Amos 1–9

The words of Amos, who was among the ashepherds1 of bTekoa, which he saw concerning Israel cin the days of dUzziah king of Judah and in the days of eJeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years2 before fthe earthquake.

And he said:

gThe Lord roars from Zion

and utters his voice from Jerusalem;

hthe pastures of the shepherds mourn,

and the itop of jCarmel withers.

Thus says the Lord:

kFor three transgressions of lDamascus,

and for four, lI will not revoke the punishment,3

because they have threshed mGilead

with threshing sledges of iron.

nSo I will send a fire upon the house of oHazael,

and it shall devour the strongholds of oBen-hadad.

I will pbreak the gate-bar of lDamascus,

and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of qAven,4

and him who holds the scepter from rBeth-eden;

and the people of sSyria shall go into exile to tKir,

says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord:

kFor three transgressions of uGaza,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

because vthey carried into exile a whole people

to deliver them up to Edom.

So I will send a fire upon the wall of uGaza,

and it shall devour her strongholds.

I will cut off the inhabitants from wAshdod,

and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;

I will turn my hand against Ekron,

and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,

says the Lord God.

Thus says the Lord:

kFor three transgressions of xTyre,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

because they delivered up a whole people to Edom,

and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.

10  So I will send a fire upon the wall of xTyre,

and it shall devour her strongholds.

11 Thus says the Lord:

kFor three transgressions of yEdom,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

ybecause he pursued his brother with the sword

zand cast off all pity,

aand his anger tore perpetually,

aand he kept his wrath forever.

12  So I will send a fire upon bTeman,

and it shall devour the strongholds of cBozrah.

13 Thus says the Lord:

kFor three transgressions of the dAmmonites,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

because ethey have ripped open pregnant women in fGilead,

that they might enlarge their border.

14  So I will kindle a fire in the wall of gRabbah,

hand it shall devour her strongholds,

with shouting on the day of battle,

hwith a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;

15  and itheir king shall go into exile,

he and his princes5 together,

says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord:

kFor three transgressions of jMoab,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,6

because khe burned to lime

the bones of the king of Edom.

So I will send a fire upon Moab,

and it shall devour the strongholds of lKerioth,

and Moab shall die amid uproar,

amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;

mI will cut off the ruler from its midst,

and will kill mall its princes7 with him,

says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord:

nFor three transgressions of Judah,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

because othey have rejected the law of the Lord,

and have not kept his statutes,

but ptheir lies have led them astray,

those after which their fathers walked.

So qI will send a fire upon Judah,

and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.

Thus says the Lord:

nFor three transgressions of Israel,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

because rthey sell the righteous for ssilver,

and the needy for a pair of sandals

those who trample the head of the poor tinto the dust of the earth

and uturn aside the way of the afflicted;

va man and his father go in to the same girl,

so that my holy name is profaned;

they lay themselves down beside every altar

on garments wtaken in pledge,

and in the house of their God they drink

the wine of those who have been fined.

Yet xit was I who destroyed the Amorite before them,

ywhose height was like the height of the cedars

and who was as strong as the oaks;

zI destroyed his fruit above

and his roots beneath.

10  aAlso it was I who brought you up out of the land of Egypt

band led you forty years in the wilderness,

xto possess the land of the Amorite.

11  And I raised up some of your sons for prophets,

and some of your young men for cNazirites.

Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?

declares the Lord.

12  But you made the Nazirites ddrink wine,

and commanded the prophets,

saying, eYou shall not prophesy.

13  Behold, I will press you down in your place,

as a cart full of sheaves presses down.

14  fFlight shall perish from the swift,

fand the strong shall not retain his strength,

gnor shall the mighty save his life;

15  he who handles the bow shall not stand,

and he who is hswift of foot shall not save himself,

inor shall he who rides the horse save his life;

16  and he who is stout of heart among the mighty

shall flee away naked in that day,

declares the Lord.

jHear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:

kYou only have I known

of all the families of the earth;

ltherefore I will punish you

for all your iniquities.

Do two walk together,

unless they have agreed to meet?

Does a lion roar in the forest,

when he has no prey?

