1 This is the message that Amos (who was among the shepherds in Tekoa) saw concerning Yisra’el (Israel) in the days of King Uzziyah of Yehudah (Judah), and also in the days of Yoash’s son King Yaraveam (Jeroboam) of Yisrael, two years before the earthquake.[ref]

Judgment on Israel’s Neighbours

2 @Amos said,

“Yahweh will ≈shout loudly from Tsiyyon (Zion).

≈He will raise his voice from Yerushalem (Jerusalem).

The shepherds’ pastures will ≈brown off.

≈The top of Mt. Carmel will dry up.”[ref]

3 This is what Yahweh says:

“≈Even if Damascus was three or four sins below the threshold,

I wouldn’t turn away their punishment,

for ≈the cruel things they did to the people of Gilead.[ref]

4 I’ll send a fire into King Hazael’s house,

≈and it will devour King Ben-Hadad’s fortresses.

5 I’ll smash the gate bars of Damascus

and ≈eliminate the ruler of the Aven Valley,

and also the ≈leader of Beyt-Eden.

The people of Aram will go in captivity to Kir,”

says Yahweh.

1:6 Philistia

6 This is what Yahweh says:

“≈Even if Azzah (Gaza) was three or four sins below the threshold,

I wouldn’t turn away their punishment,

because they ≈carried a whole people group away as captives,

to hand them over to Edom.[ref] 7 I’ll send fire onto Azzah’s walls,

and it’ll devour her fortresses. 8 I will cut off those from Ashdod

≈and the ≈ruler of Ashkelon.

I’ll ≈cause problems for Ekron,

and the rest of the Philistines will ≈die,”

says Yahweh the master.

1:9 Tsor

9 This is what Yahweh says:

“≈Even if Tsor (Tyre) was three or four sins below the threshold,

I wouldn’t turn away their punishment,

because they ≈handed a whole people group over to Edom,

and they didn’t ≈take any notice of their brotherhood agreement.[ref]

10 I’ll send fire onto Tsor’s walls,

and it’ll devour her fortresses.”

1:11 Edom

11 This is what Yahweh says,

“≈Even if Edom was three or four sins below the threshold,

I wouldn’t turn away their punishment,

because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity.

His anger raged continually,

≈and his rage lasted forever.[ref]

12 I’ll send fire on Teyman,

and it’ll devour Botsrah’s fortresses.”

1:13 Ammon

13 This is what Yahweh says,

“≈Even if the Ammonites were three or four sins below the threshold,

I wouldn’t turn away their punishment,

because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead,

≈in order to grab territory.[ref]

14 I’ll light a fire in Rabah’s walls,

and it’ll devour its fortresses,

with a shout in the day of battle,

with a storm in the day of the whirlwind.

15 Their king will go into captivity along with his officials,”

says Yahweh.

2:1 Moab

2 This is what Yahweh says:

“≈Even if Moab was three or four sins below the threshold,

I wouldn’t turn away its punishment,

because he ≈completely burnt up the bones of Edom’s king.[ref]

2 I’ll send fire on Moab,

and it will devour Keriot’s fortresses.

Moab will die in an uproar—

with shouting and the sound of the horn. 3 I’ll ≈wipe out her judge,

≈and I’ll kill all the ≈leaders along with him,”

says Yahweh.

4 This is what Yahweh says:

“≈Even if Yehudah was three or four sins below the threshold,

I wouldn’t turn away its punishment,

because they rejected Yahweh’s instructions

≈and didn’t keep his regulations.

Their lies caused them to go astray,

≈just like their ancestors had done. 5 I’ll send fire on Yehudah,

and it’ll devour Yerushalem’s fortresses.”

6 This is what Yahweh says:

“≈Even if Yisrael was three or four sins below the threshold,

I wouldn’t turn away its punishment,

because they sold the innocent for silver

≈and the needy for a pair of sandals. 7 They trample the heads of the poor into the dust.

They just push the oppressed ≈out of the way.

A man and his father go ≈lie with the same girl

and so profane my ≈sinless reputation. 8 They lie down beside every altar on clothes taken from the poor as pledges,

and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who were fined.

9 Yet I destroyed the Amorites before them.

≈They were as tall as of cedars

and as strong as oaks.

Yet I destroyed #their fruit up high

and #their roots down below.[ref] 10 Also, I brought you all out of Egypt (Heb. Mitsrayim)

and led you forty years in the wilderness

≈so you all could possess the land of the Amorites.

11 I raised prophets up from among your sons

≈and devoted Nazirites from your young men.

Isn’t ≈that right, ≈you Israelis?

This is Yahweh’s declaration.[ref]

12 But you all ≈persuaded the Nazirites to drink wine[ref]

and ordered the prophets not to prophesy.

13 Listen, I’m going to make you ≈lose your stability

just like a cart wobbles when it’s carrying a heavy load of grain.

14 Even fast >people ≈won’t be able to reach a safe place.

≈The strong won’t have enough strength of their own,

≈and the powerful won’t be able to save #themselves.

15 The archer holding the bow ≈will be forced to retreat.

Even the ≈fast runner won’t be able to escape.

The ≈horse-rider won’t escape with his life.

16 Even the bravest warriors will flee naked that day.

That is Yahweh’s declaration.

Witnesses Summoned Against Israel; Israel’s sins and threatened punishment; Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

3 Hear this message that Yahweh has spoken against you, people of Yisrael, against ≈Yakob’s descendants that I brought out of Egypt saying: 2 “I have chosen only you from all the families of the earth, therefore I’ll punish you all for all your sins.”

3 Do two >people walk together, ≈without first agreeing to meet?

4 Would a lion roar in the forest when he doesn’t have any prey?

≈Would a young lion growl from his den if he’s caught nothing?

5 Would a bird fall into a trap on the ground when no bait ≈has been put in it?

≈Would a trap just spring up from the ground when it hasn’t caught anything?

6 If a warning trumpet sounds in a city, won’t the people ≈start to worry?

≈If disaster comes to a city, ≈wouldn’t it be Yahweh who sent it?

7 Surely the master Yahweh wouldn’t do anything unless he first reveals his plan to his servants the prophets.

8 The lion has roared—who won’t be afraid?

≈The master Yahweh has spoken—who won’t prophesy?

9 Proclaim this in the fortresses at Ashdod,

≈and in the strongholds in Egypt,

saying, “Assemble yourselves on Shomron’s mountains

and see what great confusion is in her,

≈and what oppression is in her.

10 Yahweh declares that they don’t know how to do right.

They store up violence and destruction in their fortresses.”

11 Therefore, this is what the master Yahweh says:

“An enemy will surround the land,

and pull down your strongholds

and plunder your fortresses.”

12 This is what Yahweh says:

“Just as the shepherd rescues out of the lion’s mouth two legs only, or a piece of an ear,

≈so will the ≈Israelis who live in Shomron be rescued with only the corner of a couch or a piece of a bed.” 13 ≈Take notice of this and testify against Yakob’s descendants.

That is the declaration of the master Yahweh, army commander God.

14 “On the day that I bring punishment for Yisrael’s sins to her, I’ll also bring punishment on the altars of Beyt-El. The altar’s horns will be cut off and fall to the ground.[ref] 15 I’ll destroy the winter house along with the summer house. The houses of ivory will perish, and the large houses will vanish.

That is Yahweh’s declaration.”

Israel Has Not Returned to God; Israel’s Failure to Learn

4 Listen to this message, you women like the cows of Bashan on Shomron’s mountain—

you who oppress the poor,

≈you who crush the needy,

you who say to your husbands,

“Bring us drinks.”

2 My master Yahweh has sworn by his own ≈sinlessness saying,

“Listen, the ≈time will come

when they’ll take you all away with hooks—

≈the last of you with fish-hooks.

3 You’ll all ≈be taken straight out through breaks in the city wall,

and you’ll be thrown out toward Harmon.

That is Yahweh’s declaration.”

4 “Go to the worship centre at Beyt-El and sin,

≈to the one at Gilgal and multiply sin.

Bring your sacrifices every morning,

≈your tithes every three days.

5 Offer a thanksgiving sacrifice with bread.

≈Proclaim freewill offerings.

≈Announce them,

because that pleases you, you Israelis.

That’s my master Yahweh’s declaration.

Israel Rejects Correction

6 I also gave you ≈empty stomachs in all your cities

and lack of bread in all your places.

Yet you all haven’t returned to me.

That is Yahweh’s declaration.

7 I also withheld rain from you

when there were still three months to the harvest.

I made it rain on one city,

and didn’t send rain to some another city.

One piece of land was rained on,

≈but the piece of land where he didn’t send rain, dried up.

8 People from two or three cities staggered to another city to drink water,

but still weren’t ≈able to get enough.

Yet you all haven’t returned to me.

That is Yahweh’s declaration.

