Amos 3-4
GOD’S WORD Translation
The Lord Will Punish Israel for Its Immoral Behavior
3 Listen to this message which I, the Lord, have spoken against you Israelites, against your whole family that I brought out of Egypt.
2 Out of all the families on earth, I have known no one else but you.
That is why I am going to punish you for all your sins.
3 Do two people ever walk together without meeting first?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest if it has no prey?
Does a young lion growl in its den unless it has caught something?
5 Does a bird land in a trap on the ground if there’s no bait in it?
Does a trap spring up from the ground unless it has caught something?
6 If a ram’s horn sounds an alarm in a city, won’t the people be alarmed?
If there is a disaster in a city, hasn’t the Lord done it?
7 Certainly, the Almighty Lord doesn’t do anything
unless he ⌞first⌟ reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared. Who isn’t afraid?
The Almighty Lord has spoken. Who can keep from prophesying?
9 Announce in the palaces of Ashdod and in the palaces of Egypt,
“Gather together on the mountains of Samaria.
See the widespread confusion and oppression in Samaria.”
10 Those who collect profits in their palaces
through violent and destructive acts
don’t know how to do what is right, declares the Lord.
11 This is what the Almighty Lord says:
An enemy will surround your land,
strip you of your defenses,
and loot your palaces.
12 This is what the Lord says:
As a shepherd rescues two legs or a piece of an ear out of a lion’s mouth,
so the Israelites living in Samaria will be rescued,
⌞having only⌟ a corner of a bed or a piece of a couch.[a]
13 Listen, and testify against the descendants of Jacob,
declares the Almighty Lord, the God of Armies.
14 On the day I punish Israel for its disobedience,
I will also destroy the altars at Bethel.
The horns of the altar will be cut off and will fall to the ground.
15 I will tear down winter houses as well as summer houses.
Houses ⌞decorated⌟ with ivory will be destroyed.
Mansions will be demolished, declares the Lord.
The Lord Will Punish the Women of Samaria
4 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan who live on Mount Samaria.
You women oppress the poor and abuse the needy.
You say to your husbands, “Get some wine! Let’s drink!”
2 The Almighty Lord has taken an oath on his holiness:
Surely, the time is going to come
when you will be taken away on hooks,
and the rest of you on fishhooks.
3 Each of you will leave ⌞the city⌟
through breaks in the wall, one woman ahead of another.
You will be thrown into a garbage dump.
The Lord declares this.
4 Go to Bethel and sin.
Go to Gilgal and sin even more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning.
Bring a tenth of your income every three days.
5 Burn bread as a thank offering.
Brag and boast about your freewill offerings.
This is what you people of Israel love to do.
The Almighty Lord declares this.
6 I left you with nothing to eat in any of your cities.
I left you with no food in your entire land.
And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord.
7 I stopped the rain from falling
three months before the harvest.
I sent rain on one city and not on another.
One field had rain.
Another field had none and dried up.
8 So people from two or three cities staggered
as they walked to another city in order to get a drink of water.
But they couldn’t get enough.
And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord.
9 I struck your ⌞crops⌟ with blight and mildew.
Locusts repeatedly devoured your gardens, vineyards,
fig trees, and olive trees.
And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord.
10 I sent plagues on you as I did to Egypt.
With swords I killed your best young men along with your captured horses.
I made the stench from your camps fill your noses.
And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord.
11 I destroyed some of you as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning log snatched from a fire.
And you still didn’t return to me, declares the Lord.
12 This is what I will do to you, Israel.
Prepare to meet your God.
This is what I will do to you, Israel!
13 God forms the mountains and creates the wind.
He reveals his thoughts to humans.
He makes dawn and dusk ⌞appear⌟.
He walks on the high places of the earth.
His name is the Lord God of Armies.
Footnotes
- 3:12 Or “a couch of Damascus.”
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