Beginning
1 These are the words of Amos, one of the shepherds in Tekoa, a city in the highlands of Judah. God gave him these visions regarding Israel in the time of Uzziah (who ruled Judah) and Jeroboam (the son of Joash, who ruled Israel) two years before the great earthquake.
2 The Eternal One roars from Zion;
His voice thunders from Jerusalem.
The pastures shrivel and die beneath the shepherds’ feet,
and the crest of Mount Carmel dries to dust as all await His judgment.
3 Eternal One: For three crimes of Damascus,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they have threshed the people of Gilead
with threshing-sledges made of iron.
4 I will send down fire on the house of Hazael, the ruler in Damascus,
and burn down the fortresses of Ben-hadad, his son and successor.
5 I will smash the gates of Damascus,
wipe out those who live in the valley of Aven.
I will cut off the hand that holds the scepter in Beth-eden
and force the people of Aram into exile in Kir.
So says the Eternal about Aram, Israel’s constant enemy to the northeast.
6 Eternal One: For three crimes of Gaza,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they sent entire communities into exile,
including women and children,
Because they sold My people
as slaves to Edom.
7 So I will send down fire on the wall that protects Gaza
and burn down all of its fortifications.
8 I will destroy those who live in Ashdod
and cut off the hand that holds the scepter in Ashkelon.
I will raise My hand against Ekron and the rest of the Philistines;
even those in the formerly great city of Gath will perish.
Four of the five major cities of Philistia are mentioned here; only Gath is excluded. It was previously destroyed by Judah under King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:6).
So says the Eternal Lord about Philistia, Israel’s enemy in the southwest.
9 Here is what the Eternal says about Tyre, that maritime power to the northwest:
Eternal One: For three crimes of Tyre,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they also handed over whole communities to Edom
and ignored the covenant of brotherhood, the treaty between Phoenicia and Israel.
10 So I will send down fire on the wall that protects Tyre
and burn down all of its fortifications.
11 Here is what the Eternal says about Edom, our neighbor to the southeast:
Eternal One: For three crimes of Edom,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because he pursued his brother, Israel, with the sword
without any pity,
Because he continually stoked his anger
and nourished his rage.
12 So I will send down fire on Teman, its largest city in the south,
and burn down the fortresses of Bozrah in the north.
13 Here is what the Eternal says about Ammon, just northeast of the Jordan:
Eternal One: For three crimes of the Ammonites,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they ripped open the bellies of pregnant women in Gilead
as they made war to expand their territory.
14 So I will send down fire on the wall that protects Rabbah, its only major city,
and burn down all of its fortifications.
With shouts and war cries on the day of battle,
with a whirlwind in the midst of the storm,
15 I will force the king into exile,
along with all the officials who counsel him.
So says the Eternal One.
2 Here is what the Eternal says about Moab, Ammon’s brother nation east of the Jordan:
Eternal One: For three crimes of Moab,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they burned to ash the bones of the king of Edom,
believing this would prevent his resurrection.
2 So I will send down fire on Moab and burn down the fortresses of Kerioth,
where the people worship Chemosh.
Moab will be destroyed in an uproar,
with warriors screaming and war horns blaring,
3 And I will destroy their ruler,
along with all the officials who counsel him.
4 Here is what the Eternal says about Judah:
Eternal One: For three crimes of Judah,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they have rejected the teachings of the Eternal One
and have not kept His commandments,
But they have walked away to follow the same lying idols
their ancestors pursued.
5 So I will send down fire on Judah
and burn down all the fortresses of Jerusalem.
6 Here, Israel, is what the Eternal says about your past and present behavior:
Eternal One: For three crimes of Israel,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they have sold the right-living for silver
and the poor and their property for a pair of sandals.
7 They have trampled the heads of the weak into the dirt
and pushed the oppressed even further down.
A father and his son sleep with the same girl,
trampling My holy name in the process.
8 And the religious lie beside every altar
on garments taken as collateral from their debtors;
And in the house of their pagan god, they drink
wine bought with the fines they have imposed on others.
9 Still I destroyed all of Canaan’s Amorites before them,
those Canaanites who were as tall as the towering cedars,
as strong as the mighty oaks.
As entrenched as they were, I still destroyed their fruit above
and their roots underneath My promised land.
10 And I brought you up out of the land of Egypt
and led you safely through 40 years of wilderness wandering
to take possession of the land of the Amorites.
11 I took some of your children and raised them up as prophets,
and I called some of your youth to be Nazirites, set aside to My service.
Isn’t this true, people of Israel?
God’s very own people are forcing those who have dedicated their service to Him to abandon their calling. Here He renders His judgment on them.
So says the Eternal.
12 Eternal One: But you made the Nazirites break their vows and drink wine.
You told the prophets, “Don’t you dare prophesy!”
13 I will press you down beneath your enemies, just as a wagon full of fresh grain creaks
and groans beneath its own weight.
14 The swift will lose their speed; there will be no escape;
the strong will lose his strength; the warrior will not survive the battle;
15 The archer will not be able to stand his ground and aim his arrows.
Even the fastest runner will not escape, nor will the one who rides on horseback.