Does a young lion cry out from his den,

if he has taken nothing?

Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth,

when there is no trap for it?

Does a snare spring up from the ground,

when it has taken nothing?

mIs a trumpet blown in a city,

and the people are not afraid?

nDoes disaster come to a city,

unless the Lord has done it?

For the Lord God does nothing

owithout revealing his secret

to his servants the prophets.

The lion has roared;

who will not fear?

pThe Lord God has spoken;

who can but prophesy?

Proclaim to the strongholds in qAshdod

and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt,

and say, Assemble yourselves on rthe mountains of Samaria,

and see the great tumults within her,

and sthe oppressed in her midst.

10  They do not know how to do right, declares the Lord,

tthose who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.

11 Therefore thus says the Lord God:

uAn adversary shall surround the land

and bring down8 your defenses from you,

and vyour strongholds shall be plundered.

12 Thus says the Lord: wAs the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, xso shall the people of Israel ywho dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part9 of a bed.

13  Hear, zand testify against the house of Jacob,

declares the Lord God, athe God of hosts,

14  that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions,

bI will punish the altars of Bethel,

and cthe horns of the altar shall be cut off

and fall to the ground.

15  dI will strike ethe winter house along with fthe summer house,

and gthe houses of ivory shall perish,

and the great houses10 shall come to an end,

declares the Lord.

Hear this word, hyou cows of Bashan,

who are ion the mountain of Samaria,

jwho oppress the poor, jwho crush the needy,

who say to your husbands, Bring, that we may drink!

kThe Lord God has sworn by his holiness

that, behold, the days are coming upon you,

lwhen they shall take you away with hooks,

leven the last of you with fishhooks.

mAnd you shall go out through the breaches,

each one straight ahead;

and you shall be cast out into Harmon,

declares the Lord.

nCome to Bethel, and transgress;

to oGilgal, and multiply transgression;

nbring your psacrifices every morning,

your tithes every three days;

offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of qthat which is leavened,

and proclaim rfreewill offerings, publish them;

sfor so you love to do, O people of Israel!

declares the Lord God.

I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,

and tlack of bread in all your places,

uyet you did not return to me,

declares the Lord.

I also vwithheld the rain from you

when there were yet three months to the harvest;

wI would send rain on one city,

and send no rain on another city;

one field would have rain,

and the field on which it did not rain would wither;

so two or three cities xwould wander to another city

to drink water, and would not be satisfied;

uyet you did not return to me,

declares the Lord.

yI struck you with blight and mildew;

your many gardens and your vineyards,

your fig trees and your olive trees zthe locust devoured;

uyet you did not return to me,

declares the Lord.

10  I sent among you a pestilence aafter the manner of Egypt;

I killed your young men with the sword,

and bcarried away your horses,11

and cI made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;

uyet you did not return to me,

declares the Lord.

11  I overthrew some of you,

das when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

and you were eas a brand12 plucked out of the burning;

uyet you did not return to me,

declares the Lord.

12  Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;

because I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, O Israel!

13  For behold, fhe who forms the mountains and creates the wind,

and gdeclares to man what is his thought,

hwho makes the morning darkness,

and itreads on the heights of the earth

jthe Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

Hear this word that I ktake up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:

Fallen, no more to rise,

is lthe virgin Israel;

forsaken on her land,

with none to raise her up.

For thus says the Lord God:

The city that went out a thousand

shall have a hundred left,

and that which went out a hundred

shall have ten left

to the house of Israel.

For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:

mSeek me and live;

but do not seek nBethel,

and do not enter into nGilgal

or cross over to oBeersheba;

for nGilgal shall surely go into exile,

and nBethel shall come to nothing.

mSeek the Lord and live,

plest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

and it devour, with none to quench it for nBethel,

O qyou who turn justice to wormwood13

and cast down righteousness to the earth!

He who made the rPleiades and Orion,

and turns deep darkness into the morning

and sdarkens the day into night,

who tcalls for the waters of the sea

tand pours them out on the surface of the earth,

uthe Lord is his name;

vwho makes destruction flash forth against the strong,

so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

10  wThey hate him who reproves xin the gate,

and they yabhor him who speaks the truth.

