October 4

Amos 1:1 — 5:13

Amos

1 The words of Amos, who happened to be among the sheep raisers from Tekoa, which he visioned concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah the king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, the king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2 And he proceeded to say:

“Jehovah—out of Zion he will roar, and out of Jerusalem he will give forth his voice; and the pasture grounds of the shepherds must go to mourning, and the summit of Carmel must dry up.”

3 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘“On account of three revolts of Damascus, and on account of four, I shall not turn it back, on account of their threshing Gilead even with iron threshing instruments. 4 And I will send a fire onto the house of Hazael, and it must devour the dwelling towers of Ben-hadad. 5 And I will break the bar of Damascus and cut off [the] inhabitant from Bikath-aven, and the holder of [the] scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria will have to go as exiles to Kir,” Jehovah has said.’

6 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘“On account of three revolts of Gaza, and on account of four, I shall not turn it back, on account of their taking into exile a complete body of exiles to hand over to Edom. 7 And I will send a fire onto the wall of Gaza, and it must devour her dwelling towers. 8 And I will cut off [the] inhabitant from Ashdod, and the holder of [the] scepter from Ashkelon; and I will turn my hand back upon Ekron, and the remaining ones of the Philistines must perish,” the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said.’

9 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘On account of three revolts of Tyre, and on account of four, I shall not turn it back, on account of their handing over a complete body of exiles to Edom, and [because] they did not remember the covenant of brothers. 10 And I will send a fire onto the wall of Tyre, and it must devour her dwelling towers.’

11 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘On account of three revolts of Edom, and on account of four, I shall not turn it back, on account of his pursuing his own brother with the sword, and [because] he ruined his [own] merciful qualities, and his anger keeps tearing away forever; and his fury—he has kept it perpetually. 12 And I will send a fire into Teman, and it must devour the dwelling towers of Bozrah.’

13 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘“On account of three revolts of the sons of Ammon, and on account of four, I shall not turn it back, on account of their slitting open the pregnant women of Gilead, for the purpose of widening out their own territory. 14 And I will set fire to the wall of Rabbah, and it must devour her dwelling towers, with an alarm signal in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of storm wind. 15 And their king must go into exile, he and his princes together,” Jehovah has said.’

2 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘“On account of three revolts of Moab, and on account of four, I shall not turn it back, on account of his burning the bones of the king of Edom for lime. 2 And I will send a fire into Moab, and it must devour the dwelling towers of Kerioth; and with noise Moab must die, with an alarm signal, with the sound of a horn. 3 And I will cut off [the] judge from the midst of her, and all her princes I shall kill with him,” Jehovah has said.’

4 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘On account of three revolts of Judah, and on account of four, I shall not turn it back, on account of their rejecting the law of Jehovah, and [because] they did not keep his own regulations; but their lies, after which their forefathers had walked, kept making them wander. 5 And I will send a fire into Judah, and it must devour the dwelling towers of Jerusalem.’

6 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘On account of three revolts of Israel, and on account of four, I shall not turn it back, on account of their selling someone righteous for mere silver, and someone poor for [the price of] a pair of sandals. 7 They are panting for the dust of [the] earth on the head of lowly persons; and the way of meek people they turn aside; and a man and his own father have gone to the [same] girl, for the purpose of profaning my holy name. 8 And on garments seized as a pledge they stretch themselves out beside every altar; and the wine of those who have been fined they drink at the house of their gods.’

9 “‘But as for me, I had annihilated the Amorite on account of them, whose height was like the height of cedars, and who was vigorous like the massive trees; and I went annihilating his fruitage above and his roots below. 10 And I myself brought YOU people up out of the land of Egypt, and I kept making YOU walk through the wilderness forty years, in order to take possession of the land of the Amorite. 11 And I kept raising up some of YOUR sons as prophets and some of YOUR young men as Nazirites. Should this really not be, O sons of Israel?’ is the utterance of Jehovah.

12 “‘But YOU kept giving the Nazirites wine to drink, and upon the prophets YOU laid a command, saying: “YOU must not prophesy.” 13 Here I am making what is under YOU sway, just as the wagon sways that is full up with a row of newly cut grain. 14 And a place to which to flee must perish from the swift one, and no one strong will reinforce his power, and no mighty man will provide his soul with escape. 15 And no one handling the bow will stand, and no one swift on his feet will escape, and no rider of the horse will provide his soul with escape. 16 And as for one strong in his heart among the mighty men, naked is how he will flee in that day,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.”


3 “Hear this word that Jehovah has spoken concerning YOU, O sons of Israel, concerning the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 ‘YOU people only have I known out of all the families of the ground. That is why I shall hold an accounting against YOU for all YOUR errors.

3 “‘Will two walk together unless they have met by appointment? 4 Will a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey? Will a young maned lion give forth its voice from its hiding place if it has caught nothing at all? 5 Will a bird fall into a trap on the earth when there is no snare for it? Does a trap go up from the ground when it has absolutely caught nothing? 6 If a horn is blown in a city, do not also the people themselves tremble? If a calamity occurs in the city, is it not also Jehovah who has acted? 7 For the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will not do a thing unless he has revealed his confidential matter to his servants the prophets. 8 There is a lion that has roared! Who will not be afraid? The Sovereign Lord Jehovah himself has spoken! Who will not prophesy?’