16 The bravest and strongest soldiers will throw down their weapons
and run naked for cover on that day.
So says the Eternal One.
We are appalled to hear of horrible atrocities and crimes against humanity. Today we work to put an end to ethnic cleansing and sex trafficking, but these crimes are nothing new. Consider the world Amos occupies: it’s a world where the Philistines, the most technologically advanced people in their region, sell people into slavery; where the Edomites attack their neighbors in hand-to-hand combat and violently end their lives; where Ammonites rip open pregnant women in order to annex a few more acres; and where the Israelites, God’s own covenant people, sell the needy, while both father and son have sexual relationships with the same girl. If we are appalled to hear these stories, imagine how much more God, the Father of all, is angry with those who act in these ways. Since God’s prophet Amos knows His mind, he will not sit idly by and let the poor and right-living suffer.
3 Hear the message that the Eternal has spoken about you, people of Israel—the words He has spoken against the whole family:
Eternal One: I brought you up from Egypt
2 Of all the peoples on the earth,
I knew and chose you for a relationship with Me.
So I will punish you for the wrong you have done.
3 Do two people travel together
if they had to set up a time to meet?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest
if it has not found its prey?
Does a young lion growl in its den
if it has not caught something?
5 Does a bird fall into a trap
if no net has been set for it?
Does a trap snap shut
if nothing has set it off?
6 Does the trumpet sound the alarm in the city
without frightening the people?
Does disaster come to a city
unless the Eternal One has permitted it?
7 The answer to all is the same: No.
The Eternal Lord does nothing
Without revealing His plan to His servants, the prophets.
They are His spokespeople.
8 The lion has roared;
who is not afraid?
The Eternal Lord has been heard;
His prophets can’t help but prophesy.
9 Speak to the fortresses of Ashdod
and to the fortresses in the land of Egypt.
Tell their leaders, “Gather on the hillsides in Samaria
and see what great wrongs are done in Israel;
Witness the acts of oppression done there.
10 Eternal One: Those who fill their fortresses with finery through violence and robbery
have no idea how to do what is right.
Israel has forgotten God’s laws, so of course the people can’t follow them. They have fallen into slavery and oppression.
11 So the Eternal Lord says to Israel,
Eternal One: An enemy will surround and besiege your land.
It will overwhelm your defenses, and your fortresses will be plundered.
12 Just as the shepherd rescues two legs or the tip of an ear from the hungry lion, that is the kind of rescue the wealthy people of God dwelling in Samaria will see: only a small piece of fabric from their luxurious linens and furnishings will remain.[a]
13 Listen to what I am saying, and testify against Jacob’s house.
The Eternal Lord, the Commander of heavenly armies, says,
14 Eternal One: On the day I punish Israel for its wrongdoing,
I will also fall upon the altars of Bethel, that center of cultic worship,
Where the horns of the altar will be hacked off
and topple to the ground, making their illegal sacrifice impossible.
15 I will demolish the winter house of the rich and the summer house as well;
their palaces decorated with ivory will be torn down,
And their fine mansions will be laid low.
So says the Eternal One.
4 Hear this word, you cows on the fertile pastures of Bashan,
who grow fat and happy on the hillsides of Samaria,
Who oppress the poor and destroy the needy
while you order your husbands to do your own work.
2 The Eternal Lord has made a vow by His own holiness:
Eternal One: The day will come when your enemy will drag you away
with hooks like sides of beef—will subdue you with fishhooks, each and every one of you.
3 You’ll be forced to leave through breached walls,
each one of you taken straight out and cast into Harmon, a place of exile.
4 I dare you: Come to My shrine at Bethel and do wrong;
come, worship Me at Gilgal, and watch your sins multiply.
Go ahead, bring your ritual sacrifices there every morning
and ten percent of your earnings every three days.
5 Burn a thanksgiving offering of leavened bread,
boast about your freewill offerings, and let everyone know
because these things are what you love to do, people of Israel.
So says the Eternal Lord.
6 Eternal One: I kept your teeth clean and your stomachs empty
when famine struck all your cities and no food could be found in your towns,
But still you did not come back to Me.
7 I held back the rain from your fields
when there were still three months left until harvest.
I would send rain on one city
but not on another.
I would send rain on one field
but not on another, so the dry field withered.
8 So people from two or three towns stumbled to one
that had water to drink, but they were still thirsty.
And still you did not return to Me.
9 I struck your crops with disease and mildew.
Whatever survived in your gardens and vineyards,
Whatever remained of your fig and olive trees, the locusts devoured;
and still you did not return to Me.
10 I sent plagues on you like the plagues I unleashed upon Egypt.
I slaughtered your young men in battle,
Stole away your horses, and sent the stench
of those bodies rotting in your camps reeking into your nostrils;
And still you did not return to Me.
11 I destroyed some of you as I destroyed the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,
and those who survived were like a smoking branch plucked from the fire;
And still you did not return to Me.
12 So this is what I am going to do to you, Israel.
Because of what I am planning, prepare to meet your God, people of Israel!
