In silence, people will take out the dead bodies and throw them onto the pile.[n]”
Merchants Only Want to Make Money
4 Listen to me, you who trample on helpless people.
You are trying to destroy the poor of this country.
5 You merchants say,
“When will the New Moon be over so that we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath be over
so that we can bring out more wheat to sell?
We can raise the price
and make the measure smaller.[o]
We can fix the scales
and cheat the people.[p]
6 The poor cannot pay their loans,
so we will buy them as slaves.
We will buy those helpless people
for the price of a pair of sandals.
Oh, and we can sell the wheat
that was spilled on the floor.”
7 The Lord made a promise. He used his name, “Pride of Jacob,” and made this promise:
“I will never forget what those people did.
8 There will be an earthquake
that will shake the whole land because of what they did.
Everyone living there will cry for those who died.
The land will be tossed around.
The whole land will rise and fall like the Nile River in Egypt.”
9 The Lord God also said,
“At that time I will make the sun set at noon
and make the land dark on a clear day.
10 I will change your festivals into days of crying for the dead.
All your songs will be songs of sadness for those who are dead.
I will put mourning clothes on every body
and baldness on every head.[q]
I will cause mourning everywhere,
like that for an only son who has died.
It will be a very bitter end.”
A Famine of God’s Word
11 The Lord God says,
“Look, the days are coming
when I will cause a famine in the land.
The people will not be hungry for bread.
They will not be thirsty for water.
No, they will be hungry for words from the Lord.
12 The people will wander around the country,
from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,
and from the north part of the country to the east.
They will go back and forth looking for a message from the Lord,
but they will not find it.
13 At that time the beautiful young men and women
will become weak from thirst.
14 They made promises by the sin of Samaria,[r]
They said, ‘Dan,[s] as surely as your god lives, we promise ….’
And they said, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba[t] lives, we promise ….’
But they will fall
and never get up again.”
Vision of the Lord Standing by the Altar
9 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said,
“Hit the top of the columns,
and shake them to the ground.
Push them and they will fall
on everyone’s head.
As for those who survive,
I will kill them with a sword.
None of them will run away.
None of them will escape.
2 If they dig deep into the ground,[u]
I will pull them from there.
If they go up into the skies,[v]
I will bring them down from there.
3 If they hide at the top of Mount Carmel,[w]
I will find them there and take them from that place.
If they try to hide from me at the bottom of the sea,
I will command the snake, and it will bite them.
4 If they are captured and taken away by their enemies,
I will command the sword,
and it will kill them there.
Yes, I will watch over them,
but I will watch for ways to give them troubles,
not for ways to do good things.”
Punishment Will Destroy the People
5 The Lord God All-Powerful will touch the land,
and the land will melt.
Then all the people who live in the land will cry for the dead.
The land will rise and fall
like the Nile River in Egypt.
6 He built his upper rooms above the skies.
He put his skies[x] over the earth.
He calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out as rain on the land.
Yahweh is his name.
The Lord Promises Destruction for Israel
7 This is what the Lord says:
“Israel, you are like the Ethiopians to me.
I brought Israel out of the land of Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor,[y]
and the Arameans from Kir.[z]”
8 The Lord God is watching this sinful kingdom.
The Lord says,
“I will wipe Israel off the face of the earth,
but I will never completely destroy Jacob’s family.
9 I am giving the command
to scatter the people of Israel among all nations.
But it will be like someone sifting flour.
A person shakes flour through a sifter.[aa]
The good flour falls through, but the bad lumps are caught.
10 “Sinners among my people say,
‘Nothing bad will happen to us.’
But all of them will be killed with swords.”
God Promises to Restore the Kingdom
11 “David’s tent[ab] has fallen,
but at that time I will set it up again.
I will fix its holes and repair its ruined parts.
I will set it up as it was before.
12 Then the people left alive in Edom,
and all the people called by my name, will look to me for help.”
This is what the Lord said,
and he will make it happen.
