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Amos 4-6
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Amos 4-6
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Social and Spiritual Corruption
4 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan(A)
who are on the hill of Samaria,
women who oppress the poor
and crush the needy,(B)
who say to their husbands,
“Bring us something to drink.”(C)
2 The Lord God has sworn(D) by His holiness:(E)
Look, the days are coming[a]
when you will be taken away with hooks,(F)
every last one of you with fishhooks.(G)
3 You will go through breaches in the wall,(H)
each woman straight ahead,
and you will be driven along toward Harmon.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
4 Come to Bethel and rebel;
rebel even more at Gilgal!(I)
Bring your sacrifices every morning,(J)
your tenths every three days.
5 Offer leavened bread as a thank offering,(K)
and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings,(L)
for that is what you Israelites love to do!(M)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
God’s Discipline and Israel’s Apostasy
6 I gave you absolutely nothing to eat[b](N)
in all your cities,
a shortage of food in all your communities,
yet you did not return to Me.(O)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
7 I also withheld the rain from you(P)
while there were still three months until harvest.
I sent rain on one city
but no rain on another.(Q)
One field received rain
while a field with no rain withered.(R)
8 Two or three cities staggered
to another city to drink water(S)
but were not satisfied,(T)
yet you did not return(U) to Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
9 I struck you with blight and mildew;(V)
the locust devoured(W)
your many gardens and vineyards,
your fig trees and olive trees,(X)
yet you did not return to Me.(Y)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
10 I sent plagues like those of Egypt;(Z)
I killed your young men with the sword,(AA)
along with your captured horses.(AB)
I caused the stench of your camp
to fill your nostrils,(AC)
yet you did not return to Me.(AD)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
11 I overthrew some of you
as I[c] overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,(AE)
and you were like a burning stick
snatched from a fire,(AF)
yet you did not return to Me(AG)—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
12 Therefore, Israel, that is what I will do to you,
and since I will do that to you,
Israel, prepare to meet your God!(AH)
13 He is here:
the One who forms the mountains,(AI)
creates the wind,(AJ)
and reveals His[d] thoughts to man,(AK)
the One who makes the dawn out of darkness
and strides on the heights of the earth.(AL)
Yahweh, the God of Hosts, is His name.(AM)
Lamentation for Israel
5 Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament,(AN) house of Israel:
2 She has fallen;
Virgin Israel(AO) will never rise again.(AP)
She lies abandoned on her land,
with no one to raise her up.(AQ)
3 For the Lord God says:
The city that marches out a thousand strong
will have only a hundred left,(AR)
and the one that marches out a hundred strong
will have only ten left(AS) in the house of Israel.
Seek God and Live
4 For the Lord says to the house of Israel:
Seek Me and live!(AT)
5 Do not seek Bethel(AU)
or go to Gilgal(AV)
or journey to Beer-sheba,(AW)
for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,
and Bethel will come to nothing.
6 Seek Yahweh(AX) and live,
or He will spread like fire(AY)
throughout the house of Joseph;
it will consume everything,
with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.(AZ)
7 Those who turn justice into wormwood(BA)
throw righteousness to the ground.
8 The One who made the Pleiades and Orion,(BB)
who turns darkness[e] into dawn(BC)
and darkens day into night,(BD)
who summons the waters of the sea(BE)
and pours them out over the face of the earth(BF)—
Yahweh is His name.(BG)
9 He brings destruction[f] on the strong,[g](BH)
and it falls on the stronghold.(BI)
10 They hate the one who convicts the guilty(BJ)
at the city gate
and despise(BK) the one who speaks with integrity.
11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor(BL)
and exact a grain tax from him,
you will never live in the houses of cut stone(BM)
you have built;
you will never drink the wine
from the lush vineyards
you have planted.(BN)
12 For I know your crimes are many
and your sins innumerable.
They oppress the righteous,(BO) take a bribe,
and deprive the poor of justice(BP) at the gates.
13 Therefore, the wise person will keep silent[h](BQ)
at such a time,
for the days are evil.
