Amos 3-4

Complete Jewish Bible

² “Of all the families on earth,
only you have I intimately known.
This is why I will punish you
for all your crimes.”
³ Do two people travel together
without having so agreed?
⁴ Does a lion roar in the forest
when it has no prey?
Does a young lion growl in his lair
if it has caught nothing?
⁵ Does a bird get caught in a trap on the ground
if it hasn’t been baited?
Does a trap spring up from the ground
when it has taken nothing?
⁶ When the shofar is blown in the city,
don’t the people tremble?
Can disaster befall a city
without Adonai’s having done it?
⁷ Adonai, God, does nothing without
revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.
⁸ The lion has roared. Who will not fear?
Adonai, God, has spoken. Who will not prophesy?

⁹ “Proclaim it on the palaces in Ashdod
and on the palaces in the land of Egypt; say:
‘Assemble yourselves on the hills of Shomron!
See what great tumult is seething within it,
how much oppression is being done there.’
¹⁰ For they don’t know how to do right,” says Adonai.
“They store up violence and robbery in their palaces.”

¹¹ Therefore, here is what Adonai Elohim says:

“An enemy will surround the land.
He will strip you of your strength,
and plunder your palaces.”

¹² This is what Adonai says:

¹³ “As a shepherd rescues from the mouth of a lion
a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear;
so the people of Isra’el in Shomron will be rescued,
huddled under cushions in the corners of their beds.

“Hear, and testify against the house of Ya‘akov,”
says Adonai Elohim Elohei-Tzva’ot.
¹⁴ “For when I punish Isra’el’s crimes,
I will also punish the altars of Beit-El.
The horns of the altar will be cut off,
and they will fall to the ground.

¹⁵ I will tear down winter houses
as well as summer houses;
houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed;
the mansions will be no more,” says Adonai.
4 “Listen, you [lovely] cows of Bashan,
who live on Mount Shomron,
who oppress the poor and grind down the needy,
who say to their husbands, ‘Bring something to drink’:
² Adonai Elohim has sworn by his holiness
that your time is surely coming.

“You will be dragged away with hooks,
the last of you with fishhooks.
³ You will leave through breaks in the wall,
each woman right behind the next,
and be sent off to Harmonah,” says Adonai.

⁴ “Come to Beit-El, and commit crimes;
to Gilgal, and commit more crimes!
Bring your sacrifices in the morning
and your tithes after three days;
⁵ burn leavened bread as a thank offering;
brag in public about your voluntary offerings;
because that’s what you love to do, Isra’el!”
says Adonai Elohim.

⁶ “I made your teeth clean of food in all your cities,
left you nothing to eat in all your villages;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.

⁷ “I withheld the rain from you
three months before the harvest.
I made it rain on one city
and not on another —
one field had rain,
while another with no rain dried up;
⁸ from two or three cities they would stagger to one city
for water to drink, but there wasn’t enough;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.

⁹ “I struck your crops with hot winds and blight,
your many gardens and vineyards;
the cutter-worms devoured
your fig and olive trees;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.

¹⁰ “I sent a plague on you like that of Egypt,
put your young men to death with the sword;
let your horses be captured;
and filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.
¹¹ “I overthrew some of you,
as when God overthrew S’dom and ‘Amora;
you were like a burning stick snatched from the fire;
still you haven’t returned to me,” says Adonai.

¹² “This is why I will deal with you in this way, Isra’el;
and because I will deal with you in this way,
prepare to meet your God, Isra’el —
¹³ him who forms mountains and creates wind,
who declares to humankind his thoughts,
who turns the morning to darkness
and strides on the heights of the earth —
Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot is his name.”