11  Therefore because you ztrample on14 the poor

and you exact taxes of grain from him,

ayou have built houses of hewn stone,

but you shall not dwell in them;

ayou have planted pleasant vineyards,

but you shall not drink their wine.

12  For I know how many are your transgressions

and how great are your sins

you who afflict the righteous, who btake a bribe,

and cturn aside the needy xin the gate.

13  Therefore he who is prudent will dkeep silent in such a time,

efor it is an evil time.

14  fSeek good, and not evil,

that you may live;

and so the Lord, gthe God of hosts, will be with you,

as you have said.

15  hHate evil, and love good,

and establish justice xin the gate;

iit may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,

will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore thus says the Lord, gthe God of hosts, the Lord:

In all the squares jthere shall be wailing,

and in all the streets they shall say, Alas! Alas!

They shall call the farmers to mourning

and jto wailing those who are skilled in lamentation,

17  and in all vineyards there shall be wailing,

for kI will pass through your midst,

says the Lord.

18  Woe to you who desire lthe day of the Lord!

Why would you have the day of the Lord?

mIt is darkness, and not light,

19  nas if a man fled from a lion,

and a bear met him,

or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,

and a serpent bit him.

20  mIs not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light,

and gloom with no brightness in it?

21  oI hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

22  pEven though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,

I will not look upon them.

23  Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to qthe melody of your harps I will not listen.

24  But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

25 rDid you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 sYou tshall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-godyour images that you made for yourselves, 27 uand I will send you into exile beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is gthe God of hosts.

wWoe to those who are at ease in Zion,

and to those who feel secure on xthe mountain of Samaria,

ythe notable men of zthe first of the nations,

to whom the house of Israel comes!

Pass over to aCalneh, and see,

and from there go to bHamath the great;

then go down to cGath of the Philistines.

dAre you better than these kingdoms?

Or is their territory greater than your territory,

eO you who put far away the day of disaster

fand bring near the seat of violence?

Woe to those gwho lie on hbeds of ivory

gand stretch themselves out on their couches,

and eat lambs from the flock

iand calves from the midst of the stall,

jwho sing idle songs to the sound of the harp

and like David jinvent for themselves instruments of music,

kwho drink wine in bowls

and lanoint themselves with the finest oils,

but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

mTherefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile,

and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.

nThe Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts:

I abhor othe pride of Jacob

and hate his strongholds,

pand I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.

And qif ten men remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And when one’s relative, rthe one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, Is there still anyone with you? he shall say, No; and he shall say, sSilence! We must not mention the name of the Lord.

11  For behold, the Lord commands,

and tthe great house shall be struck down into fragments,

and the little house into bits.

12  Do horses run on rocks?

Does one plow there15 with oxen?

uBut you have turned justice into vpoison

uand the fruit of righteousness into wormwood16

13  you who rejoice in Lo-debar,17

who say, wHave we not by our own strength

captured Karnaim18 for ourselves?

14  For behold, xI will raise up against you a nation,

O house of Israel, declares the Lord, the God of hosts;

and they shall oppress you from yLebo-hamath

to the Brook of zthe Arabah.

aThis is what the Lord God showed me: behold, bhe was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,

O Lord God, please forgive!

cHow can Jacob stand?

He is so small!

dThe Lord relented concerning this:

It shall not be, said the Lord.

aThis is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling efor a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. Then I said,

O Lord God, please cease!

cHow can Jacob stand?

He is so small!

dThe Lord relented concerning this:

This also shall not be, said the Lord God.

aThis is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with fa plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, gAmos, what do you see? And I said, A plumb line. Then the Lord said,

Behold, I am setting fa plumb line

in the midst of my people Israel;

gI will never again pass by them;

hthe high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,

and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,

and I will rise against ithe house of Jeroboam with the sword.

10 Then Amaziah jthe priest of Bethel sent to kJeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has lconspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos has said,

Jeroboam shall die by the sword,

and mIsrael must go into exile

away from his land.

12 And Amaziah said to Amos, nO seer, go, flee away oto the land of Judah, and peat bread there, and prophesy there, 13 but qnever again prophesy at Bethel, for rit is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.