9 “‘PUBLISH it on [the] dwelling towers in Ashdod and on [the] dwelling towers in the land of Egypt, and say: “Be gathered together against the mountains of Samaria, and see the many disorders in the midst of her and cases of defrauding inside her. 10 And they have not known how to do what is straightforward,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “those who are storing up violence and despoiling in their dwelling towers.”’

11 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘There is an adversary even round about the land, and he will certainly bring your strength down from you, and your dwelling towers will actually be plundered.’

12 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘Just as the shepherd snatches away from the mouth of the lion two shanks or a piece of an ear, so the sons of Israel will be snatched away, those sitting in Samaria on a splendid couch and on a Damascene divan.’

13 “‘HEAR and give witness in the house of Jacob,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, the God of the armies. 14 ‘For, in the day of my holding an accounting for the revolts of Israel against him, I will also hold an accounting against the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar will certainly be cut off and must fall to the earth. 15 And I will strike down the winter house in addition to the summer house.’

“‘And the houses of ivory will have to perish, and many houses will have to come to their finish,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.”

4 “Hear this word, YOU cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who are defrauding the lowly ones, who are crushing the poor ones, who are saying to their masters, ‘Do bring, and let us drink!’ 2 The Sovereign Lord Jehovah has sworn by his holiness, ‘“Look! There are days coming upon YOU, and he will certainly lift YOU up with butcher hooks and the last part of YOU with fishhooks. 3 And [by] breaches YOU will go forth, each one straight ahead; and YOU will certainly be thrown out to Harmon,” is the utterance of Jehovah.’

4 “‘Come, YOU people, to Bethel and commit transgression. At Gilgal be frequent in committing transgression, and bring YOUR sacrifices in the morning; on the third day, YOUR tenth parts. 5 And from what is leavened make a thanksgiving sacrifice to smoke, and proclaim voluntary offerings; publish [it], for that is the way YOU have loved, O sons of Israel,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.

6 “‘And I also, for my part, gave YOU people cleanness of teeth in all YOUR cities and want of bread in all YOUR places; but YOU did not come back to me,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.

7 “‘And as for me, I also withheld from YOU people the downpour when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I made it rain on one city, but on another city I would not make it rain. There was one tract of land that would be rained on, but a tract of land on which I would not make it rain would be dried up. 8 And two or three cities staggered to one city in order to drink water, and they would not get satisfied; but YOU did not come back to me,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.

9 “‘I struck YOU people with scorching and mildew. There was a multiplying of YOUR gardens and of YOUR vineyards, but YOUR fig trees and YOUR olive trees the caterpillar would devour; yet YOU did not come back to me,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.

10 “‘I sent among YOU people a pestilence in the nature of that of Egypt. With the sword I killed YOUR young men, along with the taking captive of YOUR horses. And I kept making the stink of YOUR camps ascend even into YOUR nostrils; but YOU did not come back to me,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.

11 “‘I caused an overthrow among YOU people, like God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. And YOU came to be like a log snatched out of [the] burning; but YOU did not come back to me,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.

12 “Therefore that is what I shall do to you, O Israel. As a consequence of the fact that I shall do this very thing to you, get ready to meet your God, O Israel. 13 For, look! the Former of [the] mountains and the Creator of [the] wind, and the One telling to earthling man what his mental concern is, the One making dawn into obscurity, and the One treading on earth’s high places, Jehovah the God of armies is his name.”

5 “Hear this word that I am taking up over YOU people as a dirge, O house of Israel:

 2 “The virgin, Israel, has fallen;

She cannot get up again.

She has been forsaken upon her own ground;

There is no one raising her up.

3 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘The very city that was going forth with a thousand will have a hundred left; and the one going forth with a hundred will have ten left, for the house of Israel.’

4 “For this is what Jehovah has said to the house of Israel, ‘Search for me, and keep living. 5 And do not search for Bethel, and to Gilgal YOU must not come, and to Beer-sheba YOU must not pass over; because Gilgal itself will without fail go into exile; and as regards Bethel, it will become something uncanny. 6 Search for Jehovah, and keep living, that he may not become operative just like fire, O house of Joseph, and it may not actually devour, and Bethel may not be with no one to extinguish [it], 7 O YOU who are turning justice into mere wormwood, and the ones who have cast righteousness itself to the earth. 8 The Maker of the Kimah constellation and the Kesil constellation, and the One turning deep shadow into the morning itself, and the One who has made day itself dark as night, the One calling for the waters of the sea, that he may pour them out upon the surface of the earth—Jehovah is his name; 9 he who is causing a despoiling to flash forth upon someone strong, that despoiling itself may come upon even a fortified place.

10 “‘In the gate they have hated a reprover, and a speaker of perfect things they detest. 11 Therefore, for the reason that YOU are extracting farm rent from someone lowly, and the tribute of grain YOU keep taking from him; houses of hewn stone YOU have built, but YOU will not keep dwelling in them; and desirable vineyards YOU have planted, but YOU will not keep drinking the wine of them. 12 For I have known how many YOUR revolts are and how mighty YOUR sins are, O YOU who are showing hostility toward someone righteous, YOU who are taking hush money, and the ones who have turned aside poor people even in the gate. 13 Therefore the very one having insight will in that time keep silent, for it will be a calamitous time.