Amos 1-2

Common English Bible

Introduction

1 These are the words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa. He perceived these things concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, in the days of Judah’s King Uzziah and in the days of Israel’s King Jeroboam, Joash’s son.

Proclamation of divine judgment

²    He said:
    The Lord roars from Zion.
        He shouts from Jerusalem;
        the pastures of the shepherds wither,
        and the top of Carmel dries up.

A word to Damascus

³    The Lord proclaims:
    For three crimes of Damascus,
        and for four, I won’t hold back the punishment,
    because they have harvested Gilead
        with sharp iron tools.
⁴    I will send down fire on the house of Hazael;
        it will devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.
⁵    I will break the fortified gates of Damascus,
        and eliminate the people from the Aven Valley,
    including the one who rules from Beth-eden;
        the people of Aram will be forced to live in Kir,
says the Lord.

A word to Gaza and Ashdod

⁶    The Lord proclaims:
    For three crimes of Gaza,
        and for four, I won’t hold back the punishment,
    because they rounded up entire communities,
        to hand them over to Edom.
⁷    I will send down a fire on the wall of Gaza;
        it will devour Gaza’s palaces.
⁸    I will eliminate the people from Ashdod,
        the one who rules from Ashkelon.
    I will turn my hand against Ekron,
        and the Philistines who remain will perish,
says the Lord God.

A word to Tyre

⁹The Lord proclaims:
    For three crimes of Tyre,
        and for four, I won’t hold back the punishment,
    because they have delivered up entire communities over to Edom,
        and neglected their covenantal obligations.
¹⁰So I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre;
        it will devour their palaces.

A word to Edom

¹¹The Lord proclaims:
    For three crimes of Edom,
        and for four, I won’t hold back the punishment,
    because he chased after his brother with the sword,
        denied all compassion,
        kept his anger alive,
        and fueled his wrath forever.
¹²So I will send a fire on Teman;
        it will devour the fortresses of Bozrah.

A word to Ammon

¹³The Lord proclaims:
    For three crimes of the Ammonites,
        and for four, I won’t hold back the punishment,
    because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead
        in order to possess more land.
¹⁴So I will start a fire at the wall of Rabbah;
        the fire will devour its palaces,
        with a war cry on the day of battle,
        with strong wind on the day of the storm.
¹⁵Then their king will be taken away,
        he and his officials together,
says the Lord.

A word to Moab

    2 The Lord proclaims:
    For three crimes of Moab,
        and for four, I won’t hold back the punishment,
    because he burned to lime
        the bones of the king of Edom.
²    So I will send down a fire on Moab;
        it will devour the palaces of Kerioth.
    Moab will die in a great uproar,
        with a war cry, with the sound of the ram’s horn.
³    I will remove their judge from them
        and slay all their officials with him,
says the Lord.

A word to Judah

⁴    The Lord proclaims:
    For three crimes of Judah,
        and for four, I won’t hold back the punishment,
    because they have rejected the Instruction of the Lord,
        and haven’t kept his laws.
    They have been led off the right path by the same lies
        after which their ancestors walked.
⁵    So I will send a fire on Judah,
        and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

A word to Israel

⁶    The Lord proclaims:
    For three crimes of Israel,
        and for four, I won’t hold back the punishment,
    because they have sold the innocent for silver,
            and those in need for a pair of sandals.
⁷    They crush the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,
        and push the afflicted out of the way.
    Father and son have intercourse with the same young woman,
        degrading my holy name.
⁸    They stretch out beside every altar
        on garments taken in loan;
    in the house of their god they drink
        wine bought with fines they imposed.
⁹    Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them,
        whose height was as tall as cedar trees,
        and whose strength was as strong as oak trees.
    I destroyed his fruit above
        and his roots below.
¹⁰Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt,
        and led you forty years in the wilderness,
        to lay claim to the land of the Amorite.
¹¹I raised up some of your children to be prophets
        and some of your youth to be nazirites.
    Isn’t this so, people of Israel?
says the Lord.

¹²But you made the nazirites drink wine,
        and commanded the prophets,
        saying, “You won’t prophesy.”
¹³So now I will oppress you,
        just like a cart is weighed down^[a]
        when it is full of harvested grain.
¹⁴Fast runners will find no refuge;
    the strong will lose their strength;
    the mighty will be unable to save their lives.
¹⁵Those who shoot the bow won’t survive.
        Fast runners won’t escape;
        those who ride horses won’t save themselves.
¹⁶The bravest warrior
    will flee away naked in that day,
says the Lord.