13 Witness the One who shapes the mountains and fashions the wind,
who reveals His thoughts to human beings,
Who changes dawn to darkness
and treads upon the high places of the earth.
The Eternal God, Commander of heavenly armies, is His name.
5 Hear this message I sing about you;
it is my dirge for you, people of Israel:
2 The virgin Israel has fallen,
fallen never to rise again;
Forsaken in her land, forgotten where she lies.
No one is there to help her rise again.
3 So says the Eternal Lord:
Eternal One: The city that sent out a thousand soldiers
will see only a hundred of them survive;
And the town that sent out a hundred
will see only ten remain for the house of Israel.
4 So says the Eternal to Israel:
Eternal One: Turn back to Me and you will live. There is still time.
5 But don’t hang your hopes on Bethel,
Or travel to Gilgal or Beersheba or any other sanctuary expecting help,
because Gilgal will surely be sent into exile,
And the shrine at Bethel will come to nothing.
6 Turn back to the Eternal One, and you will live.
If you don’t, He will flame up like fire against the house of Joseph,
Burn it to the ground, and no one in Bethel will be able to put it out.
7 Listen, you who distort justice and make it taste bitter
and trample righteousness to the ground.
8 The One who set the Pleiades and Orion in the heavens,
who turns night’s shadow into morning and darkens the day with night,
Who calls forth the waters of the sea to pour down rain and flood the earth—
the Eternal One is His name,
9 Who destroys the mighty in a flash,
and crashes against the fortress with the force of a tidal wave.
10 Those of you who hold power now hate the one who judges in the courts at the gate
and detest anybody who speaks the truth.
11 So because you have climbed to success on the backs of the poor[b]
and your wealth comes from taxes you impose on their harvests,
You may well build mansions of expensively-cut stones,
but you’ll never occupy them.
You may plant beautiful vineyards,
but you’ll never enjoy their delicious wine.
12 For I know the depth of evil that you’ve done,
and I see the gravity of your sins:
You persecute those who do the right thing, you take bribes,
and you push the poor to one side in the courts at the city gates instead of helping them.
13 So the wise may decide to keep quiet just then,
because truly, it is an evil time.
14 Search for good and not for evil
so that you may live;
That way the Eternal God, the Commander of heavenly armies, will be at your side,
as you yourselves have even said.
15 Hate what is evil, and love all that is good;
apply His laws justly in the courts at the city gates,
And it may be that the Eternal God, the Commander of heavenly armies,
will have mercy on those descendants of Joseph who survived.
Amos looks into the future to a day when God’s judgment will fall on His people. But judgment and destruction are not intended to be the end. The last word belongs to God, and it is a word of mercy on His covenant people. Sin, of course, must be dealt with; it must be punished decisively. But in God’s grace, some will survive the onslaught. These survivors the prophets call “the remnant.” They are the ones God destines to be restored and to carry on His name. Centuries later, the remnant will refound Israel and extend the covenant blessings to every family on the face of the earth.
16 So says the Eternal God, Commander of heavenly armies, the Lord of all:
Eternal One: Get ready to hear wailing from every street,
people crying out in pain and sorrow along every highway.
The farmers will be pulled away from their fields to mourn,
and those who are trained to grieve will wail with them.
17 In every vineyard, there will be mourning
because I will pass through the middle of you.
Says the Eternal One.
Most people think they are OK with God; it’s the other fellow who should be worried. Some apparently think that they will fare well in the day of the Eternal One, a day when God will judge sin and defeat His enemies. Ironically, God’s own people have become His enemies. So Amos warns that the day of the Eternal One will bring a big surprise to those who think they are in good standing with God. It will be a day of darkness, not light—a day of gloom from which there will be no escape.
18 How horrible for you who look forward to the day of the Eternal One!
Why do you want it to come?
For you, its arrival will mean darkness, not light.
19 It will be as if you were to escape from a lion
only to run headlong into a bear,
As if you ran into a house to hide, leaned against the wall to rest,
and a poisonous snake latched onto your hand.
20 Will not the day of the Eternal One be darkness instead of light,
pitch black, without even a hint of brightness?
21 Eternal One: I hate—I totally reject—your religious ceremonies
and have nothing to do with your solemn gatherings.
22 You can offer Me whole burnt offerings and grain offerings,
but I will not accept them.
You can sacrifice your finest, fattest young animals as a peace offering,
but I will not even look up.
23 And stop making that music for Me—it’s just noise.
I will not listen to the melodies you play on the harp.
24 Here’s what I want: Let justice thunder down like a waterfall;
let righteousness flow like a mighty river that never runs dry.
25 Did you offer Me sacrifices or give Me offerings during the 40 years I guided you in the wilderness, people of Israel? 26 But now you place your trust in false gods; you pray to the idols Sikkuth (your king) and Kiyyun (the star god), those detestable images that you’ve made for yourselves. 27 Because of your worship offered to man-made images, you must go away—beyond Damascus.[c]
So says the Eternal God, the Commander of heavenly armies.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.