Amos 1-3

Amos 1

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

²And he said, The LORD shall roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.

³Thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of Damascus, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:

⁴but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

⁵And I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD.

⁶Thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of Gaza, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole people, to deliver them up to Edom:

⁷But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour the palaces thereof:

⁸And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon; and I will turn mine hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD.

⁹Thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of Tyre, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole people to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant:

¹⁰but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

¹¹Thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of Edom, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever:

¹²but I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.

¹³Thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border:

¹⁴But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbath and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind:

¹⁵and their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD.

Amos 2

¹Thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of Moab, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:

²but I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet:

³and I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.

⁴Thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of Judah, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, after the which their fathers did walk:

⁵but I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

⁶Thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have sold the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes:

⁷that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:

⁸and they lay themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of such as have been fined.

⁹Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

¹⁰Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

¹¹And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.

¹²But ye gave the Nazirites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.

¹³Behold, I will press you in your place, as a cart presseth that is full of sheaves.

¹⁴And flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:

¹⁵neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself:

¹⁶and he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.

Amos 3

¹Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying,

²You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities.

³Shall two walk together, except they have agreed?

⁴Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?

⁵Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is set for him? shall a snare spring up from the ground, and have taken nothing at all?

⁶Shall the trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid? shalt evil befall a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

⁷Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

⁸The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

⁹Publish ye in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold what great tumults are therein, and what oppressions in the midst thereof.

¹⁰For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.

¹¹Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: An adversary there shall be, even round about the land: and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.

¹²Thus saith the LORD: As the shepherd rescueth out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be rescued that sit in Samaria in the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed.

¹³Hear ye, and testify against the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts.

¹⁴For in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Beth-el, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.

¹⁵And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD.