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Amos 1:1-8
1 The words of Amos, who was one of the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw in a vision regarding 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.
2 He said: ‘The Lord roars from Zion and shouts out from Jerusalem; the pasture lands of the shepherds languish, and the top of Carmel withers.’
3 This is what the Lord says: ‘For three crimes of Damascus, and for four, I will not withdraw the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with iron-toothed threshing sledges. 4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it will devour Ben-hadad’s strongholds. 5 I will smash the gate-bar of Damascus, and hew down the one who rules in the Valley of Aven, and the one who holds the sceptre in Beth-eden; and the people of Syria will be exiled to Kir,’ says the Lord.
6 This is what the Lord says: ‘For three crimes of Gaza, and for four, I will not withdraw the punishment, because they carried into exile entire nations to hand them over to Edom. 7 So I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will consume her strongholds. 8 I will cut off the one who rules in Ashdod, and the one who holds the sceptre in Ashkelon; My hand will be turned against Ekron until the last of the Philistines is dead,’ says the Lord God.
Amos 1:9-15
9 This is what the Lord says: ‘For three crimes of Tyre and for four, I will not withdraw the punishment, because they handed over whole groups of captives to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of kinship. 10 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it will consume her strongholds.’
11 This is what the Lord says: ‘For three crimes of Edom and for four, I will not withdraw the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and threw away all pity, his anger raged continually, and he held on to his wrath forever. 12 So I will send a fire upon Teman, and it will consume the strongholds of Bozrah.’
13 This is what the Lord says: ‘For three crimes of the Ammonites and for four, I will not withdraw the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, simply to enlarge their border. 14 So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will consume her strongholds amidst the clamour of battle and with raging anger on the day of judgement. 15 Their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together,’ says the Lord.
Amos 2:1-8
1 This is what the Lord says: For three crimes of Moab, and for four, I will not withdraw the punishment, because he burned to ashes the bones of the king of Edom. 2 So I will send a fire upon Moab, and it will consume the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab will meet death in the midst of the tumult of war, shouts and trumpet sounds; 3 I will remove the leader in her midst and kill all her princes with him,’ says the Lord.
4 This is what the Lord says: ‘For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not withdraw the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the Lord. They have not kept His statutes, but have been led astray by the same lies their forefathers believed. 5 So I will send a fire upon Judah, and it will consume the strongholds of Jerusalem.’
6 This is what the Lord says: ‘For three crimes of Israel, and for four, I will not withdraw the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. 7 They trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and ignore the needs of the poor. Father and son go in to the same prostitute, profaning my Holy Name, 8 and they recline beside every altar on clothing taken in pledge. They also drink the wine of those who have been fined in the house of their God!
Amos 2:9-16
9 ‘Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, who were as tall as cedars and strong as oaks; I destroyed the fruit above and the roots beneath. 10 And it was I who brought you up out of Egypt and led you through the desert for forty years so you might take possession of Amorite land. 11 And I raised up some of your sons to be prophets, and some of your young men to be Nazirites. Is this not so, O people of Israel?’ says the Lord. 12 ‘Now it was you who made the Nazirites drink wine, and instructed the prophets not to prophesy!’
13 ‘Look, I will weigh you down to the ground, as a cart full of sheaves is loaded down. 14 The swift will be unable to flee and the strong will not retain their strength; neither will the warrior save his life, 15 nor will the archer stand his ground. Those who are fleet of foot will not save themselves, nor will the horseman save his life; 16 even the bravest of the warriors will flee away naked in that day,’ says the Lord.
Amos 3:1-8
1 Hear this Word, you people of Israel, that the Lord has spoken against you, and against the whole family I brought up out of the land of Egypt: 2 ‘You alone have I known from amongst all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.
3 Do two walk together,
unless they have agreed to meet?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest,
when he has no prey?
Does a young lion growl from within its den,
if he has caught nothing?
5 Does a bird fall into a snare on the ground,
when there is no bait set in it?
Does a snare spring up from the ground,
when it has taken nothing?
6 Does a trumpet sound in a city,
without bringing fear to the people?
Does disaster come to a city,
unless the Lord has caused it?
7 ‘Surely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing what he proposes to His servants the prophets. 8 The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?’
Amos 3:9-15
9 Let it be known in the strongholds of Ashdod and in the strongholds of Egypt: ‘Gather in the hills of Samaria and look at the great unrest in her and the oppression at her very core.’ 10 ‘They do not know how to be honest,’ says the Lord, ‘these are people who store up thuggery and violence in their strongholds!’
