Amos 1
New Catholic Bible
The Judgment Is Near
Judgment of the Nations
Chapter 1
Title and Introduction.[a] 1 These are the words of Amos, a shepherd of Tekoa, concerning visions in regard to Israel during the reigns of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel, two years prior to the earthquake. 2 He said:
“The Lord roars from Zion,
and his name thunders forth from Jerusalem.
The pastures of the shepherds will wither
and the summit of Carmel will be arid.”
For Three Crimes of Damascus
3 [b]These are the words of the Lord:
For three crimes of Damascus, and for four,
I will not revoke my decree.
Because they threshed Gilead
with threshing-sledges of iron,
4 I will send fire on the house of Hazael,
and it will devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.[c]
5 I will demolish the gate bars of Damascus
and destroy the inhabitants in the Valley of Aven,
as well as the sceptered ruler of Beth-eden;[d]
the people of Aram will be exiled to Kir,
says the Lord.
For Three Crimes of Gaza
6 Thus says the Lord:
For three crimes of Gaza, and for four,
I will not revoke my decree.
Because they deported entire communities
and sent them in exile to Edom,
7 I will send fire down on the walls of Gaza
to devour its palaces.
8 I will destroy the inhabitants of Ashdod
and the sceptered ruler at Ashkelon.
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,
says the Lord God.
For Three Crimes of Tyre
9 Thus says the Lord:
For three crimes of Tyre, and for four,
I will not revoke my decree.
Because they delivered entire communities to slavery in Edom
and ignored the covenant of brotherhood,
10 I will send fire down on the walls of Tyre
to devour its palaces.
For Three Crimes of Edom
11 Thus says the Lord:
For three crimes of Edom, and for four,
I will not revoke my decree.
Because he pursued his brother with the sword
and stifled any semblance of pity,
because he was unceasing in his anger
and constantly nurtured his wrath,
12 I will send down fire on Teman
to devour the palaces of Bozrah.
For Three Crimes of Ammon
13 Thus says the Lord:
For three crimes of the Ammonites, and for four,
I will not revoke my decree.
Because they ripped open the pregnant women in Gilead
in their determination to enlarge their territory,
14 I will send down fire upon the walls of Rabbah[e]
to devour its palaces
amid war cries on the day of battle
and violent storms on the day of the whirlwind.
15 Then their king will go into exile,
accompanied by his chief advisors,
says the Lord.
Footnotes
- Amos 1:1 Amos’s message comes in the middle of a peaceful century, the eighth century B.C. According to the editor, the message applies to the whole Israelite people; this is why he mentions the king of the south (Uzziah: 781–740 B.C.) as well as the king of the north (Jeroboam II: 783–743 B.C.). We have no other information regarding the time of the great earthquake, which must have shaken Amos’s contemporaries, since they would have seen it as fulfilling the prophet’s threats.
- Amos 1:3 In the course of liturgical celebrations, the prophets often cursed the enemies of Israel. In the curses uttered by Amos, God judges the peoples, not on the basis of Israel’s interests, but in the name of a morality that obliges all human groups. Amos’s ethical sense is exemplary.
- Amos 1:4 Hazael . . . Ben-hadad: Kings of Damascus (see 2 Ki 8:7-15; 13:3).
- Amos 1:5 Beth-eden: “Valley of delights,” a sarcastic name for Damascus. Kir: the place of origin of the Arameans (see Amos 9:7).
- Amos 1:14 Rabbah: capital of the Ammonites.
Amos 1
New International Reader's Version
1 These are the words of Amos. He was a shepherd from the town of Tekoa. Here is the vision he saw concerning Israel. It came to him two years before the earthquake. At that time Uzziah was king of Judah. Jeroboam, the son of Jehoash, was king of Israel. Here are the words of Amos.
2 He said,
“The Lord roars like a lion from Jerusalem.
His voice sounds like thunder from Zion.
The grasslands of the shepherds turn brown.
The top of Mount Carmel dries up.”
The Lord Judges Israel’s Neighbors
3 The Lord says,
“The people of Damascus have sinned again and again.
So I will judge them.
They used threshing sleds with iron teeth
to crush Gilead’s people.
4 So I will send fire to destroy the palace of King Hazael.
It will burn up the forts of his son Ben-Hadad.
5 I will break down the city gate of Damascus.
I will kill the king
who lives in the Valley of Aven, that evil place.
He holds the ruler’s scepter in Beth Eden.
The people of Aram will be taken away to Kir as prisoners,”
says the Lord.
6 The Lord says,
“The people of Gaza have sinned again and again.
So I will judge them.
They captured whole communities.
They sold them to Edom.
7 So I will send fire to destroy the walls of Gaza.
It will burn up its forts.
8 I will kill the king of Ashdod.
He holds the ruler’s scepter in Ashkelon.
I will use my power against Ekron.
Every single Philistine will die,”
says the Lord and King.
9 The Lord says,
“The people of Tyre have sinned again and again.
So I will judge them.
They captured whole communities.
They sold them to Edom.
They did not honor the treaty
of friendship they had made.
10 So I will send fire to destroy the walls of Tyre.
It will burn up its forts.”
11 The Lord says,
“The people of Edom have sinned again and again.
So I will judge them.
They chased Israel with swords
that were ready to strike them down.
They killed the women of the land.
They were angry all the time.
Their anger was like a fire that blazed out.
It could not be stopped.
12 So I will send fire to destroy the city of Teman.
It will burn up Bozrah’s forts.”
13 The Lord says,
“The people of Ammon have sinned again and again.
So I will judge them.
They ripped open the pregnant women in Gilead.
They wanted to add land to their territory.
14 So I will set fire to destroy the walls of Rabbah.
It will burn up its forts.
War cries will be heard on that day of battle.
Strong winds will blow on that stormy day.
15 Ammon’s king will be carried away.
So will his officials,”
says the Lord.
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