Beginning
God Warns Israel to Stop Sinning
1 Amos was one of the shepherds from the town of Tekoa. God showed him this vision about Israel. It was at the time Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel. This happened two years before the earthquake.
2 Amos said,
“The Lord will roar like a lion from Jerusalem.
His loud voice will sound like a growl from Jerusalem.
The green pastures of the shepherds will become dry.
Even Mount Carmel will dry up.”
Israel’s Neighbors Are Punished
The People of Aram
3 This is what the Lord says:
“For the many crimes Damascus is doing,
I will punish them.
They beat the people of Gilead
with threshing boards that had iron teeth.
4 So I will send fire upon the house of Hazael.
That fire will destroy the strong towers of Ben-Hadad.
5 I will break down the gate of Damascus.
I will destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven.
I will also destroy the king of Beth Eden.
The people of Aram will be taken captive to the country of Kir,” says the Lord.
The People of Philistia
6 This is what the Lord says:
“For the many crimes Gaza is doing,
I will punish them.
They sold all the people of one area
as slaves to Edom.
7 So I will send a fire on the walls of Gaza.
That fire will destroy the city’s strong towers.
8 I will destroy the king of the city of Ashdod.
I will destroy the king of the city of Ashkelon.
Then I will turn against the people of the city of Ekron.
I will punish the Philistines until they are all dead,” says the Lord God.
The People of Phoenicia
9 This is what the Lord says:
“For the many crimes Tyre is doing,
I will punish them.
They sold all the people of one area
as slaves to Edom.
They forgot the brotherly agreement they had made with Israel.
10 So I will send fire on the walls of Tyre.
That fire will destroy the city’s strong towers.”
The People of Edom
11 This is what the Lord says:
“For the many crimes Edom is doing,
I will punish them.
They hunted down their brothers, the Israelites, with the sword.
They showed them no mercy.
The people of Edom were continually angry.
And they did not hold back their great anger.
12 So I will send fire on the city of Teman.
That fire will even destroy the strong towers of Bozrah.”[a]
The People of Ammon
13 This is what the Lord says:
“For the many crimes Ammon is doing,
I will punish them.
They ripped open the pregnant women in Gilead.
They did this so they could take over that land
and make their own country larger.
14 So I will send fire on the walls of Rabbah.
That fire will destroy the city’s strong towers.
It will come during a day of battle.
There will be strong winds on a stormy day.
15 Then their king and leaders will be captured.
They will all be taken away together,” says the Lord.
The People of Moab
2 This is what the Lord says:
“For the many crimes Moab is doing,
I will punish them.
They burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.
2 So I will send fire on Moab.
And it will destroy the strong towers of the city of Kerioth.
The people of Moab will die in a great noise.
They will die in the middle of sounds of war and trumpets.
3 So I will bring an end to the king of Moab.
And I will kill all its leaders with him,” says the Lord.
The People of Judah
4 This is what the Lord says:
“For the many crimes Judah is doing,
I will punish them.
They rejected the teachings of the Lord.
They did not keep his commands.
Their ancestors followed false gods.
And Judah followed those same gods.
5 So I will send fire on Judah.
It will destroy the strong towers of Jerusalem.”
Israel Is Punished
6 This is what the Lord says:
“For the many crimes Israel is doing,
I will punish them.
For silver they sell people who have done nothing wrong.
They sell poor people for the price of a pair of sandals.
7 They walk on poor people
as if they were dirt.
They refuse to be fair to those who are suffering.
Fathers and sons have physical relations with the same woman.
By doing this they ruin my holy name.
8 As they worship at their altars,
they lie down on clothes taken from poor people.
They make people pay money as punishment.
With that money they buy wine to drink in the house of their god.
9 “But it was I who destroyed the Amorites before them.
The Amorites were tall like cedar trees and as strong as oaks.
But I destroyed them completely.
10 It was I who brought you from the land of Egypt.
For 40 years I led you through the desert.