11 So this is what the Lord says; ‘An enemy will surround the land, pull down your defences and plunder your strongholds!’
12 This is what the Lord says; ‘Just as a shepherd snatches a couple of legs or a piece of an ear from the mouth of a lion, so will the people of Israel be snatched away, those who live in Samaria with a piece of a bed and those who live in Damascus with a couch!’
13 ‘Hear and bring testimony against the house of Jacob,’ says the Lord God, the Lord of Hosts: 14 ‘For on the day when I punish Israel for her crimes, I will punish the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground! 15 I will tear down the winter house together with the summer house, and the houses of ivory will perish. The great dynasties will come to an end,’ says the Lord.
Amos 4:1-5
1 ‘Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on the mountain of Samaria! You women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, and who say to your husbands, “Bring wine and let’s drink!” 2 The Lord God has sworn on His holiness that look, the time is coming when they will pull you away with hooks, yes, the last of you with fishhooks! 3 You will be dragged by the straightest route through the breached walls, and you will be flung out into Harmon,’ says the Lord.
4 ‘Come to Bethel and sin; to Gilgal, and sin even more; bring your sacrifices each morning and your tithes every three days; 5 bring a thanksgiving offering of leavened bread, and proclaim freewill offerings. Tell everyone about them, as you love to do, O people of Israel!’ says the Lord God.
Amos 4:6-13
6 ‘I gave your teeth no food in all your cities, and made bread scarce in every locality; yet you did not return to me,’ says the Lord.
7 ‘I also withheld the rain from you when harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one city but not on another; one field would have rain, and another would not and would wither. 8 So people would stagger from one city to another just to drink water, but they could not be satisfied. Yet you did not return to me,’ says the Lord.
9 ‘I struck you with blight and mildew, and locusts consumed your increasing number of gardens, vineyards, fig trees and olive trees; yet you did not return to me,’ says the Lord.
10 ‘I sent plagues among you just as I did to Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword and captured your horses, and I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp; yet you did not return to me,’ says the Lord.
11 ‘I brought catastrophe on some of you, just as I did on Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a brand plucked from the burning; yet you did not return to me,’ says the Lord.
12 ‘Therefore this is what I will do to you, O Israel; and because I will indeed do it, O Israel, prepare to meet your God! 13 For look, He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, reveals people’s hidden thoughts, creates the morning out of darkness, and treads on the highest places of the earth; the Lord, the God of hosts is His name!’
Amos 5:1-9
1 Hear this word, O house of Israel, that I take up against you; a lament.
2 Fair virgin Israel is fallen,
no more to rise;
she lies abandoned on her land
with no one to raise her.
3 This is what the Lord God says:
The city that marched out with a thousand
will be left with a hundred,
and any which marched out with a hundred
will have ten left.
4 This is what the Lord says
to the house of Israel:
Seek me and live;
5 Now, do not seek Bethel,
and do not go into Gilgal
or journey to Beer-sheba;
for Gilgal will surely go into exile,
and Bethel will come to nothing.
6 Seek the Lord and live,
or he will come on Joseph’s house as a fire,
and it will devour Bethel
with no one to put it out!
7 O you who turn justice into bitterness,
and bring righteousness to a halt!
8 The one 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, 9 who makes violence burst upon the strong, and brings destruction upon the fortress.
Amos 5:10-17
10 ‘They hate the judge at the gate,
and they loathe the man
who speaks the truth.
11 Therefore because you have trampled the poor
and taken taxes of grain from them,
you will not live in your houses of cut stone
even though you have built them,
and you will not drink the wine
of the lovely vineyards you have planted.
12 For I know about your many crimes,
and the great number of your sins.
You oppress those who are just,
you accept bribes and prevent the needy
from getting justice in the gate.
13 So the prudent man is silent at such a time,
for it is an evil time.
14 ‘Seek good and not evil,
that you may live;
and so the Lord the God of hosts
will be with you, just as you say He is.
15 Hate evil, love good,
and maintain justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to what is left of Joseph.’
16 Therefore this is what the Lord says,
the God of hosts, the Lord:
‘In every town square there will be wailing;
and in every street they will cry in anguish.
They will summon the farmers to weep
and the professional mourners to wail;
17 in every vineyard there will be wailing,
for I will pass right through you,
says the Lord.’
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