9 I ≈ruined your crops with blight and mildew.

The multitude of your gardens and your vineyards,

your fig trees and your olive trees,

were all devastated by the locusts.

Yet you all haven’t returned to me.

That is Yahweh’s declaration.

10 I sent a plague on you ≈similar to what I did in Egypt (Heb. Mitsrayim).

I killed your young men with the sword, carried away your horses,

and made the stench of your camp ≈reach your noses.

Yet you all haven’t returned to me.

That is Yahweh’s declaration.

11 I overthrew cities among you, just like when God overthrew Sodom and Amorah (Gomorrah).[ref]

You were like a burning stick snatched out of the fire.

Yet you all haven’t returned to me.

That is Yahweh’s declaration.

12 Therefore I’ll do something terrible to you, Yisrael,

and because I’ll do something terrible to you,

prepare to meet your God, Yisrael.

13 Now listen. He who formed the mountains and created the wind

reveals his thoughts to humanity,

makes the morning darkness,

and ≈walks around the highest places in this world.

Army commander God, Yahweh, is his name.”

5 Hear this message ≈of mourning over you that I take up, ≈people of Yisrael:

2 The virgin Yisrael has fallen—she won’t rise again.

She’s abandoned on her land—there’s no one to ≈help her up,

3 because this is what the master Yahweh says:

“The city that went out with a thousand warriors will have a hundred left,

≈and the one that went out with a hundred will have ten left belonging to the ≈nation of Yisrael.”

4 This is what Yahweh says to the ≈people of Yisrael:

“Seek me and live!

5 Don’t seek Beyt-El (which means ‘God’s house’)

≈or enter Gilgal;

Don’t journey down to Be’er-Sheva.

Because Gilgal will surely go into captivity,

≈and Beyt-El will become nothing.

6 Seek Yahweh and live,

or he will break out like fire ≈among Yosef’s descendants.

It will devour, and there’ll be no one to quench it in Beyt-El.

7 Those people turn justice into ≈a bitter thing

and throw righteousness down to the ground.”

8 God made the Pleiades and Orion constellations.

He turns darkness into the morning

and he makes the day dark with night

He calls for the waters of the sea

and pours them out on the surface of the earth.

Yahweh is his name.

9 He causes devastation to land on the strong,

≈and destruction comes down on the #fortresses.

10 They hate anyone who corrects them ≈at the community centre,

≈and they despise anyone who speaks the truth.

11 Therefore, because you trample down the poor

≈and take ≈a percentage of all #their grain—

although you have built houses ≈from nice stone blocks, you won’t get to live in them.

≈You have delightful vineyards, but you won’t drink their wine.

12 For I know how many your offenses are

and how great your sins are—

you who ≈make honest people suffer, take bribes,

and turn aside the needy ≈at the community centre.

13 Therefore any ≈sensible >person ≈should be silent at such a time,

because it’s an evil time.

14 ≈Strive to do good and not evil, so that you may live.

So Yahweh, the God ≈with armies, will really be with you,

just like you’ve all been saying.

15 Hate evil, love good, and establish justice ≈at the community centre.

Perhaps Yahweh, the God ≈with armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Yosef’s descendants.

16 Therefore, this is what Yahweh says, the God ≈with armies, my master,

“Wailing will be in all the squares,

≈and in all the streets they’ll ≈complain, ‘≈Oh no. Oh no.’

They’ll call the farmers to mourning

≈and the mourners to wail. 17 There’ll be wailing in all the vineyards because I’ll pass through among you,”

Yahweh says.

18 You who desire the day of Yahweh ≈won’t end well.

Why do you long for the day of Yahweh?

It’ll be darkness and not light,

19 like when a person flees from a lion and then ≈they run into a bear,

≈or when a person goes in a house and puts a hand on the wall and ≈gets bitten by a snake.

20 Won’t Yahweh’s day ≈consist of darkness and not light?

≈Gloom and no brightness?

21 “I hate, I despise your festivals,

≈I ≈take no delight in your formal gatherings.[ref]

22 Even though you all offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I won’t accept them,

≈nor will I ≈take any notice of your fellowship offerings of fattened animals.

23 Take the noise of your songs away from me.

≈I won’t listen to the sound of your harps.

24 Instead, let justice flow like water,

≈and righteousness like a constantly flowing stream.