14 Seek good and not evil
so that you may live,
and the Lord, the God of Hosts,
will be with you,
as you have claimed.(BR)
15 Hate evil and love good;(BS)
establish justice in the gate.(BT)
Perhaps the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be gracious(BU)
to the remnant of Joseph.(BV)
16 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says:
There will be wailing in all the public squares;(BW)
they will cry out in anguish[i] in all the streets.
The farmer will be called on to mourn,(BX)
and professional mourners[j](BY) to wail.
17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards,(BZ)
for I will pass among you.(CA)
The Lord has spoken.
The Day of the Lord
18 Woe to you who long for the Day of the Lord!(CB)
What will the Day of the Lord be for you?
It will be darkness and not light.(CC)
19 It will be like a man who flees from a lion(CD)
only to have a bear confront him.
He goes home and rests his hand against the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
20 Won’t the Day of the Lord
be darkness rather than light,(CE)
even gloom without any brightness in it?(CF)
21 I hate, I despise your feasts!(CG)
I can’t stand the stench
of your solemn assemblies.(CH)
22 Even if you offer Me
your burnt offerings and grain offerings,(CI)
I will not accept them;(CJ)
I will have no regard
for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.(CK)
23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.(CL)
24 But let justice flow like water,
and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.(CM)
25 “House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to Me during the 40 years in the wilderness?(CN) 26 But you have taken up[k] Sakkuth[l][m] your king[n] and Kaiwan[o] your star god, images you have made for yourselves.(CO) 27 So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.”(CP) Yahweh, the God of Hosts, is His name.(CQ) He has spoken.
Woe to the Complacent
6 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion(CR)
and to those who feel secure on the hill of Samaria—
the notable people in this first of the nations,
those the house of Israel comes to.
2 Cross over to Calneh(CS) and see;
go from there to great Hamath;(CT)
then go down to Gath(CU) of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Is their territory larger than yours?
3 You dismiss any thought of the evil day(CV)
and bring in a reign of violence.(CW)
4 They lie on beds inlaid with ivory,(CX)
sprawled out on their couches,(CY)
and dine on lambs from the flock(CZ)
and calves from the stall.
5 They improvise songs[p] to the sound of the harp(DA)
and invent[q] their own musical instruments like David.(DB)
6 They drink wine by the bowlful(DC)
and anoint themselves with the finest oils
but do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.(DD)
7 Therefore, they will now go into exile
as the first of the captives,(DE)
and the feasting(DF) of those who sprawl out
will come to an end.
Israel’s Pride Judged
8 The Lord God has sworn by Himself(DG)—this is the declaration of Yahweh, the God of Hosts:
I loathe Jacob’s pride(DH)
and hate his citadels,(DI)
so I will hand over the city(DJ) and everything in it.
9 And if there are 10 men left in one house, they will die.(DK) 10 A close relative[r] and burner[s](DL) will remove his corpse[t] from the house. He will call to someone in the inner recesses of the house, “Any more with you?”
That person will reply, “None.”
Then he will say, “Silence, because Yahweh’s name must not be invoked.”(DM)
11 For the Lord commands:
The large house will be smashed to pieces,
and the small house to rubble.(DN)
12 Do horses gallop on the cliffs;
does anyone plow there with oxen?[u]
Yet you have turned justice into poison(DO)
and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood(DP)—
13 you who rejoice over Lo-debar(DQ)
and say, “Didn’t we capture Karnaim
for ourselves by our own strength?”(DR)
14 But look, I am raising up a nation
against you, house of Israel(DS)—
this is the declaration of the Lord,
the God of Hosts—
and they will oppress you
from the entrance of Hamath[v](DT)
to the Brook of the Arabah.[w]
Footnotes
- Amos 4:2 Lit coming on you
- Amos 4:6 Lit you cleanness of teeth
- Amos 4:11 Lit God
- Amos 4:13 Or his
- Amos 5:8 Or turns the shadow of death
- Amos 5:9 Hb obscure
- Amos 5:9 Or stronghold
- Amos 5:13 Or the prudent will perish
- Amos 5:16 Lit will say, “Alas! Alas!”
