Amos chapter 1
Lawsuits against neighboring nations
1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, who prophesied concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
2 He said: “The Lord will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds will mourn, and the top of Carmel will wither.”
3 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, because they threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.
4 I will kindle a fire in the house of Hazael, and it will devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad.
5 I will break the bars of Damascus and destroy the inhabitants of the Valley of Aven and the rulers of Beth-eden; the people of Syria will go into exile to Kir,” declares the Lord.
6 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not relent. Because they carried off an entire people captive to Edom,
7 I will set fire to the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its palaces.
8 I will destroy the inhabitants of Ashdod and the governors of Ashkelon, and I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” declares the Sovereign Lord.
9 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Tyre, even for four, I will not relent. Because they carried off an entire people captive to Edom and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood,
10 I will set fire to the wall of Tyre, and it will devour its palaces.”
11 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not relent. Because they pursued their brother with the sword and violated all natural affection, And in his fury he has always robbed him, and perpetually he has kept his grudge.
12 I will send fire on Teman, and it will consume the palaces of Bozrah.
13 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not relent, because to enlarge their territory they raped the pregnant women of Gilead.
14 I will kindle a fire against the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces with a roar on the day of battle, with a storm on a stormy day.
15 Its king and all his officials will go into captivity,” declares the Lord.
Amos Chapter 2
1Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, because they burned the bones of the king of Edom until they were charred.
2 I will kindle a fire in Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab shall die with tumult, with noise, and with the sound of the trumpet.
3 And I will remove the judge from among them, and I will slay with him all their princes,” declares the Lord.
4 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, because they despised the law of the Lord, and did not keep his statutes, and his lies led them astray, after which their fathers walked.
5 Therefore I will kindle a fire in Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”
Trial against Israel
6 This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.
7 They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the humble. Father and son go in to the same young woman, thus profaning my holy name.
8 They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge and drink the wine of those who have been fined in the houses of their gods.
9 I destroyed the Amorites before them, whose stature was like the height of the cedars and whose strength was like an oak. I destroyed their fruit above and their roots below.
10 I brought you up out of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorites.
11 I raised up some of your sons to be prophets and some of your young men to be Nazirites.” Is this not so, says the Lord, children of Israel?
12 But you gave wine to the Nazirites to drink, and you commanded the prophets, saying, “Do not prophesy.”
13 For behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart is pressed down full of sheaves;
14 the swift will not be able to flee, and the strong will not be able to help him by his strength, nor will the mighty deliver him.
15 The one who handles the bow will not stand, nor will the swift of foot escape, nor will the one who rides on a horse deliver him.
16 The mightiest among the mighty will flee naked on that day, says the Lord.
Amos Chapter 3
The lion's roar
1 Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against all the family whom I brought up out of the land of Egypt. It says:
2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
3 Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to do so?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from its den if it has caught nothing?
5 Does a bird fall into a snare on the earth when there is no hunter? Does a snare spring up from the earth if it has caught nothing?
6 Does a trumpet sound in a city, but do not the people tremble? Does disaster come upon a city, but has not the Lord caused it?
7 Surely the Lord God does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.
8 If a lion roars, who will not fear? If the Lord God speaks, who can but prophesy?
Destruction of Samaria
9 Proclaim in the palaces of Ashdod, and in the palaces of the land of Egypt, and say: Assemble on the mountains of Samaria, and see the many oppressions in the midst of her, and the violences committed among her.
10 They do not know how to do what is right, declares the Lord, storing up plunder and spoil in their palaces.
11 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: An enemy will come from all sides of the land, and he will tear down your stronghold, and your palaces will be plundered.
12 This is what the Lord says: As a shepherd rescues from the lion’s mouth two legs or the tip of an ear, so will the Israelites who live in Samaria, who are on the corner of a bed or beside a couch, be rescued.
13 Hear and testify against the house of Jacob, says the Lord God Almighty:
14 For on the day I punish Israel for its transgressions, I will also punish the altars of Bethel; the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.
15 I will strike the winter house with the summer house, and the houses of ivory will be destroyed; many houses will be ruined, declares the Lord.
Amos Chapter 4
1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to your masters, “Bring us something to drink!”