25 ≈You descendants of Yisrael,

did you bring me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness for forty years?[ref]

26 You’ve all lifted up the images of Sikkut, your king,

and Kiyyun, your star god that you made for yourselves. 27 Therefore I will exile you far beyond Damascus,”

says Yahweh, whose name is the God ≈with armies.

6 Those who are at ease in Tsiyyon (Zion) ≈won’t end well,

nor will those who feel secure in the hill country of Shomron (Samaria)—

the notable men of the best of the nations—

the ones who ≈Israel’s descendants come to for help!

2 “Go to Kalneh and look.

From there go to Hamat-Rabah.

Then go down to the Philistine city of Gat.

Are they better than your two kingdoms?

Is their ≈territory larger than yours?”

3 Those who ?≈refuse to consider the day of disaster ≈won’t end well

and make the seat of violence come closer.

4 They lie on ivory beds

≈and lounge on their couches.

They eat lambs from the flock

≈and calves from the stall.

5 They sing fun songs ≈with the harp as accompaniment.

They ≈improvise on musical instruments like David did.

6 They drink bowls of wine

and anoint themselves with the finest oils,

but they don’t grieve over ≈Israel’s ruin.

7 Therefore, they’ll go into exile now with the first exiles,

and the feasts of those who lounged about will ≈come to an end.

The Lord Abhors the Pride of Israel

8 This is the declaration of Yahweh, the God ≈with armies:

“I, the master Yahweh, have sworn by myself

that I detest ≈Israel’s pride.

I hate #their fortresses,

therefore I’ll hand the city[fn] over with everything that’s in it.”

9 ≈When that happens, if there’s ten people left in a house, they’ll all die. 10 When a person’s relative comes to take their bodies out of the house to be burnt outside, if he asks the person in the house if there’s anyone with them and if that person says there’s not, then he’ll say, “≈Don’t say anything else because we mustn’t mention Yahweh’s name.”

11 Yes, because, listen, Yahweh will give a command,

and the big house will be smashed to pieces,

≈and the little house turned into rubble.

12 Do horses run on the rocky cliffs?

≈Would someone plough there with oxen?

Yet you’ve all turned justice into poison

and the results of ≈doing what’s right, into bitterness,

13 you who celebrate about capturing Lo-Debar—

who say, “Didn’t we take Karnaim by our own strength?”

14 Therefore, listen, I’ll raise up a nation against you ≈people of Yisrael.

That’s the declaration of Yahweh, the God ≈with armies.

They’ll afflict you

from Lebo-Hamat to the brook in the Arabah.”

7 This is what my master Yahweh showed me:

Listen, he formed a locust swarm when the spring crop began to come up, and oh no, it was the late crop after the king’s initial harvest. 2 When they’d finished eating ≈everything green across the land, then I ≈asked, “My master Yahweh, please forgive >me. How will ≈Yisrael survive because it’s only a small country?”

3 So Yahweh ≈backed off from that and said that *he wouldn’t do it.

4 This is what my master Yahweh showed me:

Listen, my master Yahweh called on fire to judge >the country. It ≈dried up the vast, deep water under the earth and also would have devoured the land 5 ≈except I said, “My master Yahweh, please stop. How will ≈Israel survive because it’s so small?”

6 So Yahweh also ≈backed off from that and said that *he wouldn’t do it.

7 This is what he showed me:

Listen, my master stood on a wall holding a plumb-line 8 and *he ≈asked me, “Amos, what do you see?”

“A plumb line,” I ≈answered.

“Listen, I’ll ≈drop a plumb-line down to check out my people Yisrael,” my master said. “Never again will I spare them. 9 The ≈hilltop shrines of Yitsak (Isaac) will be destroyed.

≈Yisrael’s sanctuaries will be ruined,

and I’ll ≈take action against the house of Yaraveam (Jeroboam) with the sword.”

10 Then Amatsyah, the priest at Beyt-El (Bethel), sent a message to Yisrael’s King Yaraveam, saying: “Amos has conspired against you ≈right among the Israeli people. The ≈country can’t handle all his messages. 11 Amos is saying that you, Yaraveam, will die by the sword and that Yisrael will definitely ≈get taken into exile away from this land.”

12 Amatsyah ≈ordered Amos, “Hey prophet! Go and run yourself back to the Yehudah ≈region, and ≈earn your living and prophesy there. 13 ≈But you must never again prophesy here at Beyt-El because it’s the king’s sanctuary, and it’s the royal residence.”

