All the Tribes Are Guilty
1Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt:
2“You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth;
Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
3Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment?
4Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey?
Does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured something?
5Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no bait in it?
Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all?
6If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble?
If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?
7Surely the Lord God does nothing
Unless He reveals His secret counsel
To His servants the prophets.
8A lion has roared! Who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?
9Proclaim on the citadels in Ashdod and on the citadels in the land of Egypt and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria and see the great tumults within her and the oppressions in her midst. 10But they do not know how to do what is right,” declares the Lord, “these who hoard up violence and devastation in their citadels.”
11Therefore, thus says the Lord God,
“An enemy, even one surrounding the land,
Will pull down your strength from you
And your citadels will be looted.”
12Thus says the Lord,
“Just as the shepherd snatches from the lion’s mouth a couple of legs or a piece of an ear,
So will the sons of Israel dwelling in Samaria be snatched away—
With the corner of a bed and the cover of a couch!
13Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,”
Declares the Lord God, the God of hosts.
14“For on the day that I punish Israel’s transgressions,
I will also punish the altars of Bethel;
The horns of the altar will be cut off
And they will fall to the ground.
15I will also smite the winter house together with the summer house;
The houses of ivory will also perish
And the great houses will come to an end,”
Declares the Lord.
“Yet You Have Not Returned to Me”
1Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria,
Who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,
Who say to your husbands, “Bring now, that we may drink!”
2The Lord God has sworn by His holiness,
“Behold, the days are coming upon you
When they will take you away with meat hooks,
And the last of you with fish hooks.
3You will go out through breaches in the walls,
Each one straight before her,
And you will be cast to Harmon,” declares the Lord.
4“Enter Bethel and transgress;
In Gilgal multiply transgression!
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
Your tithes every three days.
5Offer a thank offering also from that which is leavened,
And proclaim freewill offerings, make them known.
For so you love to do, you sons of Israel,”
Declares the Lord God.
6“But I gave you also cleanness of teeth in all your cities
And lack of bread in all your places,
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
7“Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you
While there were still three months until harvest.
Then I would send rain on one city
And on another city I would not send rain;
One part would be rained on,
While the part not rained on would dry up.
8So two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink water,
But would not be satisfied;
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
9“I smote you with scorching wind and mildew;
And the caterpillar was devouring
Your many gardens and vineyards, fig trees and olive trees;
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
10“I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt;
I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses,
And I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils;
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
11“I overthrew you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
And you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze;
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord.
12“Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
Because I will do this to you,
Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”
13For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind
And declares to man what are His thoughts,
He who makes dawn into darkness
And treads on the high places of the earth,
The Lord God of hosts is His name.
“Seek Me that You May Live”
1Hear this word which I take up for you as a dirge, O house of Israel:
2She has fallen, she will not rise again—
The virgin Israel.
She lies neglected on her land;
There is none to raise her up.
3For thus says the Lord God,
“The city which goes forth a thousand strong
Will have a hundred left,
And the one which goes forth a hundred strong
Will have ten left to the house of Israel.”
4For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel,
“Seek Me that you may live.
5But do not resort to Bethel
And do not come to Gilgal,
Nor cross over to Beersheba;
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
And Bethel will come to trouble.
6Seek the Lord that you may live,
Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph,
And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel,
7For those who turn justice into wormwood
And cast righteousness down to the earth.”
8He who made the Pleiades and Orion
And changes deep darkness into morning,
Who also darkens 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.
9It is He who flashes forth with destruction upon the strong,
So that destruction comes upon the fortress.
10They hate him who reproves in the gate,
And they abhor him who speaks with integrity.
11Therefore because you impose heavy rent on the poor
And exact a tribute of grain from them,
Though you have built houses of well-hewn stone,
Yet you will not live in them;
You have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine.
12For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great,
You who distress the righteous and accept bribes
And turn aside the poor in the gate.
13Therefore at such a time the prudent person keeps silent, for it is an evil time.
14Seek good and not evil, that you may live;
And thus may the Lord God of hosts be with you,
Just as you have said!
15Hate evil, love good,
And establish justice in the gate!
Perhaps the Lord God of hosts
May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord,
“There is wailing in all the plazas,
And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’
They also call the farmer to mourning
And professional mourners to lamentation.
17And in all the vineyards there is wailing,
Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord.
18Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord,
For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?
It will be darkness and not light;
19As when a man flees from a lion
And a bear meets him,
Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall
And a snake bites him.
20Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light,
Even gloom with no brightness in it?
21“I hate, I reject your festivals,
Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.
22Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.
23Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
24But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25“Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? 26You also carried along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. 27Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.
“Those at Ease in Zion”
1Woe to those who are at ease in Zion
And to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria,
The distinguished men of the foremost of nations,
To whom the house of Israel comes.
2Go over to Calneh and look,
And go from there to Hamath the great,
Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are they better than these kingdoms,
Or is their territory greater than yours?
3Do you put off the day of calamity,
And would you bring near the seat of violence?
4Those who recline on beds of ivory
And sprawl on their couches,
And eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall,
5Who improvise to the sound of the harp,
And like David have composed songs for themselves,
6Who drink wine from sacrificial bowls
While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils,
Yet they have not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.
7Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head of the exiles,
And the sprawlers’ banqueting will pass away.
8The Lord God has sworn by Himself, the Lord God of hosts has declared:
“I loathe the arrogance of Jacob,
And detest his citadels;
Therefore I will deliver up the city and all it contains.”
9And it will be, if ten men are left in one house, they will die. 10Then one’s uncle, or his undertaker, will lift him up to carry out his bones from the house, and he will say to the one who is in the innermost part of the house, “Is anyone else with you?” And that one will say, “No one.” Then he will answer, “Keep quiet. For the name of the Lord is not to be mentioned.” 11For behold, the Lord is going to command that the great house be smashed to pieces and the small house to fragments.
12Do horses run on rocks?
Or does one plow them with oxen?
Yet you have turned justice into poison
And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,
13You who rejoice in Lodebar,
And say, “Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?”
14“For behold, I am going to raise up a nation against you,
O house of Israel,” declares the Lord God of hosts,
“And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath
To the brook of the Arabah.”
Warning Through Visions
1Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing. 2And it came about, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said,
“Lord God, please pardon!
How can Jacob stand,
For he is small?”
3The Lord changed His mind about this.
“It shall not be,” said the Lord.
4Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, the Lord God was calling to contend with them by fire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the farm land. 5Then I said,
“Lord God, please stop!
How can Jacob stand, for he is small?”
6The Lord changed His mind about this.
“This too shall not be,” said the Lord God.
7Thus He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. 8The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“Behold I am about to put a plumb line
In the midst of My people Israel.
I will spare them no longer.
9The high places of Isaac will be desolated
And the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste.
Then I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
Amos Accused, Answers
10Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words. 11For thus Amos says, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’ ” 12Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah and there eat bread and there do your prophesying! 13But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence.”
14Then Amos replied to Amaziah, “I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs. 15But the Lord took me from following the flock and the Lord said to me, ‘Go prophesy to My people Israel.’ 16Now hear the word of the Lord: you are saying, ‘You shall not prophesy against Israel nor shall you speak against the house of Isaac.’ 17Therefore, thus says the Lord, ‘Your wife will become a harlot in the city, your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be parceled up by a measuring line and you yourself will die upon unclean soil. Moreover, Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’ ”