I led you so I could give you the land of the Amorites.
11 I made some of your sons to be prophets.
I made some of your young men to be Nazirites.
People of Israel, isn’t this true?” says the Lord.
12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine.
You told the prophets not to prophesy my message.
13 Now I will crush you
as a wagon loaded with grain crushes anything beneath it.
14 No one will escape, not even the fastest runner.
Strong men will not be strong enough.
Warriors will not be able to save themselves.
15 Soldiers with bows and arrows will not stand and fight.
Even soldiers who run quickly will not get away.
Soldiers on horses will not escape alive.
16 At that time even the bravest warriors
will run away without their armor,” says the Lord.
Warning to Israel
3 Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, people of Israel. The message is against the whole nation the Lord brought out of Egypt.
2 “I have chosen only you
out of all the families of the earth.
So I will punish you
for all your sins.”
3 Two people will not walk together
unless they have agreed to do this.
4 A lion in the forest will roar
when he has caught an animal.
He does not growl in his den
when he has caught nothing.
5 A bird will not fall into a trap
where there is no bait.
The trap will not spring shut
if there is nothing to catch.
6 When a trumpet blows a warning,
the people tremble.
When trouble comes to a city,
the Lord has caused it.
7 Before the Lord God does anything,
he tells his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared!
Who wouldn’t be afraid?
The Lord God has spoken,
and I must prophesy his message.
9 Announce this to the strong towers of Ashdod.
Announce it to the strong cities of Egypt:
“Come to the mountains of Samaria.
There you will see great confusion.
You will see people hurting others.”
10 “The people don’t know how to do what is right,” says the Lord.
“Their strong cities are filled with treasures they took by force from others.”
11 So this is what the Lord God says:
“An enemy will take over the land.
He will pull down your strong towers.
He will take the treasures you hid in your strong cities.”
12 This is what the Lord says:
“A shepherd might save from a lion’s mouth
only two leg bones or a scrap of an ear of his sheep.
In the same way only a few Israelites will be saved.
These people now sit on their beds in Samaria.
They sit on their couches.”
13 “You nations, listen to what I say against the family of Israel. You are my witnesses against them,” says the Lord God, the God of heaven’s armies.
14 “The people of Israel sinned, and I will punish them.
I will also destroy the altars at Bethel.
The corners of the altar will be cut off,
and they will fall to the ground.
15 I will tear down the winter house,
together with the summer house.
The houses decorated with ivory will be destroyed.
And the great houses will come to an end,” says the Lord.
Israel Will Not Return
4 Listen to this message, you rich women on the Mountain of Samaria.
You take things from the poor
and crush people who are in need.
You tell your husbands,
“Bring us money so we can drink!”
2 The Lord God has promised this:
“It is certain that I am a holy God.
So it is certain that the time will come
when some of you will be taken away by hooks.
The rest of you will be taken away with fishhooks.
3 You will go straight out of the city
through holes in the walls.
And you will be thrown on the garbage dump,” says the Lord.
4 “Go to the city of Bethel and sin.
Go to Gilgal and sin even more.
Offer your sacrifices every morning.
Bring one-tenth of your crops on the third day.
5 Offer bread made with yeast as a sacrifice to show your thanks.
And brag about the offerings you bring to show thanks to the Lord.
Brag about these things, Israelites.
This is what you love to do,” says the Lord God.
6 “I did not give you any food to eat.
There was not enough food in any of your towns.
But you did not come back to me,” says the Lord.
7 “I held back the rain from you
three months before harvest time.
Then I let it rain on one city
but not on another.
Rain fell on one field,
but another field got none and dried up.
8 People weak from thirst went from town to town for water.
But they could not get enough water to drink.
But you still did not come back to me,” says the Lord.
9 “I made your crops die from disease and mildew.
I destroyed your gardens and your vineyards.
Locusts ate your fig trees and olive trees.
