Category: Amos

[2:4] Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked.

[2:5] So I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”

[2:6] Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals—

[2:7] those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned;

[2:8] they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

[2:9] “Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars and who was as strong as the oaks; I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.

[2:10] Also it was I who brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

[2:11] And I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?”

[2:12] “But you made the Nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy.’

[2:13] “Behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses down.

[2:14] Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life;

[2:15] he who handles the bow shall not stand, and he who is swift of foot shall not save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life;

[2:16] and he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day,”

[4:6] “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,”

[4:7] “I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I 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;

[4:8] so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me,”

[4:9] “I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me,”

[4:10] “I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me,”

[4:11] “I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me,”

[4:12] “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

[4:13] For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

[5:1] Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:

[5:2] “Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up.”

[5:3] 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.”

[5:4] For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live;

[5:5] but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.”

[5:6] Seek the Lord and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel,

[5:7] O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth!

[5:8] He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name;

[5:9] who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

[5:10] They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth.

[5:11] Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

[5:12] For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate.

[5:13] Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.

[5:14] Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said.

[5:15] Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

[5:16] Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord: “In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation,

[5:17] and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through your midst,”

[5:18] Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light,

[5:19] as 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.

[5:20] Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

[5:21] “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

[5:22] Even 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.

[5:23] Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

[5:24] But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

[5:25] “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

[5:26] You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves,

[5:27] and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

[6:1] “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!

[6:2] Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory,

[6:3] O you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence?

[6:4] “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall,

[6:5] who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music,

[6:6] who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

[6:7] Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”

[6:8] The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”

[6:9] And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die.

[6:10] And when one’s relative, the 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, “Silence! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”

[6:11] For behold, the Lord commands, and the great house shall be struck down into fragments, and the little house into bits.

[6:12] Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood —

[6:13] you who rejoice in Lo-Debar, who say, “Have we not by our own strength captured Karnaim for ourselves?”

[6:14] “For behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord, the God of hosts; “and they shall oppress you from Lebo-Hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”

[7:1] This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings.

[7:2] When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, “O Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!”

[7:3] The Lord relented concerning this: “It shall not be,” said the Lord.

[7:4] This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land.

[7:5] Then I said, “O Lord God, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!”

[7:6] The Lord relented concerning this: “This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.

[7:7] This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.

[7:8] And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them;

[7:9] the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”