13 The Lord says, “A time of great blessing is coming.
Workers will still be harvesting
when it is time to plow the fields again.
They will still be trampling the grapes
when it is time for a new crop.
Sweet wine will drip from the mountains
and pour from the hills.
14 I will bring my people, Israel,
back from captivity.
They will rebuild the ruined cities,
and they will live in them.
They will plant vineyards
and drink the wine they produce.
They will plant gardens
and eat the crops they produce.
15 I will plant my people on their land,
and never again will they be pulled up out of the land that I gave them.”
This is what the Lord your God said.
Footnotes
- Amos 6:2 Calneh, Hamath, Gath Powerful Babylonian, Syrian, and Philistine cities that were all captured by the Assyrians.
- Amos 6:5 practice on Or “invent.” The Hebrew word means to “think,” “become skilled,” or “design.”
- Amos 6:6 fancy cups Very large bowls used in worship rituals.
- Amos 6:10 And when … burned The meaning of the Hebrew text here is uncertain.
- Amos 6:10 No, … The full answer might have been, “No, praise the Lord,” but the person was interrupted.
- Amos 6:13 Lo Debar This name means “nothing.”
- Amos 6:13 Karnaim This name means “horns.” Horns were a symbol of strength.
- Amos 7:7 plumb line A string with a weight on one end used to show how straight the walls of a building were. Sometimes the line was coated with paint or chalk to mark a straight line.
- Amos 7:9 Jeroboam The king of Israel. See verse 10.
- Amos 7:10 Bethel A town in Israel. This name means “God’s house.”
- Amos 7:12 eat there This shows that Amaziah thought that Amos was a professional prophet who prophesied to receive food or money.
- Amos 7:17 foreign Literally, “unclean.” See “ unclean” in the Word List.
- Amos 8:2 end This Hebrew word sounds like the word for “summer fruit.”
- Amos 8:3 In silence … the pile Or “People will be saying, ‘Hush!’” See Amos 6:10.
- Amos 8:5 We … smaller Literally, “We will make the ephah small and the shekel large.”
- Amos 8:5 We … people Literally, “Cheat with lying balances.”
- Amos 8:10 baldness … head People shaved their heads to show that they were very sad or upset.
- Amos 8:14 sin of Samaria The calf god in Samaria.
- Amos 8:14 Dan One of Israel’s holy places was in this city.
- Amos 8:14 Beersheba A town in Judah. This name means “well of the oath.”
- Amos 9:2 ground Literally, “Sheol, the place of the dead.”
- Amos 9:2 skies Or “heaven.”
- Amos 9:3 Mount Carmel A mountain in northern Israel. This name means “God’s vineyard.” This shows that it was a very fertile hill.
- Amos 9:6 skies Literally, “dome” or “vault.”
- Amos 9:7 Caphtor An island west of Israel, probably Crete or Cyprus.
- Amos 9:7 Kir Where the Arameans came from and where the Assyrians sent them in exile. There are several places with this name.
- Amos 9:9 sifter Something like a cup with a screen on its bottom. A sifter is used for removing large lumps from the good flour.
- Amos 9:11 David’s tent This probably means the city of Jerusalem or the country of Judah.
Amos 6-9
New International Version
Amos 6-9
New International Version
Woe to the Complacent
6 Woe to you(A) who are complacent(B) in Zion,
and to you who feel secure(C) on Mount Samaria,(D)
you notable men of the foremost nation,
to whom the people of Israel come!(E)
2 Go to Kalneh(F) and look at it;
go from there to great Hamath,(G)
and then go down to Gath(H) in Philistia.
Are they better off than(I) your two kingdoms?
Is their land larger than yours?