2 The Lord God has sworn by his holiness: “Behold, the days are coming upon you when you will be taken away with hooks, and your descendants with fishhooks;
3 and you will go out through the breaches one after another, and you will be cast out of the palace,” says the Lord.
Although punished, Israel does not learn.
4 Go to Bethel and transgress; increase rebellion at Gilgal. Bring your sacrifices early in the morning, and your tithes every three days.
5 Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leavened bread, and proclaim and publish freewill offerings, for this is what you desire, O children of Israel, declares the Lord God.
6 I made you go hungry in all your cities, and there was a lack of bread in all your towns; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord.
7 I also withheld rain from you three months before the harvest; I made it rain on one city, and on another city I did not make it rain; on one part it rained, and on the part on which it did not rain withered.
8 Two or three cities came to one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord.
9 I struck you with an east wind and with blight; The locusts devoured your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive groves; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord.
10 I sent plagues among you as I did in Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, took your horses captive, and made the stench of your camps rise up to your nostrils; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord.
11 I overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a brand snatched from the fire; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord.
12 Therefore, this is what I will do to you, Israel; and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.
13 For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man his thoughts, who makes darkness into morning and treads on the heights of the earth—the Lord God of hosts is his name.
Amos Chapter 5
A call to repentance
1 Hear this word that I raise up as a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.
2 The virgin of Israel has fallen, and she shall rise no more; she is forsaken on her land, with no one to raise her up.
3 For thus says the Lord God: The city that goes out with a thousand shall return with a hundred, and the one that goes out with a hundred shall return with ten, in the house of Israel.
4 But thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek me, and live;
5 but do not seek Bethel, nor enter Gilgal, nor cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall be laid waste.
6 Seek the Lord, and live, lest he break out like fire upon the house of Joseph, and consume it, with no one in Bethel to quench it.
7 You who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground,
8 seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into morning and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth—the Lord is his name.
9 He gives strength to the plunderer against the strong, and causes the plunderer to come upon the fortress.
10 They hated the one who reproved in the city gate, and they abhorred him who spoke what was right.
11 Therefore, because you oppress the poor and take a burden of grain from them, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you will not live in them; you have planted beautiful vineyards, but you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know your many transgressions and your great sins; I know that you afflict the righteous and accept bribes, and in the courts you cause the poor to lose their case.
13 Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the times are evil.
14 Seek good, not evil, that you may live; for then the Lord God of hosts will be with you, as you say.
15 Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God of hosts will have compassion on the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts: In all the squares there will be wailing, and in all the streets they will say, “Alas! Alas!” They will call to the farmer to weep, and to wail those who know how to wail.
17 And in all the vineyards there will be wailing, for I am going through your midst, says the Lord.
18 Woe to those who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you want this day of the Lord? It will be darkness, not light;
19 It is like fleeing from a lion only to meet a bear, or like going into a house and leaning his hand against the wall only to be bitten by a snake.
20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—pitch-black without brightness?
21 I hate, I detest your religious festivals; your assemblies are of no delight to me.
22 Though you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; though you bring peace offerings from your fattened animals, I will not look.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like waters, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
25 Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
26 Rather, you carried the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun, your idols, the star of your gods that you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.
Amos Chapter 6
Destruction of Israel
1 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the nobles and chiefs of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!
2 Go over to Calneh and see; from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. See if those kingdoms are better than these kingdoms, if their territory is greater than yours,
3 you who put off the day of disaster and bring near the throne of iniquity.
4 They lie on beds of ivory and recline on couches; they eat lambs from the flock and calves from the stall;
5 they sing praises to the sound of the flute and invent musical instruments, like David;
6 they drink wine from bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils; they are not grieved over the destruction of Joseph.
7 Therefore, they will now go at the head of those going into captivity, and the mourning of those who indulge in pleasure will draw near.
8 The Lord God has sworn by himself, the Lord God of hosts has said: “I abhor the pride of Jacob, and I hate his palaces; and I will give the city and all that is in it to the enemy.
9 And it shall come to pass, if ten men are left in one house, that they shall die.
10 And a relative shall take each one and burn him to carry out the bones from the house; and he shall say to him who is in the corners of the house, ‘Is there still anyone with you?’ And he shall say, ‘No.’ And he shall say, ‘Be silent, for we cannot mention the name of the Lord.’
