Beginning
The Fall of Samaria
6 How horrible it will be for those who are at ease in Zion,
for those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria,
and for the heads of the leading nations,
to whom the nation of Israel comes.
2 Go to Calneh and look.
Go from there to the great city of Hamath.
Then go to Gath, the city of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Is their territory larger than yours?
3 How horrible it will be for those who think that a day of disaster is far away.
They bring the reign of violence closer.
4 How horrible it will be for those who sleep on ivory beds.
They sprawl out on their couches
and eat lambs from their flocks and calves from their stalls.
5 How horrible it will be for those who make up songs as they strum a harp.
Like David, they write all kinds of songs for themselves.
6 How horrible it will be for those who drink wine by the jugful.
They rub the finest oils all over themselves
and are not sorry for the ruin of the descendants of Joseph.
7 That is why they will now be the first to go into exile.
The celebrating of those sprawled around the banquet table will stop.
8 Adonay Yahweh has sworn an oath on himself.
Yahweh Elohe Tsebaoth declares:
I am disgusted with Jacob’s pride,
and I hate his palaces.
So I will hand over the city and everything in it.
9 If ten people are left in one house, they will die.
10 If a relative or a mortician
comes to take the dead bodies out of the house
and asks someone who is inside the house,
“Is there anyone else with you?”
that person will answer, “No.”
“Hush,” he will add.
“We shouldn’t mention the name of Yahweh!”
11 Yahweh is going to give the command
to level big houses and flatten little houses.
12 Do horses run on rocks?
Does a farmer plow the sea with oxen?
Yet, you have turned justice into something deadly
and what is righteous into poison.
13 How horrible it will be for those who rejoice over Lo Debar
and who say, “We were strong enough to capture Karnaim by ourselves.”
14 I am going to lead a nation to attack you, nation of Israel,
declares the Lord God of the Armies of the Nations.
They will oppress you from the border of Hamath to the valley of Arabah.
The Lord Threatens to Bring a Famine by Locusts
7 This is what Adonay Yahweh showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts when the second crop was being harvested. It was the harvest that followed the harvest for the king. 2 When the locusts had finished eating every plant in the land, I said, “Adonay Yahweh, please forgive us! How can the descendants of Jacob survive? There are so few of them.”
3 Yahweh changed his plans about this. “This won’t happen,” Yahweh said.
The Lord Threatens to Bring a Drought by Fire
4 This is what Adonay Yahweh showed me: Adonay Yahweh was calling for judgment by fire. The fire dried up the ocean and burned up the land. 5 Then I said, “Adonay Yahweh, please stop! How can the descendants of Jacob survive? There are so few of them.”
6 Yahweh changed his plans about this. “This won’t happen either,” Adonay Yahweh said.
The Lord Refuses to Overlook Israel’s Sin
7 This is what he showed me: Adonay was standing by a wall built with the use of a plumb line, and he had a plumb line in his hand. 8 Yahweh asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”
I answered, “A plumb line.”
Then Adonay said, “I’m going to hold a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will no longer overlook what they have done. 9 The worship sites of Isaac will be destroyed, and the holy places of Israel will be in ruins. I will attack Jeroboam’s heirs with my sword.”
Amaziah Opposes Amos
10 Then Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, sent a message to King Jeroboam of Israel. It read, “Amos is plotting against you among the people of Israel. The country isn’t able to endure everything he is saying. 11 Amos says that Jeroboam will be killed with a sword and that Israel cannot avoid being taken from its land into exile.”
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “You seer,[a] run away to Judah! Eat there, and prophesy there! 13 But don’t ever prophesy again in Bethel, because this is the king’s holy place and the king’s palace.”
14 Amos responded, “I’m not a prophet, and I’m not a disciple of the prophets. I am a rancher and a grower of figs. 15 But Yahweh took me away from herding the flock and said to me, ‘Prophesy to my people Israel.’
16 “Now listen to the word of Yahweh: You said, ‘Stop prophesying against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’
17 “However, this is what Yahweh says: Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will be killed with swords. Your land will be surveyed and divided up, and you will die in an unclean[b] land. Israel cannot avoid being taken from its land into exile.”
