Amos 2–6

Amos 2–6 WEB

^2:1The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime; ²but I will send a fire on Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet; ³and I will cut off the judge from among them, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the LORD. ⁴The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have rejected the LORD’s law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked; ⁵but I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.” ⁶The LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals; ⁷They trample the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth and deny justice to the oppressed. A man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name. ⁸They lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge. In the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined. ⁹Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. ¹⁰Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. ¹¹I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn’t this true, you children of Israel?” says the LORD. ¹²“But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Don’t prophesy!’ ¹³Behold, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes that is full of grain. ¹⁴Flight will perish from the swift. The strong won’t strengthen his force. The mighty won’t deliver himself. ¹⁵He who handles the bow won’t stand. He who is swift of foot won’t escape. He who rides the horse won’t deliver himself. ¹⁶He who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked on that day,” says the LORD.

^3:1Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying: ²“I have chosen only you of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins.” ³Do two walk together, unless they have agreed? ⁴Will a lion roar in the thicket, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing? ⁵Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, where no snare is set for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when there is nothing to catch? ⁶Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and the LORD hasn’t done it? ⁷Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets. ⁸The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken. Who can but prophesy? ⁹Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see what unrest is in her, and what oppression is among them.” ¹⁰“Indeed they don’t know to do right,” says the LORD, “Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces.” ¹¹Therefore the Lord GOD says: “An adversary will overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds, and your fortresses will be plundered.” ¹²The LORD says: “As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed.” ¹³“Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob,” says the Lord GOD, the God of Armies. ¹⁴“For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground. ¹⁵I will strike the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory will perish, and the great houses will have an end,” says the LORD.

^4:1Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!” ²The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness, “Behold, the days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks. ³You will go out at the breaks in the wall, everyone straight before her; and you will cast yourselves into Harmon,” says the LORD. ⁴“Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days, ⁵offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them; for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord GOD. ⁶“I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. ⁷“I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One field was rained on, and the field where it didn’t rain withered. ⁸So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. ⁹“I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards, and the swarming locusts have devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. ¹⁰“I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. ¹¹“I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. ¹²“Therefore I will do this to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel. ¹³For, behold, he who forms the mountains, creates the wind, declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth: The LORD, the God of Armies, is his name.”

^5:1Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel: ²“The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.” ³For the Lord GOD says: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.” ⁴For the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live; ⁵but don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing. ⁶Seek the LORD, and you will live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel. ⁷You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth! ⁸Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name, ⁹who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress. ¹⁰They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly. ¹¹Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. ¹²For I know how many are your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts. ¹³Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. ¹⁴Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say. ¹⁵Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that the LORD, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” ¹⁶Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: “Wailing will be in all the wide ways. They will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing. ¹⁷In all vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through the middle of you,” says the LORD. ¹⁸“Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light. ¹⁹As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him. ²⁰Won’t the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it? ²¹I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies. ²²Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals. ²³Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. ²⁴But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream. ²⁵“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel? ²⁶You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves. ²⁷Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Armies.

^6:1Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come! ²Go to Calneh, and see. From there go to Hamath the great. Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms? Is their border greater than your border? ³Alas for you who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near, ⁴who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the middle of the stall, ⁵who strum on the strings of a harp, who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David; ⁶who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. ⁷Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive. The feasting and lounging will end. ⁸“The Lord GOD has sworn by himself,” says the LORD, the God of Armies: “I abhor the pride of Jacob, and detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it. ⁹It will happen that if ten men remain in one house, they will die. ¹⁰“When a man’s relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in the innermost parts of the house, ‘Is there yet any with you?’ And he says, ‘No;’ then he will say, ‘Hush! Indeed we must not mention the LORD’s name.’ ¹¹“For, behold, the LORD commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits. ¹²Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness, ¹³you who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, ‘Haven’t we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?’ ¹⁴For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel,” says the LORD, the God of Armies; “and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.”