Judgment on Israel
6
The
Lord
says:
I will not relent from punishing Israel
for three crimes, even four,
because they sell a righteous person for silver
and a needy person for a pair of sandals.
7
They trample the heads of the poor
on the dust of the ground
and block the path of the needy.
A man and his father have sexual relations
with the same girl,
profaning My holy name.
8
They stretch out beside every altar
on garments taken as collateral,
and in the house of their God,
they drink wine obtained through fines.
9
Yet I destroyed the Amorite as Israel advanced;
his height was like the cedars,
and he was as sturdy as the oaks;
I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.
10
And I brought you from the land of Egypt
and led you 40 years in the wilderness
in order to possess the land of the Amorite.
11
I raised up some of your sons as prophets
and some of your young men as Nazirites.
Is this not the case, Israelites?
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
12
But you made the Nazirites drink wine
and commanded the prophets,
“Do not prophesy.”
13
Look, I am about to crush you in your place
as a wagon full of sheaves crushes grain.
14
Escape will fail the swift,
the strong one will not prevail by his strength,
and the brave will not save his life.
15
The archer will not stand his ground,
the one who is swift of foot
will not save himself,
and the one riding a horse will not save his life.
16
Even the most courageous of the warriors
will flee naked on that day —
this is the
Lord
's declaration.
Amos
God's Reasons for Punishing Israel
3
Listen to this message that the
Lord
has spoken against you, Israelites, against the entire clan that I brought from the land of Egypt:
2
I have known only you
out of all the clans of the earth;
therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.
3
Can two walk together
without agreeing to meet?
4
Does a lion roar in the forest
when it has no prey?
Does a young lion growl from its lair
unless it has captured something?
5
Does a bird land in a trap on the ground
if there is no bait for it?
Does a trap spring from the ground
when it has caught nothing?
6
If a ram's horn is blown in a city,
aren't people afraid?
If a disaster occurs in a city,
hasn't the
Lord
done it?
7
Indeed, the Lord
God
does nothing
without revealing His counsel
to His servants the prophets.
8
A lion has roared;
who will not fear?
The Lord
God
has spoken;
who will not prophesy?
9
Proclaim on the citadels in Ashdod
and on the citadels in the land of Egypt:
Assemble on the mountains of Samaria
and see the great turmoil in the city
and the acts of oppression within it.
10
The people are incapable of doing right —
this is the
Lord
's declaration —
those who store up violence and destruction
in their citadels.
11
Therefore, the Lord
God
says:
An enemy will surround the land;
he will destroy your strongholds
and plunder your citadels.
12
The
Lord
says:
As the shepherd snatches two legs
or a piece of an ear
from the lion's mouth,
so the Israelites who live in Samaria
will be rescued
with only the corner of a bed
or the cushion of a couch.
13
Listen and testify against the house of Jacob —
this is the declaration of the Lord
God
,
the God of
•Hosts
.
14
I will punish the altars of Bethel
on the day I punish Israel for its crimes;
the horns of the altar will be cut off
and fall to the ground.
15
I will demolish the winter house
and the summer house;
the houses inlaid with ivory will be destroyed,
and the great houses will come to an end.
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
Amos
Social and Spiritual Corruption
4
Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan
who are on the hill of Samaria,
women who oppress the poor
and crush the needy,
who say to their husbands,
“Bring us something to drink.”
2
The Lord
God
has sworn by His holiness:
Look, the days are coming
when you will be taken away with hooks,
every last one of you with fishhooks.
3
You will go through breaches in the wall,
each woman straight ahead,
and you will be driven along toward Harmon.
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
4
Come to Bethel and rebel;
rebel even more at Gilgal!
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tenths every three days.
5
Offer leavened bread as a thank offering,
and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings,
for that is what you Israelites love to do!
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
God's Discipline and Israel's Apostasy
6
I gave you absolutely nothing to eat
in all your cities,
a shortage of food in all your communities,
yet you did not return to Me.
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
7
I also withheld the rain from you
while there were still three months until harvest.
I sent rain on one city
but no rain on another.
One field received rain
while a field with no rain withered.
8
Two or three cities staggered
to another city to drink water
but were not satisfied,
yet you did not return to Me.
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
9
I struck you with blight and mildew;
the locust devoured
your many gardens and vineyards,
your fig trees and olive trees,
yet you did not return to Me.
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
10
I sent plagues like those of Egypt;
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I caused the stench of your camp
to fill your nostrils,
yet you did not return to Me.
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
11
I overthrew some of you
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were like a burning stick
snatched from a fire,
yet you did not return to Me —
this is the
Lord
's declaration.
12
Therefore, Israel, that is what I will do to you,
and since I will do that to you,
Israel, prepare to meet your God!
13
He is here:
the One who forms the mountains,
creates the wind,
and reveals His thoughts to man,
the One who makes the dawn out of darkness
and strides on the heights of the earth.
•Yahweh
, the God of
•Hosts
, is His name.
Amos
Lamentation for Israel
5
Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament, house of Israel:
2
She has fallen;
Virgin Israel will never rise again.
She lies abandoned on her land,
with no one to raise her up.
3
For the Lord
God
says:
The city that marches out a thousand strong
will have only a hundred left,
and the one that marches out a hundred strong
will have only ten left in the house of Israel.
Seek God and Live
4
For the
Lord
says to the house of Israel:
Seek Me and live!
5
Do not seek Bethel
or go to Gilgal
or journey to Beer-sheba,
for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,
and Bethel will come to nothing.
6
Seek
•Yahweh
and live,
or He will spread like fire
throughout the house of Joseph;
it will consume everything,
with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.
7
Those who turn justice into
•wormwood
throw righteousness to the ground.
8
The One who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns darkness into dawn
and darkens day into night,
who summons the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the earth —
Yahweh is His name.
9
He brings destruction on the strong,
and it falls on the stronghold.
10
They hate the one who convicts the
•guilty
at the city
•gate
and despise the one who speaks with integrity.
11
Therefore, because you trample on the poor
and exact a grain tax from him,
you will never live in the houses of cut stone
you have built;
you will never drink the wine
from the lush vineyards
you have planted.
12
For I know your crimes are many
and your sins innumerable.
They oppress the righteous, take a bribe,
and deprive the poor of justice at the gates.
13
Therefore, the wise person will keep silent
at such a time,
for the days are evil.
14
Seek good and not evil
so that you may live,
and the
Lord
, the God of
•Hosts
,
will be with you,
as you have claimed.
15
Hate evil and love good;
establish justice in the gate.
Perhaps the
Lord
, the God of Hosts, will be gracious
to the remnant of Joseph.
16
Therefore Yahweh, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says:
There will be wailing in all the public squares;
they will cry out in anguish in all the streets.
The farmer will be called on to mourn,
and professional mourners to wail.
17
There will be wailing in all the vineyards,
for I will pass among you.
The
Lord
has spoken.
The Day of the
Lord
18
Woe to you who long for the Day of the
Lord
!
What will the Day of the
Lord
be for you?
It will be darkness and not light.
19
It will be like a man who flees from a lion
only to have a bear confront him.
He goes home and rests his hand against the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
20
Won't the Day of the
Lord
be darkness rather than light,
even gloom without any brightness in it?
21
I hate, I despise your feasts!
I can't stand the stench
of your solemn assemblies.
22
Even if you offer Me
your
•burnt
offerings and
•grain
offerings,
I will not accept them;
I will have no regard
for your
•fellowship
offerings of fattened cattle.
23
Take away from Me the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24
But let justice flow like water,
and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.