Beginning

1 These are the words of Amos, a shepherd of Tekoa, which he received in special dreams about Israel two years before the earth shook. Uzziah was king of Judah then, and Jeroboam the son of Joash was the king of Israel. ² He said, “The Lord makes a loud noise from Zion. He lets His voice be heard from Jerusalem. And the shepherds’ fields are filled with sorrow, and the top of Carmel dries up.”

God Judges Israel’s Neighbors—Syria

³ The Lord says, “For three sins of Damascus and for four, I will not hold back punishment. They have crushed Gilead with tools of sharp iron. ⁴ So I will send fire upon the people of Hazael, and it will destroy the strong-places of Ben-hadad. ⁵ I will break down the gate of Damascus, and destroy the people from the Valley of Aven and the king from Beth-Eden. The people of Syria will be taken away to Kir,” says the Lord.

Philistia

⁶ The Lord says, “For three sins of Gaza and for four, I will not hold back punishment. They took a nation of people away and sold them to Edom. ⁷ So I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it will destroy her strong-places. ⁸ I will destroy the people from Ashdod and the king from Ashkelon. I will send My power against Ekron, and the rest of the Philistines will die,” says the Lord God.

Tyre

⁹ The Lord says, “For three sins of Tyre and for four, I will not hold back punishment. They took a nation of people and sold them to Edom. They did not remember the agreement between brothers. ¹⁰ So I will send fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it will destroy her strong-places.”

Edom

¹¹ The Lord says, “For three sins of Edom and for four, I will not hold back punishment. He went after his brother with the sword and would not have loving-pity. He was always angry, and he held on to his anger forever. ¹² So I will send fire upon Teman, and it will destroy the strong-places of Bozrah.”

Ammon

¹³ The Lord says, “For three sins of Ammon and for four, I will not hold back punishment. They tore open the women of Gilead who were going to have a baby, so that they would get more land. ¹⁴ So I will set a fire on the wall of Rabbah, and it will destroy her strong-places. Then there will be cries of war on the day of battle, and strong winds on the day of the storm. ¹⁵ And their king and his sons will be taken away to a strange land,” says the Lord.

Moab

2 The Lord says, “For three sins of Moab and for four, I will not hold back punishment. He burned the bones of the king of Edom to ashes. ² So I will send fire upon Moab, and it will destroy the strong-places of Kerioth. Moab will die among much noise, with cries of war and the sound of a horn. ³ I will kill the ruler of Moab and all his sons with him,” says the Lord.

Judah

⁴ The Lord says, “For three sins of Judah and for four, I will not hold back punishment. They turned away from the Law of the Lord. They have not obeyed His Laws. They have gone the wrong way, following the lies of their fathers. ⁵ So I will send fire upon Judah, and it will destroy the strong-places of Jerusalem.”

God Judges Israel

⁶ The Lord says, “For three sins of Israel and for four, I will not hold back punishment. They sell those who are right and good for money. To get shoes, they sell people who are in need. ⁷ They crush those who are poor in the dust of the earth with their feet. They push the poor out of the way. A man and his father go to the same girl and sin against My holy name. ⁸ They lie down beside every altar on clothing taken as trust for promises. And in the house of their God they drink the wine which was paid by those who have done wrong.

⁹ “I destroyed the Amorite before them, who was as tall as the cedar trees and as strong as the oaks. I destroyed his fruit above and his root below. ¹⁰ I brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you in the desert for forty years to give you the land of the Amorite. ¹¹ Then I raised up some of your sons to speak for Me, and some of your young men to be Nazirites. Is this not true, you sons of Israel?” says the Lord. ¹² “But you made the Nazirites drink wine. And you told the men who speak for Me not to speak. ¹³ Now I will crush you down like a wagon is crushed under a heavy load of grain. ¹⁴ Even the fast man will not get away. The strong man will not keep his strength. And the powerful man will not save his life. ¹⁵ He who uses the bow will not stand. The fast runner will not get away. The horseman will not save his life. ¹⁶ Even the strongest of heart among the men of war will run away without clothes on that day,” says the Lord.

Word from the Man of God

3 O people of Israel, hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you and against the whole family which He brought up from the land of Egypt. ² “You are the only ones I have chosen among all the families of the earth. So I must punish you for all your sins.” ³ Do two men walk together unless they have made an agreement? ⁴ Does a lion make noise among the trees when he has no food? Does a young lion cry out from his home if he has not caught anything? ⁵ Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no food to tempt it? Does a trap jump up from the ground when it does not catch anything? ⁶ Are not the people afraid when a horn is blown in a city? When trouble comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? ⁷ For sure the Lord does not do anything without making His plan known to His servants who speak for Him. ⁸ The lion has made a noise! Who will not be afraid? The Lord God has spoken! Who can keep from speaking His Word?

Israel Will Be Punished for Its Sin

⁹ Say to the people who live in the strong cities of Ashdod and Egypt, “Gather together on the mountains of Samaria. See all the trouble within her and how her people suffer. ¹⁰ They do not know how to do what is right,” says the Lord. “They store up in their strong cities what they have fought for and robbed.”