3 You put off the day of disaster
and bring near a reign of terror.(J)
4 You lie on beds adorned with ivory
and lounge on your couches.(K)
You dine on choice lambs
and fattened calves.(L)
5 You strum away on your harps(M) like David
and improvise on musical instruments.(N)
6 You drink wine(O) by the bowlful
and use the finest lotions,
but you do not grieve(P) over the ruin of Joseph.(Q)
7 Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile;(R)
your feasting and lounging will end.(S)
The Lord Abhors the Pride of Israel
8 The Sovereign Lord has sworn by himself(T)—the Lord God Almighty declares:
“I abhor(U) the pride of Jacob(V)
and detest his fortresses;(W)
I will deliver up(X) the city
and everything in it.(Y)”
9 If ten(Z) people are left in one house, they too will die. 10 And if the relative who comes to carry the bodies out of the house to burn them[a](AA) asks anyone who might be hiding there, “Is anyone else with you?” and he says, “No,” then he will go on to say, “Hush!(AB) We must not mention the name of the Lord.”
11 For the Lord has given the command,
and he will smash(AC) the great house(AD) into pieces
and the small house into bits.(AE)
12 Do horses run on the rocky crags?
Does one plow the sea[b] with oxen?
But you have turned justice into poison(AF)
and the fruit of righteousness(AG) into bitterness(AH)—
13 you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar[c]
and say, “Did we not take Karnaim[d] by our own strength?(AI)”
14 For the Lord God Almighty declares,
“I will stir up a nation(AJ) against you, Israel,
that will oppress you all the way
from Lebo Hamath(AK) to the valley of the Arabah.(AL)”
Locusts, Fire and a Plumb Line
7 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me:(AM) He was preparing swarms of locusts(AN) after the king’s share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up. 2 When they had stripped the land clean,(AO) I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive?(AP) He is so small!(AQ)”
3 So the Lord relented.(AR)
“This will not happen,” the Lord said.(AS)
4 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire;(AT) it dried up the great deep and devoured(AU) the land. 5 Then I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!(AV)”
6 So the Lord relented.(AW)
“This will not happen either,” the Sovereign Lord said.(AX)
7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb,[e] with a plumb line[f] in his hand. 8 And the Lord asked me, “What do you see,(AY) Amos?(AZ)”
“A plumb line,(BA)” I replied.
Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.(BB)
9 “The high places(BC) of Isaac will be destroyed
and the sanctuaries(BD) of Israel will be ruined;
with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.(BE)”
Amos and Amaziah
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel(BF) sent a message to Jeroboam(BG) king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy(BH) against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words.(BI) 11 For this is what Amos is saying:
“‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,
and Israel will surely go into exile,(BJ)
away from their native land.’”(BK)
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer!(BL) Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.(BM) 13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel,(BN) because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple(BO) of the kingdom.(BP)”
14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet(BQ) nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.(BR) 15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock(BS) and said to me, ‘Go,(BT) prophesy(BU) to my people Israel.’(BV) 16 Now then, hear(BW) the word of the Lord. You say,
“‘Do not prophesy against(BX) Israel,
and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’
17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“‘Your wife will become a prostitute(BY) in the city,
and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.
Your land will be measured and divided up,
and you yourself will die in a pagan[g] country.
And Israel will surely go into exile,(BZ)
away from their native land.(CA)’”
A Basket of Ripe Fruit
8 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me:(CB) a basket of ripe fruit. 2 “What do you see,(CC) Amos?(CD)” he asked.
“A basket(CE) of ripe fruit,” I answered.
Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.(CF)
3 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing.[h](CG) Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!(CH)”
5 saying,
“When will the New Moon(CK) be over
that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
that we may market(CL) wheat?”(CM)—
skimping on the measure,
boosting the price
and cheating(CN) with dishonest scales,(CO)
6 buying the poor(CP) with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
selling even the sweepings with the wheat.(CQ)
7 The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob:(CR) “I will never forget(CS) anything they have done.(CT)
8 “Will not the land tremble(CU) for this,
and all who live in it mourn?