14 “I’m not a prophet,” Amos answered *the priest. “Nor am I a prophet’s son, because I’m a herdsman, plus I take care of ≈an orchard. 15 But Yahweh took me from ≈looking after the flock and told me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Yisrael.’ 16 ≈So now listen to Yahweh’s message: You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Yisrael, and don’t speak out against Yitsak’s ≈descendants.’ 17 Therefore this is what Yahweh says:

Your wife will become a prostitute in the city.

Your sons and daughters will ≈die by the sword.

Your ≈property will be measured and divided up.

You’ll die in a ≈foreign, heathen country,

and Yisrael will certainly ≈be taken into exile from its land.”

8 This is what my master Yahweh showed me: See this basketful of summer fruit. 2 Then he ≈asked, “What do you see, Amos?”

“A basket of summer fruit,” I said.

Then Yahweh told me, “The end has come for my people Yisrael. I won’t spare them any longer. 3 The songs of the temple will become wailings on that day.”

That’s the declaration of my master Yahweh.

“Many dead bodies—they’re thrown everywhere.

Then silence.”

4 Listen to this, you who trample the needy

≈and take the poor off the land. 5 They say,

“When will the new moon celebrations be over, so we can sell grain again?

≈When will the Rest Day be over, so we can sell wheat?

We’ll make the measure small and increase the price,

≈as we cheat with false scales.

6 This is so we can sell low-grade wheat.

≡We can buy the poor >people with ≈cash,

≈and the needy >people for a pair of sandals.”

7 Yahweh has made an oath on Yakob’s pride,

“I certainly won’t ever forget any of their evil actions.

8 Won’t the land itself quake due to this behaviour,

and every one who lives in it mourn?

All of @the ground will come up like the Nile River after the rains,

≈and it will be tossed about then settle again, like Egypt’s river.

9 This is the declaration of my master Yahweh:

“It will come ≈at that time that I’ll make the sun set at noon,

≈and I will darken the earth ≈during the day.

10 I’ll turn your festivals into mourning

≈and all your songs into dirges.

I’ll make all of you wear sackcloth

and every head ≈to be shaved.

I’ll make it like mourning for an only son,

≈and a bitter day to its end.

11 This is the declaration of my master Yahweh:

Listen, the days are coming when I’ll send a famine to &this country.

Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water,

but for hearing Yahweh’s messages.

12 They’ll stagger from sea to sea.

They’ll rove around from the north to the east to seek Yahweh’s message,

but they won’t find it.

13 In that day the beautiful young women

≈and the young men will faint from ≈dehydration.

14 Those who swear by the guilt of Shomron (Samaria)

and say, ‘As your god lives, Dan,’

and, ‘As the road to Beer-Sheva exists’—

they will ≈die and never ≈live again.”

9 I saw my master standing beside the altar, and he said,

“Strike the tops of the pillars so that the foundations will shake.

Break them in pieces onto all their heads,

and I will kill the last of them with the sword.

Not one of them will get away.

≈Not one of them will escape.

2 Though they dig down ≈towards Sheol, my hand will reach in there and pluck them out.

≈Though they climb up to heaven, I’ll bring them back down from there.

3 Even if they hide on the top of Mt. Carmel, I’ll search there and take them.

≈Though they’re hidden from my sight at the bottom of the sea, I’ll give orders to the serpent there ≈to bite them.

4 Though they go into captivity, driven ahead by their enemies, I’ll give orders there to the sword ≈to kill them.

I’ll keep my eyes on them for harm and not for good.”

5 Master and army commander Yahweh touches the land and it melts.

All who live in it mourn.

All of it will rise up like the Nile River,

then ≈go down again like Egypt’s river.

6 He builds his steps in the heavens,

≈and has established his vault over the earth.

He calls for the waters of the sea,

and pours them out on the earth’s surface,

Yahweh is his name.

7 This is Yahweh’s declaration:

“Aren’t you all like Ethopia’s sons (Heb. Kush) to me, you ≈Israelis?

Didn’t I bring Yisrael out of Egypt,

the Philistines from Crete,

and the Arameans from Kir?

8 Listen, the eyes of my master Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom of Yisrael,

and I will destroy it from the face of the earth,

except that I won’t totally ≈wipe out Yakob’s descendants.

That is Yahweh’s declaration.

A remnant spared and restored

9 Because, listen, I will give a command,

and I’ll shake Yisrael among all the nations,

as one shakes grain in a sieve,

≈but not even a pebble will fall to the ground. 10 All my people who are sinners will die by the sword,

including those who said, ‘≈We’re totally immune from any disaster.’