14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, sI was19 no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but tI was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. 15 uBut the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel. 16 vNow therefore hear the word of the Lord.

You say, nDo not prophesy against Israel,

and wdo not preach against the house of xIsaac.

17 yTherefore thus says the Lord:

Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city,

and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,

and your land zshall be divided up with a measuring line;

you yourself shall die in an unclean land,

and mIsrael shall surely go into exile away from its land.

aThis is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said, bAmos, what do you see? And I said, cA basket of summer fruit. Then the Lord said to me,

dThe end20 has come upon my people Israel;

I will never again pass by them.

eThe songs of the temple21 fshall become wailings22 in that day,

declares the Lord God.

gSo many dead bodies!

They are thrown everywhere!

hSilence!

Hear this, iyou who trample on the needy

and bring the poor of the land to an end,

saying, When will jthe new moon be over,

that we may sell grain?

And kthe Sabbath,

that we may offer wheat for sale,

that we may make lthe ephah small and the shekel23 great

and deal deceitfully with false balances,

that we may buy the poor for msilver

and the needy for a pair of sandals

and sell the chaff of the wheat?

The Lord has sworn by nthe pride of Jacob:

Surely oI will never forget any of their deeds.

pShall not the land tremble on this account,

and everyone mourn who dwells in it,

qand all of it rise like the Nile,

and be tossed about rand sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?

And on that day, declares the Lord God,

sI will make the sun go down at noon

and darken the earth in broad daylight.

10  tI will turn your feasts into mourning

and all your songs into lamentation;

uI will bring sackcloth on every waist

uand baldness on every head;

vI will make it like the mourning for an only son

and the end of it like a bitter day.

11  Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord God,

when wI will send a famine on the land

not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,

xbut of hearing the words of the Lord.

12  xThey shall wander from sea to sea,

and from north to east;

they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,

ybut they shall not find it.

13  zIn that day the lovely virgins and the young men

shall afaint for thirst.

14  Those who swear by bthe Guilt of Samaria,

and say, As your god lives, O Dan,

and, As cthe Way of dBeersheba lives,

they shall fall, and never rise again.

I saw the Lord standing beside24 the altar, and he said:

eStrike the capitals until ethe thresholds fshake,

gand shatter them on the heads of all the people;25

and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;

hnot one of them shall flee away;

not one of them shall escape.

iIf they dig into Sheol,

from there shall my hand take them;

iif they climb up to heaven,

from there I will bring them down.

If they hide themselves on jthe top of Carmel,

from there I will search them out and take them;

kand if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,

there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.

lAnd if they go into captivity before their enemies,

there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them;

mand I will fix my eyes upon them

for evil and not for good.

The Lord God of hosts,

he who touches the earth and nit melts,

and all who dwell in it mourn,

oand all of it rises like the Nile,

oand sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;

pwho builds his upper chambers in the heavens

and founds his vault upon the earth;

qwho calls for the waters of the sea

and pours them out upon the surface of the earth

rthe Lord is his name.

Are you not like sthe Cushites to me,

O people of Israel? declares the Lord.

tDid I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,

and uthe Philistines from vCaphtor and the Syrians from wKir?

Behold, xthe eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,

and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground,

yexcept that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,

declares the Lord.

For behold, I will command,

zand shake the house of Israel among all the nations

as one shakes with a sieve,

but no pebble shall fall to the earth.

10  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,

who say, aDisaster shall not overtake or meet us.

11  In that day bI will raise up

the booth of David that is fallen

and repair its breaches,

and raise up its ruins

and rebuild it as in the days of old,

12  cthat they may possess the remnant of Edom

and dall the nations who are called by my name,26

declares the Lord who does this.

13  Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,

ewhen the plowman shall overtake the reaper

and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;

fthe mountains shall drip sweet wine,

and all the hills shall flow with it.

14  gI will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,

and hthey shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;

ithey shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,

and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.

15  jI will plant them on their land,

kand they shall never again be uprooted

out of the land lthat I have given them,

says the Lord your God.

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2 View All Leviticus 19:27