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Amos

1The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and in the days of King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years^* before the earthquake.

Judgement on Israel’s Neighbours

²And he said:
The Lord roars from Zion,
   and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds wither,
   and the top of Carmel dries up.

³ Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Damascus,
   and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;^*
because they have threshed Gilead
   with threshing-sledges of iron.
⁴ So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael,
   and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.
⁵ I will break the gate-bars of Damascus,
   and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven,
and the one who holds the sceptre from Beth-eden;
   and the people of Aram shall go into exile to Kir,

says the Lord.

¹³ Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of the Ammonites,
   and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;^*
because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead
   in order to enlarge their territory.
¹⁴ So I will kindle a fire against the wall of Rabbah,
   fire that shall devour its strongholds,
with shouting on the day of battle,
   with a storm on the day of the whirlwind;
¹⁵ then their king shall go into exile,
   he and his officials together,

says the Lord.

2Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Moab,
   and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;^*
because he burned to lime
   the bones of the king of Edom.
² So I will send a fire on Moab,
   and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth,
and Moab shall die amid uproar,
   amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;
³ I will cut off the ruler from its midst,
   and will kill all its officials with him,

says the Lord.

Judgement on Judah

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 they have been led astray by the same lies
   after which their ancestors walked.
⁵ So I will send a fire on Judah,
   and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.

Judgement on Israel

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—
⁷ they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,
   and push the afflicted out of the way;
father and son go in to the same girl,
   so that my holy name is profaned;
⁸ they lay themselves down beside every altar
   on garments taken in pledge;
and in the house of their God they drink
   wine bought with fines they imposed.

⁹ Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them,
   whose height was like the height of cedars,
   and who was as strong as oaks;
I destroyed his fruit above,
   and his roots beneath.
¹⁰ Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt,
   and led you for forty years in the wilderness,
   to possess the land of the Amorite.
¹¹ And I raised up some of your children to be prophets
   and some of your youths to be nazirites.^*
   Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?

says the Lord.

¹² But you made the nazirites^* drink wine,
   and commanded the prophets,
   saying, ‘You shall not prophesy.’

¹³ So, I will press you down in your place,
   just as a cart presses down
   when it is full of sheaves.^*
14 Flight shall perish from the swift,
   and the strong shall not retain their strength,
   nor shall the mighty save their lives;
¹⁵ those who handle the bow shall not stand,
   and those who are swift of foot shall not save themselves,
   nor shall those who ride horses save their lives;
¹⁶ and those who are stout of heart among the mighty
   shall flee away naked on that day,

says the Lord.