The End Has Come for Israel
8 This is what Adonay Yahweh showed me: a basket of ripe summer fruit.
2 He asked, “What do you see, Amos?”
“A basket of ripe summer fruit,” I answered.
Then Yahweh said to me, “My people Israel are now ripe. I will no longer overlook what they have done. 3 On that day the songs of the temple will become loud cries,” declares Adonay Yahweh. “There will be dead bodies scattered everywhere. Hush!”
4 Listen to this, those who trample on the needy
and ruin those who are oppressed in the world.
5 You say to yourselves,
“When will the New Moon Festival be over
so that we can sell more grain?
When will the day of worship be over
so that we can sell more wheat?
We can shrink the size of the bushel baskets,
increase the cost,
and cheat with dishonest scales.
6 We can buy the poor with money
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
We can sell the husks mixed in with the wheat.”
7 Yahweh has sworn an oath by Jacob’s pride:
“I will never forget anything that they have done.”
8 The land will tremble because of this.
Everyone who lives in it will mourn.
The entire land will rise like the Nile,
be tossed about, and then sink like Egypt’s river.
9 On that day, declares Adonay Yahweh,
I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your festivals into funerals
and all your songs into funeral songs.
I will put sackcloth around everyone’s waist
and shave everyone’s head.
I will make that day seem like a funeral for an only child,
and its end will be bitter.
11 The days are going to come, declares Adonay Yahweh,
when I will send a famine throughout the land.
It won’t be an ordinary famine or drought.
Instead, there will be a famine of hearing the words of Yahweh.
12 People will wander from sea to sea
and roam from the north to the east,
searching for the word of Yahweh.
But they won’t find it.
13 On that day beautiful young women and strong young men
will faint because of their thirst.
14 How horrible it will be for those who swear by Ashimah,[c]
the idol of Samaria, and say,
“I solemnly swear, Dan, as your god lives. . . .”
“I solemnly swear as long as there is a road to Beersheba. . . .”
Those who say this will fall and never get up again.
The Lord Will Sift Israel out of All the Nations
9 I saw Adonay standing by the altar, and he said:
Strike the tops of the pillars so that the foundations shake.
Cut off everyone’s head.
I will kill with a sword all who are left.
None of them will be able to get away.
None of them will be able to escape.
2 Even if they dig their way into Sheol,
my hand will take them from there.
Even if they go up to heaven,
I will bring them down from there.
3 Even if they hide on top of Mount Carmel,
I will look for them and take them from there.
Even if they hide from me at the bottom of the sea,
I will command a sea snake to bite them.
4 Even if they go into exile ahead of their enemies,
I will command a sword to kill them.
I will keep my eyes on them
so that I can bring disaster on them and not help them.
5 Adonay Yahweh Tsebaoth touches the earth.
It quakes, and all who live on it mourn.
All of it rises like the Nile
and sinks like Egypt’s river.
6 The one who builds stairs up to heaven
and sets their foundation on the earth,
the one who calls for the water in the sea
and pours it over the face of the earth—
His name is Yahweh.
7 You people of Israel are like the people from Sudan, says Yahweh.
Didn’t I bring Israel from Egypt?
Didn’t I bring the Philistines from Crete and the Arameans from Kir?
8 I, Adonay Yahweh, have my eyes on this sinful kingdom.
I will wipe it off the face of the earth.
But I won’t totally destroy the descendants of Jacob, declares Yahweh.
9 I’m going to give the order.
I will sift the nation of Israel out of all the nations
as if I were using a sieve.
Not one pebble will fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people are thinking,
“Destruction will not catch up to us or run into us.”
In spite of this, they will be killed with swords.
The Lord Will Restore His People
11 On that day I will set up David’s fallen tent.
I will repair the holes in it.
I will restore its ruined places.
I will rebuild them as they were a long time ago.
12 They will capture the few survivors of Edom
and all the other nations that were under my authority,
declares Yahweh, who will do these things.
13 The days are going to come, declares Yahweh,
when the one who plows will catch up to the one who harvests,
and the one who stomps on grapes will catch up to the one who plants.
New wine will drip from the mountains
and flow from all the hills.
14 I will restore my people Israel.
They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink the wine from them.
They will plant gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant the people of Israel in their land,
and they won’t be uprooted again from the land that I gave them,
says Yahweh your Elohim.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.