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
it will be stirred up and then sink
like the river of Egypt.(CV)
9 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.(CW)
10 I will turn your religious festivals(CX) into mourning
and all your singing into weeping.(CY)
I will make all of you wear sackcloth(CZ)
and shave(DA) your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son(DB)
and the end of it like a bitter day.(DC)
11 “The days are coming,”(DD) declares the Sovereign Lord,
“when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine(DE) of hearing the words of the Lord.(DF)
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.(DG)
13 “In that day
“the lovely young women and strong young men(DH)
will faint because of thirst.(DI)
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria(DJ)—
who say, ‘As surely as your god lives, Dan,’(DK)
or, ‘As surely as the god[i] of Beersheba(DL) lives’—
they will fall,(DM) never to rise again.(DN)”
Israel to Be Destroyed
9 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:
“Strike the tops of the pillars
so that the thresholds shake.
Bring them down on the heads(DO) of all the people;
those who are left I will kill with the sword.
Not one will get away,
none will escape.(DP)
2 Though they dig down to the depths below,(DQ)
from there my hand will take them.
Though they climb up to the heavens above,(DR)
from there I will bring them down.(DS)
3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,(DT)
there I will hunt them down and seize them.(DU)
Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea,(DV)
there I will command the serpent(DW) to bite them.(DX)
4 Though they are driven into exile by their enemies,
there I will command the sword(DY) to slay them.
5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty—
he touches the earth and it melts,(EC)
and all who live in it mourn;
the whole land rises like the Nile,
then sinks like the river of Egypt;(ED)
6 he builds his lofty palace[j](EE) in the heavens
and sets its foundation[k] on the earth;
he calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land—
the Lord is his name.(EF)
7 “Are not you Israelites
the same to me as the Cushites[l]?”(EG)
declares the Lord.
“Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
the Philistines(EH) from Caphtor[m](EI)
and the Arameans from Kir?(EJ)
8 “Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord
are on the sinful kingdom.
I will destroy(EK) it
from the face of the earth.
Yet I will not totally destroy
the descendants of Jacob,”
declares the Lord.(EL)
9 “For I will give the command,
and I will shake the people of Israel
among all the nations
as grain(EM) is shaken in a sieve,(EN)
and not a pebble will reach the ground.(EO)
10 All the sinners among my people
will die by the sword,(EP)
all those who say,
‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’(EQ)
Israel’s Restoration
11 “In that day
“I will restore David’s(ER) fallen shelter(ES)—
I will repair its broken walls
and restore its ruins(ET)—
and will rebuild it as it used to be,(EU)
12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom(EV)
and all the nations that bear my name,[n](EW)”
declares the Lord, who will do these things.(EX)
13 “The days are coming,”(EY) declares the Lord,
“when the reaper(EZ) will be overtaken by the plowman(FA)
and the planter by the one treading(FB) grapes.
New wine(FC) will drip from the mountains
and flow from all the hills,(FD)
14 and I will bring(FE) my people Israel back from exile.[o](FF)
“They will rebuild the ruined cities(FG) and live in them.
They will plant vineyards(FH) and drink their wine;
they will make gardens and eat their fruit.(FI)
15 I will plant(FJ) Israel in their own land,(FK)
never again to be uprooted(FL)
from the land I have given them,”(FM)
says the Lord your God.(FN)
Footnotes
- Amos 6:10 Or to make a funeral fire in honor of the dead
- Amos 6:12 With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text plow there
- Amos 6:13 Lo Debar means nothing.
- Amos 6:13 Karnaim means horns; horn here symbolizes strength.
- Amos 7:7 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
- Amos 7:7 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain; also in verse 8.
- Amos 7:17 Hebrew an unclean
- Amos 8:3 Or “the temple singers will wail
- Amos 8:14 Hebrew the way
- Amos 9:6 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
- Amos 9:6 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
- Amos 9:7 That is, people from the upper Nile region
- Amos 9:7 That is, Crete
- Amos 9:12 Hebrew; Septuagint so that the remnant of people / and all the nations that bear my name may seek me
- Amos 9:14 Or will restore the fortunes of my people Israel
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