Beginning
1 The words of Amos, who was among the sheep breeders[a] from Tekoa. He saw a vision concerning Israel during the days of Uzziah king of Judah and during the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
2 He said:
The Lord roars from Zion.
From Jerusalem he sends out his voice.
The pastures of the shepherds dry up,[b]
and the top of Mount Carmel withers.
Judgment Against Aram
3 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins[c] of Damascus,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because they cut up Gilead with iron threshing boards.[d]
4 So I will send fire against the house of Hazael,
and it will consume the fortresses of Ben Hadad.
5 I will break the bars of the gates of Damascus,
and I will cut off the one seated in the Valley of Aven,
and the one who holds a scepter in Beth Eden.[e]
So the people of Aram will go into exile toward Kir.[f]
The Lord has spoken.
Judgment Against Philistia
6 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins of Gaza,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because they sold an entire population into exile,
handing them over to Edom.
7 So I will send fire against the city wall of Gaza,
and it will consume her citadels.
8 I will cut off the one seated in Ashdod,
and the one who holds a scepter in Ashkelon.
I will also turn my hand against Ekron,
and what is left of the Philistines will perish.
The Lord God has spoken.
Judgment Against Canaan
9 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins of Tyre,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because they delivered over an entire population and exiled them to Edom,
and they did not remember a treaty of brotherhood.
10 So I will send fire against the city wall of Tyre,
and it will consume her citadels.
Judgment Against Edom
11 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins of Edom,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because he[g] pursued his brother with a sword,
and he had no compassion.[h]
His anger kept tearing Israel apart,
and his fury raged without stopping.
12 So I will send fire against Teman,
and it will consume the citadels of Bozrah.
Judgment Against Ammon
13 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins of the Ammonites,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their own territory.
14 So I will ignite a fire against the city wall of Rabbah,
and it will consume her citadels
with a battle cry on the day of war,
with a strong wind on the day of the storm.
15 Then their king will go into exile,
he and his officials together.
The Lord has spoken.
Judgment Against Moab
2 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins of Moab,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because they burned the bones of the king of Edom to make lime.
2 So I will send fire against Moab,
and it will consume the citadels of Kerioth.
Moab will die in an uproar,
with a battle cry, with a blast of a ram’s horn.
3 I will cut off the judge[i] from her midst,
and I will kill all her officials with him.
The Lord has spoken.
Judgment Against Judah
4 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins of Judah,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because they rejected the law of the Lord,
and they did not keep his statutes.
Their lying idols led them astray,
the idols that their fathers followed.
5 So I will send fire against Judah,
and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.
Judgment Against Israel
6 This is what the Lord says:
Because of three sins of Israel,
because of four, I will not hold back judgment,
because they sell the righteous for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
7 They trample the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth,
and they turn aside the claims of the oppressed.
A man and his father go to the same young woman.
In this way they profane my holy name.
8 They stretch themselves out beside every altar
on pieces of clothing they seized as collateral.
In the temple of their gods they drink wine obtained through fines.
9 I was the one who destroyed the Amorites in front of them,
the Amorites, who were as tall as cedars,
who were as strong as oaks.
I destroyed their fruit above and their roots below.
10 I myself brought you up from the land of Egypt,
and I led you in the wilderness for forty years,
so that you would take possession of the land of the Amorites.
11 I raised up some of your sons to be prophets,
and some of your best young men to be Nazirites.
Is this not so, you people of Israel? declares the Lord.
12 But you made the Nazirites drink wine,
and you commanded the prophets, “You must not prophesy!”
13 Look, I am weighed down under you,
just as a cart is weighed down when it is loaded with sheaves of grain.[j]
14 There will be no escape for the swift runner.
The powerful man will not be able to exert his strength,
and the strong warrior will not be able to save his own life.
15 The archer will not stand his ground.
The swift runner will not save himself,
and the horseman will not save his own life.
16 The most courageous among the warriors will flee naked on that day,
declares the Lord.
Why Amos Must Prophesy
3 People of Israel, listen to this word that the Lord has spoken concerning you, concerning the entire family of clans that I brought up from the land of Egypt:
2 You alone have I chosen[k] from all the clans of the earth.
Therefore I will inflict punishment on you for all your guilt.
3 Can two people walk together without agreeing to do so?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest if it does not have prey?
Does a young lion growl from its den if it has not caught anything?
5 Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground if there is no bait?
Does a trap spring up from the ground when nothing has tripped it?
6 If a ram’s horn is sounded in a city, the people become alarmed, don’t they?
If a disaster takes place in a city, is it not the Lord who has done it?
7 Certainly the Lord God does not do anything
without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.
8 A lion has roared! Who can avoid being terrified?
The Lord God has spoken! Who can hold back from prophesying?
Judgment Against Samaria
9 Make this known to the citadels in Ashdod
and to the citadels in the land of Egypt.
Tell them, “Gather yourselves together on the mountains of Samaria.
See the great confusion[l] there
and the oppression in her midst.”
10 They do not know how to do what is right, declares the Lord.
They are storing up violence and destruction in their citadels.
11 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says:
An enemy is all over the land.
He will strip your strength from you,
and your citadels will be plundered.
12 This is what the Lord says:
Just as a shepherd rescues two legs or a tip of an ear
from the mouth of a lion,
so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be rescued
with only a corner of a bed or a piece of cloth[m] from a couch.