- Amos 5:16 Lit and those skilled in lamentation
- Amos 5:26 Or you will lift up
- Amos 5:26 LXX, Sym, Syr, Vg read the tent; Ac 7:43
- Amos 5:26 Probably a Mesopotamian war god also called Adar or Ninurta
- Amos 5:26 LXX reads up the tent of Molech and Rephan; Ac 7:43
- Amos 5:26 Probably a Mesopotamian god identified with Saturn
- Amos 6:5 Hb obscure
- Amos 6:5 Or compose on
- Amos 6:10 Lit His uncle
- Amos 6:10 A burner of incense, a memorial fire, or a body; Hb obscure
- Amos 6:10 Lit remove bones
- Amos 6:12 Some emend to plow the sea
- Amos 6:14 Or from Lebo-hamath
- Amos 6:14 Probably the Valley of Zared at the southeast end of the Dead Sea
Amos 4-6
New International Version
Amos 4-6
New International Version
Israel Has Not Returned to God
4 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan(A) on Mount Samaria,(B)
you women who oppress the poor(C) and crush the needy(D)
and say to your husbands,(E) “Bring us some drinks!(F)”
2 The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness:
“The time(G) will surely come
when you will be taken away(H) with hooks,(I)
the last of you with fishhooks.[a]
3 You will each go straight out
through breaches in the wall,(J)
and you will be cast out toward Harmon,[b]”
declares the Lord.
4 “Go to Bethel(K) and sin;
go to Gilgal(L) and sin yet more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,(M)
your tithes(N) every three years.[c](O)
5 Burn leavened bread(P) as a thank offering
and brag about your freewill offerings(Q)—
boast about them, you Israelites,
for this is what you love to do,”
declares the Sovereign Lord.
6 “I gave you empty stomachs in every city
and lack of bread in every town,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the Lord.(R)
7 “I also withheld(S) rain from you
when the harvest was still three months away.
I sent rain on one town,
but withheld it from another.(T)
One field had rain;
another had none and dried up.
8 People staggered from town to town for water(U)
but did not get enough(V) to drink,
yet you have not returned(W) to me,”
declares the Lord.(X)
9 “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
destroying them with blight and mildew.(Y)
Locusts(Z) devoured your fig and olive trees,(AA)
yet you have not returned(AB) to me,”
declares the Lord.
10 “I sent plagues(AC) among you
as I did to Egypt.(AD)
I killed your young men(AE) with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench(AF) of your camps,
yet you have not returned to me,”(AG)
declares the Lord.(AH)
11 “I overthrew some of you
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.(AI)
You were like a burning stick(AJ) snatched from the fire,
yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the Lord.(AK)
12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
and because I will do this to you, Israel,
prepare to meet your God.”
13 He who forms the mountains,(AL)
who creates the wind,(AM)
and who reveals his thoughts(AN) to mankind,
who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads on the heights of the earth(AO)—
the Lord God Almighty is his name.(AP)
A Lament and Call to Repentance
5 Hear this word, Israel, this lament(AQ) I take up concerning you:
2 “Fallen is Virgin(AR) Israel,
never to rise again,
deserted in her own land,
with no one to lift her up.(AS)”
3 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel:
“Your city that marches out a thousand strong
will have only a hundred left;
your town that marches out a hundred strong
will have only ten left.(AT)”
4 This is what the Lord says to Israel:
“Seek(AU) me and live;(AV)
5 do not seek Bethel,
do not go to Gilgal,(AW)
do not journey to Beersheba.(AX)
For Gilgal will surely go into exile,
and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.[d](AY)”
6 Seek(AZ) the Lord and live,(BA)
or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire;(BB)
it will devour them,
and Bethel(BC) will have no one to quench it.(BD)
7 There are those who turn justice into bitterness(BE)
and cast righteousness(BF) to the ground.(BG)
8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion,(BH)
who turns midnight into dawn(BI)
and darkens day into night,(BJ)
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land—
the Lord is his name.(BK)
9 With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold
and brings the fortified city to ruin.(BL)
10 There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court(BM)
and detest the one who tells the truth.(BN)
11 You levy a straw tax on the poor(BO)
and impose a tax on their grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,(BP)
you will not live in them;(BQ)
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.(BR)
12 For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.(BS)
There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes(BT)
and deprive the poor(BU) of justice in the courts.(BV)
13 Therefore the prudent keep quiet(BW) in such times,
for the times are evil.(BX)
14 Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.(BY)
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
15 Hate evil,(BZ) love good;(CA)
maintain justice in the courts.(CB)
Perhaps(CC) the Lord God Almighty will have mercy(CD)
on the remnant(CE) of Joseph.