But you still did not come back to me,” says the Lord.
10 “I sent disasters against you,
as I did to Egypt.
I killed your young men with swords.
I also killed your horses.
I made you smell the stink from all the dead bodies.
But you still did not come back to me,” says the Lord.
11 “I destroyed some of you
as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick pulled from a fire.
But you still have not come back to me,” says the Lord.
12 “So this is what I will do to you, Israel.
And because I will do this to you,
get ready to meet your God, Israel.”
13 He is the one who makes the mountains.
He creates the wind.
He makes his thoughts known to man.
He changes the dawn into darkness.
He walks over the mountains of the earth.
His name is the Lord God of heaven’s armies.
Israel Needs a Change of Heart
5 Listen to this funeral song that I sing about you, people of Israel.
2 “Israel has fallen.
It will not rise up again.
It was left alone in the land.
There is no one to lift it up.”
3 This is what the Lord God says:
“If 1,000 soldiers leave a city,
only 100 will return.
If 100 soldiers leave a city,
only 10 will return.”
4 This is what the Lord says to the nation of Israel:
“Come to me and live.
5 But do not look in Bethel.
Do not go to Gilgal,
and do not go down to Beersheba.
The people of Gilgal will be taken away as captives.
And Bethel will become nothing.”
6 Come to the Lord and live.
If you don’t, he will destroy the descendants of Joseph as a fire would.
The fire will burn.
But there will be no one to put it out for Bethel.
7 You change the justice of the courts into something unfair.
You reject what is right.
8 God is the one who made the star groups Pleiades and Orion.
He changes darkness into the morning light.
And he changes the day into the dark night.
He calls for the waters of the sea
to pour out on the earth.
The Lord is his name.
9 He destroys the protected city.
And he ruins the strong, walled city.
10 You hate those who speak in court against evil.
And you hate those who tell the truth.
11 You walk on poor people.
You force them to give you grain.
You have built fancy houses of cut stone.
But you will not live in them.
You have planted beautiful vineyards.
But you will not drink the wine from them.
12 It is because I know your many crimes.
I know your terrible sins.
You hurt people who do right.
You accept money to do wrong.
You keep the poor from getting justice in court.
13 In such times the wise man will keep quiet,
because it is a bad time.
14 Try to do good, not evil.
Then you will live.
And the Lord God of heaven’s armies will be with you
just as you say he is.
15 Hate evil and love good.
Be fair in the courts.
Maybe the Lord God of heaven’s armies will be kind
to the people of Joseph who are left alive.
16 This is what the Lord, the Lord God of heaven’s armies, says:
“People will be crying in all the public places.
They will be saying, ‘Oh, no!’ in the streets.
They will call the farmers to come and weep.
They will pay people to cry out loud for them.
17 People will be crying in all the vineyards.
This is because I will pass among you to punish you,” says the Lord.
The Lord’s Day of Judging
18 How terrible it will be for you who want
the Lord’s day of judging to come.
Why do you want that day to come?
It will bring darkness for you, not light.
19 It will be like a man who runs from a lion
and meets a bear.
It will be like him going into his house
and putting his hand on the wall.
And then a snake bites him.
20 So the Lord’s day of judging will bring darkness, not light.
It will be a time of sadness, not joy.
21 The Lord says, “I hate and reject your feasts.
I cannot stand your religious meetings.
22 You offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings.
But I won’t accept them.
You bring the best fellowship offerings.
But I will ignore them.
23 Take the noise of your songs away from here!
I won’t listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice flow like a river.
Let goodness flow like a never-ending stream.
25 “People of Israel, you did not bring me sacrifices and offerings
while you traveled in the desert for 40 years.
26 But now you will have to carry with you
your king, the false god Sakkuth,
and Kaiwan your idol
and the idols of your other star gods you have made.
27 This is because I will send you away as captives beyond Damascus,”
says the Lord. His name is God of heaven’s armies.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.