11 For behold, the Lord will command, and he will strike the great house with fissures, and the small house with breaches.
12 Can horses run on the rocks? Can oxen plow there?” Why have you turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood?
13 You who rejoice in nothing, who say, “Have we not gained power by our own strength?”
14 Behold, O house of Israel, says the Lord God of hosts, I will raise up against you a nation that will oppress you from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.
Amos Chapter 7
Three visions of destruction
1 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: He was raising locusts when the late hay began to grow up; it was the late hay after the king’s harvest.
2 When they had eaten the grass of the land, I said, “O Lord God, please forgive! Who can raise up Jacob, for he is small?”
3 The Lord relented concerning this: “It shall not be,” said the Lord.
4 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: The Sovereign Lord called for judgment by fire; it devoured a great deep and consumed a portion of the land.
5 Then I said, “O Lord God, please stop! Who can raise up Jacob, for he is small?”
6 The Lord relented concerning this: “This also shall not be,” said the Sovereign Lord.
7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall built with a plumb line, and in his hand was a plumb line.
8 Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “A plumb line.” And the Lord said: Behold, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
9 The high places of Isaac shall be destroyed, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise up with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.
Amos and Amaziah
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has risen up against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land cannot bear all his words.
11 For thus says Amos: ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall go into exile from its land.’”
12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “Seer, go, flee to the land of Judah, and earn your living there, and prophesy there;
13 but prophesy no more at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary and the seat of the kingdom.”
14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet, but I am a herdsman, and I gather wild figs.
15 Then the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, “Go and prophesy to my people Israel.”
16 Now therefore, hear the word of the Lord. You say, “Do not prophesy against Israel or speak against the house of Isaac.”
17 Therefore, thus says the Lord: “Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, and your land will be divided by lot; you will die in an unclean land, and Israel will go into exile far from its land.”
Amos Chapter 8
The summer fruit basket
1 This is what the Lord God showed me: “Look, a basket of summer fruit.”
2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
3 On that day the singers in the temple will wail,” declares the Lord God. “Many will be the dead bodies; they will be thrown out in silence everywhere.”
Judgment on Israel is approaching
4 Hear this, you who exploit the needy and ruin the poor of the land,
5 saying, “When will the month be over so we can sell grain, and the week so we can open the granaries, make the measure small, boost the price, and falsify the scales by deceit,
6 to buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the sweepings of the wheat?”
7 The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: “I will never forget any of their deeds.”
8 Will not the land tremble for this? Will not all its inhabitants mourn? Will it all rise like a river, swell and fall like the river of Egypt.
9 In that day, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the land in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your songs into wailing; And I will put sackcloth on every back, and shave every head; and I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
11 “ The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will wander from sea to sea and roam from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful young women and the young men will faint from thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, saying, ‘As your God lives, Dan,’ or ‘By the way of Beersheba,’ will fall and never rise again.
Amos Chapter 9
Jehovah's judgments are inescapable
1 I saw the Lord standing above the altar, and he said: “Break down the capitals, and let the gates shake; shatter them on the heads of all of them. I will kill the last of them with the sword; none of them will flee or escape.
2 Though they dig down to Sheol, from there my hand will take them; though they ascend to heaven, from there I will bring them down.
3 If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; though they hide themselves from my sight in the depths of the sea, there I will command a serpent, and it will bite them.
4 If they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them; and I will set my eyes on them for evil, not for good.”
5 The Lord, the Lord of hosts, touches the earth, and it melts, and all who dwell in it weep; It will rise like a river and then subside like the Nile in Egypt.
6 He has built his chambers in the heavens and established his expanse over the earth; he calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the earth—the Lord is his name.
7 “Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O children of Israel?” declares the Lord. “Did I not bring Israel up out of the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Arameans from Kir?
8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord.
9 For behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, and not a kernel will fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, those who say, “Disaster will not come near or overtake us.”
Future restoration of Israel
11 In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David, and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old;
12 so that those who are called by my name may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations, says the Lord who does this.
13 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowman will overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes will overtake the one sowing the seed; the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it.
14 I will bring back my exiled people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them; they will plant vineyards and drink their wine, and make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 For I will plant them on their own land, and they will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God.