16 Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says:
“There will be wailing(CF) in all the streets(CG)
and cries of anguish in every public square.
The farmers(CH) will be summoned to weep
and the mourners to wail.
17 There will be wailing(CI) in all the vineyards,
for I will pass through(CJ) your midst,”
says the Lord.(CK)
The Day of the Lord
18 Woe to you who long
for the day of the Lord!(CL)
Why do you long for the day of the Lord?(CM)
That day will be darkness,(CN) not light.(CO)
19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion
only to meet a bear,(CP)
as though he entered his house
and rested his hand on the wall
only to have a snake bite him.(CQ)
20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness,(CR) not light—
pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?(CS)
21 “I hate,(CT) I despise your religious festivals;(CU)
your assemblies(CV) are a stench to me.
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings(CW) and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.(CX)
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.(CY)
23 Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.(CZ)
24 But let justice(DA) roll on like a river,
righteousness(DB) like a never-failing stream!(DC)
25 “Did you bring me sacrifices(DD) and offerings
forty years(DE) in the wilderness, people of Israel?
26 You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
the pedestal of your idols,(DF)
the star of your god[e]—
which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore I will send you into exile(DG) beyond Damascus,”
says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.(DH)
Woe to the Complacent
6 Woe to you(DI) who are complacent(DJ) in Zion,
and to you who feel secure(DK) on Mount Samaria,(DL)
you notable men of the foremost nation,
to whom the people of Israel come!(DM)
2 Go to Kalneh(DN) and look at it;
go from there to great Hamath,(DO)
and then go down to Gath(DP) in Philistia.
Are they better off than(DQ) your two kingdoms?
Is their land larger than yours?
3 You put off the day of disaster
and bring near a reign of terror.(DR)
4 You lie on beds adorned with ivory
and lounge on your couches.(DS)
You dine on choice lambs
and fattened calves.(DT)
5 You strum away on your harps(DU) like David
and improvise on musical instruments.(DV)
6 You drink wine(DW) by the bowlful
and use the finest lotions,
but you do not grieve(DX) over the ruin of Joseph.(DY)
7 Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile;(DZ)
your feasting and lounging will end.(EA)
The Lord Abhors the Pride of Israel
8 The Sovereign Lord has sworn by himself(EB)—the Lord God Almighty declares:
“I abhor(EC) the pride of Jacob(ED)
and detest his fortresses;(EE)
I will deliver up(EF) the city
and everything in it.(EG)”
9 If ten(EH) people are left in one house, they too will die. 10 And if the relative who comes to carry the bodies out of the house to burn them[f](EI) asks anyone who might be hiding there, “Is anyone else with you?” and he says, “No,” then he will go on to say, “Hush!(EJ) We must not mention the name of the Lord.”
11 For the Lord has given the command,
and he will smash(EK) the great house(EL) into pieces
and the small house into bits.(EM)
Footnotes
- Amos 4:2 Or away in baskets, / the last of you in fish baskets
- Amos 4:3 Masoretic Text; with a different word division of the Hebrew (see Septuagint) out, you mountain of oppression
- Amos 4:4 Or days
- Amos 5:5 Hebrew aven, a reference to Beth Aven (a derogatory name for Bethel); see Hosea 4:15.
- Amos 5:26 Or lifted up Sakkuth your king / and Kaiwan your idols, / your star-gods; Septuagint lifted up the shrine of Molek / and the star of your god Rephan, / their idols
- Amos 6:10 Or to make a funeral fire in honor of the dead
- Amos 6:12 With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text plow there
- Amos 6:13 Lo Debar means nothing.
- Amos 6:13 Karnaim means horns; horn here symbolizes strength.
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