¹¹ So the Lord God says, “Those who hate you will gather around the land. They will pull down your strong-places and rob your strong cities.” ¹² The Lord says, “As the shepherd saves from the lion’s mouth just two legs or a piece of an ear, so will the people of Israel living in Samaria be saved, with the corner of a bed and a part of a cover. ¹³ Hear and speak against the family of Jacob,” says the Lord God, the God of All. ¹⁴ “On the day I punish Israel for her sins, I will punish the altars of Bethel. The horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground. ¹⁵ I will destroy the winter house together with the summer house. The houses of ivory will be destroyed, and the beautiful houses will come to an end,” says the Lord.

4 Listen to this, you fat cows of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria. You make it hard for the poor. You crush those in need. You say to your husbands, “Bring us something to drink!” ² As the Lord God is holy, He has promised, “The days are coming when they will take you away with meat hooks. And the last of you will be taken with fish hooks. ³ You will go out through breaks in the walls. Each of you will go straight out. And you will be sent to Harmon,” says the Lord.

⁴ “Go to Bethel and sin! Go and sin much more in Gilgal! Bring your gifts in worship every morning. Every three days give a tenth part of what you receive. ⁵ Give a thank gift of bread made with yeast. And make your free-will gifts known. For this is what you love to do, O people of Israel,” says the Lord God.

Israel Did Not Learn

⁶ “I kept food from your teeth in all your cities. I did not let you have enough bread in all your places. Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. ⁷ “I kept the rain from you while there were still three months until gathering time. Then I would send rain on one city, but would send no rain on another city. One part would receive rain, while the part which did not receive rain would dry up. ⁸ People would go from city to city to drink water, but would not get enough. Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. ⁹ “I sent hot wind to dry up your fields. The locust destroyed your many gardens and grape-fields, fig trees and olive trees. Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. ¹⁰ “I sent a very bad disease upon you as I had done to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword and took your horses away. I filled your nose with the bad smell of your camp. Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. ¹¹ “I destroyed some of you as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick pulled out of the fire. Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord. ¹² “So I will do this to you, O Israel. And because I will do this to you, get ready to meet your God, O Israel.” ¹³ He is the One Who makes the mountains and the wind. He makes His thoughts known to man. He turns the morning into darkness, and walks on the high places of the earth. The Lord God of All is His name.

A Call to Turn from Sin

5 Hear this word, O people of Israel, this song of sorrow which I sing for you: ² “The young pure woman Israel has fallen, and she will not rise again. She is left alone on her land. There is no one to raise her up.” ³ For the Lord God says, “The city of Israel that sends out a thousand soldiers will have a hundred left. And the one that sends out a hundred will have ten left.”

⁴ The Lord says to the people of Israel, “Look for Me and live. ⁵ But do not look for Bethel. Do not go to Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be taken away to a strange land, and Bethel will come to nothing.” ⁶ Look for the Lord and live, or He will break out like fire in the family of Joseph. It will destroy, and no one in Bethel will be able to stop it. ⁷ You turn what is right into something bitter. You throw what is right and good down to the earth.

⁸ The Lord made the stars of Pleiades and Orion. He changes darkness into morning, and turns day into night. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the earth. The Lord is His name. ⁹ He destroys the strong, so that the strong city is laid waste.

¹⁰ They hate him who speaks strong words in the gate. They hate him who speaks the truth. ¹¹ You crush the poor under foot and make them pay taxes with their grain. Because of this, even though you have built houses of cut stone, you will not live in them and even though you have planted beautiful grape-fields, you will not drink their wine. ¹² For I know that you have done much wrong and your sins are many. You make trouble for those who are right and good, and you take pay in secret for wrong-doing. You will not be fair to the poor. ¹³ The wise man keeps quiet at such a time, for it is a sinful time.

¹⁴ Look for good and not sin, that you may live. Then the Lord God of All will be with you, just as you have said. ¹⁵ Hate sin, and love good. And let what is fair be done at the gate. It may be that the Lord God of All will show kindness to those left of Joseph.

The Day of the Lord

¹⁶ So the Lord, the Lord God of All, says, “There is a loud crying in the city. In all the streets they say, ‘It is bad! It is bad!’ They call the farmers to cry in sorrow. They call those whose work is to cry over the dead to sing songs of sorrow. ¹⁷ And there are cries of sorrow in all the grape-fields, because I will pass among you,” says the Lord.

¹⁸ It is bad for you who want the day of the Lord to come. For what will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light. ¹⁹ It will be as when a man runs away from a lion and is met by a bear. It will be as when a man goes home and rests with his hand against the wall, and gets bitten by a snake. ²⁰ Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, very dark with nothing bright in it?

²¹ “I hate your special suppers. I will have nothing to do with them. And I am not pleased with your religious meetings. ²² Even if you give Me burnt gifts and grain gifts in worship, I will not receive them. I will not even look at the peace gifts of your fat animals. ²³ Take the noise of your songs away from Me. I will not listen to the sound of your harps. ²⁴ But let what is fair roll down like waters. Let what is right and good flow forever like a river.

²⁵ “O people of Israel, was it to Me you gave gifts of animals and grain on the altar for forty years in the desert? ²⁶ You also carried with you Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun your star god, the false gods you made for yourselves. ²⁷ So I will make you go as prisoners to the other side of Damascus,” says the Lord, Whose name is the God of All.