13 Listen and testify against the house of Jacob,
declares the Lord God, the God of Armies.
14 Indeed, on the day when I punish the rebellious deeds of Israel,
I will punish the altars of Bethel.
The horns of the altar will be cut off,
and they will fall to the ground.
15 I will strike the winter house
along with the summer house.
The houses decorated with ivory will be destroyed,
and the great houses will come to an end,
declares the Lord.
4 Listen to this, you cows of Bashan,
who are on the mountain of Samaria,
you women who are oppressing the poor,
who are crushing the needy,
who say to your husbands, “Bring us more drinks!”
2 The Lord God swears by his holiness:
The days are surely coming against you,
when they will drag you away with hooks,
every last one of you with fishhooks.
3 You will go out through the broken-down walls.
Each woman will go straight ahead,
and you will be thrown out[n] toward Harmon,[o]
declares the Lord.
4 Go to Bethel and rebel.
Rebel even more at Gilgal.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every third day.
5 Burn some leavened bread as a thank offering,
and proclaim voluntary offerings—announce them!
For you love to do this, you people of Israel,
says the Lord God.
Warnings Produce No Repentance
6 I am the one who gave to you clean teeth[p] in all of your cities,
and lack of food in all your places,
but you did not return to me,
declares the Lord.
7 I am the one who withheld the rain from you
while there were still three months before the harvest.
I would send rain on one city,
but on another city I would not send rain.
One plot of ground would receive rain,
but another plot, on which it did not rain, would dry up.
8 Whenever people from two or three cities staggered to another city to get water to drink,
they would not have enough,
but you did not return to me,
declares the Lord.
9 I struck you with blight and mildew.
Your many gardens, your vineyards, your fig trees,
and your olive trees were devoured by locusts,
but you did not return to me,
declares the Lord.
10 I sent plagues against you like the plagues in Egypt.
I killed your best soldiers with the sword,
together with your captured horses.
I made the stench of your camp rise up into your nostrils,
but you did not return to me,
declares the Lord.
11 I overthrew some of you,
just as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you became like a burning stick snatched from the fire,
but you did not return to me,
declares the Lord.
12 Therefore, this is what I will do to you, Israel.
Yes, this is what I will do to you:
Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
13 Indeed, he who forms mountains and who creates wind,
who declares his thoughts to mankind,
who turns dawn into darkness,
and who treads down the high places of the earth,
the Lord, the God of Armies, is his name.
Mourning for Fallen Israel
5 Listen to this word that I am raising against you as a lament,[q] O house of Israel:
2 Virgin Israel has fallen, and she will not rise again.
She is abandoned on her own soil.
There is no one to lift her up.
3 For this is what the Lord God says:
A city that marches out with a thousand will have a hundred left.
A city that marches out with a hundred will have ten left for the house of Israel.
Seek the Lord and Live!
4 Listen, this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel:
Seek me and live!
5 But do not seek Bethel.
Do not go to Gilgal.
Do not travel to Beersheba,
because Gilgal surely will go into exile,
and Bethel will become nothing.
6 Seek the Lord and live,
or he will rush upon the house of Joseph like fire.
The fire will consume, and no one will extinguish it for Bethel.
7 There are some who turn justice into wormwood,[r]
who throw righteousness to the ground.
8 There is one who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns the shadow of death into morning,
who darkens day into night,
who summons the waters of the seas,
who pours them out upon the face of the earth—
the Lord is his name.
9 He causes destruction to flash against a stronghold,
and destruction comes upon a fortress.
10 There are those who hate an arbitrator[s] in the city gate.[t]
They despise anyone who speaks honestly.
11 That is why you trample on the poor,
and you collect taxes on their grain.
You have built houses of cut stones,
but you will not live in them.
You have planted choice vineyards,
but you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know that your rebellious deeds are many,
and your sins are numerous,
you who are enemies of a righteous man,
you who take bribes.
They thrust away needy people in the city gate.
13 That is why a prudent man will be silent in that time,
because it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil, so that you may live,
and then it will be like this for you:
The Lord, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you claim.
15 Hate evil and love good.
Establish justice in the city gate.
Perhaps the Lord, the God of Armies,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore, this is what the Lord says,
the God of Armies, who is the Lord:
In the city squares there will be grief,
and in the streets they will say, “Woe, woe!”
They will summon the farmer to mourn
and the professional mourners to sing laments.
17 In all the vineyards there will be grief,
because I will pass through your midst, says the Lord.
The Day of the Lord Brings Darkness
18 Woe to those who long for the Day of the Lord!
What good will the Day of the Lord be for you?
It will be darkness and not light.
19 It will be as if a man flees from a lion,
but a bear meets him,
or he enters a house and rests his hand on a wall,
but a snake bites him.
20 Will not the Day of the Lord be darkness and not light,
gloom without a trace of brightness?
The Lord Hates Faithless Worship
21 I hate, I reject, your festivals!
I do not delight in the aroma of the sacrifices at your sacred convocations.
22 Even if you offer up to me your whole burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
I will not pay any attention to your fellowship offerings of fattened calves.
23 Get the noise of your songs away from me!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll like the waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 Did you bring me sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?
26 You lifted up images of Sakkuth, your king,
and of Kiyyun, your star god, which you made for yourselves.[u]
27 So I will exile you beyond Damascus,
says the Lord, whose name is the God of Armies.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.