Amos 2
Contemporary English Version
Judgment on Moab
2 (A) The Lord said:
I will punish Moab
for countless crimes,
and I won't change my mind.
They made lime from the bones[a]
of the king of Edom.
2 Now I will send fire to destroy
the fortresses of Kerioth.[b]
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
4 The 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.
5 Now I will send fire on Judah
and destroy the fortresses
of Jerusalem.
Judgment on Israel
6 The 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.
7 They 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.
8 They 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 (B) Israel, the Amorites[c] 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.
10 I 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 (C) I chose some of you
to be prophets
and others to be Nazirites.[d]
People of Israel,
you know this is true.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
12 But you commanded the prophets
not to speak their message,
and you pressured the Nazirites
into drinking wine.
13 And so I will crush you,
just as a wagon full of grain
crushes the ground.[e]
14 No matter how fast you run,
you won't escape.
No matter how strong you are,
you will lose your strength
and your life.
15 Even 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.
16 You may be brave and strong,
but you will run away,
stripped naked.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
Footnotes
- 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.
Amos 2
1599 Geneva Bible
2 Against Moab, Judah, and Israel.
1 Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn to it, because it burnt the [a]bones of the king of Edom into lime.
2 Therefore will I send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth, and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of a trumpet.
3 And I will cut off the judge out of the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the Lord.
4 ¶ Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, [b]I will not turn to it, because they have cast away the Law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err after the which their fathers have walked.
5 Therefore will I send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
6 ¶ Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of [c]Israel, and for four, I will not turn to it, because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for [d]shoes.
7 They gape over the head of the poor, in the [e]dust of the earth, and pervert the ways of the meek: and a man and his father will go in to a maid, to dishonor mine holy Name.
8 And they lie down upon clothes laid to pledge [f]by every altar: and they [g]drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their God.
9 Yet destroyed I the [h]Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks: notwithstanding I destroyed his fruit from above, and his root from beneath.
10 Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
11 And I raised up of your sons for Prophets, and of [i]your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord?
12 But ye gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the Prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
13 Behold, I am [j]pressed under you as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.
14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the [k]swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty save his life.
15 Nor he that handleth the bow shall stand, and he that is swift of foot, shall not escape, neither shall he that rideth the horse, save his life.
16 And he that is of a mighty courage among the strong men, shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord.
Footnotes
- Amos 2:1 For the Moabites were so cruel against the king of Edom, that they burnt his bones after that he was dead: which declared their barbarous rage, seeing they would revenge themselves of the dead.
- Amos 2:4 Seeing the Gentiles that had not so far knowledge were thus punished, Judah which was so fully instructed of the Lord’s will, might not think to escape.
- Amos 2:6 If he spare not Judah unto whom his promises were made, much more he will not spare this degenerate kingdom.
- Amos 2:6 They esteemed most vile bribes more than men’s lives.
- Amos 2:7 When they have spoiled him and thrown him unto the ground, they gape for his life.
- Amos 2:8 Thinking by these ceremonies, that is, by sacrificing, and being near mine altar, they may excuse all their other wickedness.
- Amos 2:8 They spoil others and offer thereof unto God, thinking that he will dispense with them, when he is made partaker of their iniquity.
- Amos 2:9 The destruction of their enemies and his mercy toward them, should have caused their hearts to melt for love toward him.
- Amos 2:11 Ye contemned my benefits, and abused my graces, and craftily went about to stop the mouths of my Prophets.
- Amos 2:13 You have wearied me with your sins, Isa. 1:14.
- Amos 2:14 None shall be delivered by any means.
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