1The words of Amos, who was an owner of herds from Tekoa, which he prophesied concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of the tribe of the house of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the coming of the earthquake. 2 And he said, “The Lord calls from Zion, and lifts up his Memra from Jerusalem; and the dw ellings of the kings shall be made desolate, and their mighty cities shall be destroyed.” 3 Thus says the Lord, “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not forgive them’; because they threshed the inhabitants of the land of* Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. 4 So I will send fire upon Hazael’s house, and it shall destroy the fortresses of Bar- Hadad. 5 I will destroy the might of Damascus and wipe out the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven and the one who wields power from Beth-eden; and the people of Aram shall be exiled to Cyrene”, says the Lord. 6 Thus says the Lord, “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not forgive them because they exiled an entire population, which they handed over to Edom. 7 So I will send fire upon the walls of Gaza and it shall destroy its fortresses. 8 I will wipe out the inhabitants from Ashdod and the one who wields power from Ashkelon; and I will turn the scourge of my power against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish”, says the Lord God. 9 Thus says the Lord, “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not forgive them’; because they handed over an entire population to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brothers. 10 So I will send fire upon the walls of Tyre, and it shall devour its fortresses.” 11 Thus says the Lord, “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not forgive them because he pursued his brother with the sword and destroyed his pity, and his anger killed perpetually, and he kept his wrath for eyer. 12 So I will send down fire upon the south, and it shall destroy the fortresses of Bozrah.” 13 Thus says the Lord, “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not forgive them because they ripped open the pregnant women of the land of Gilead, in order to extend their boundaries. 14 So I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah, and it shall destroy its fortresses, with fanfare on the day of battle, with a storm on the day of wind. 15 Their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together”, says the Lord.
2Thus says the Lord, “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not forgive them, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom and used them for plaster on his house.” 2 So I will send fire upon Moab, and it shall destroy the fortresses of the city. And Moab shall die in tumult, amid fanfare and the blast of the trumpet. 3 I will wipe out her judges from her midst and kill all her princes with him,” says the Lord. 4 Thus says the Lord, “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not forgive them, because they have loathed the law of the Lord and have not observed his statutes; their deceptions, after which their fathers walked, have led them astray. 5 So I will send fire upon the people of the house of Judah, and it shall destroy the fortresses of Jerusalem.” 6 Thus says the Lord, “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not forgive them, because they have sold the innocent and the poor for silver in order that they might acquire an inheritance. 7 They trample the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth and pervert the cause of the needy. A man and his father go to the same girl in order to profane my holy name. 8 They recline beside all their idolatrous altars on couches taken in pledge, and in the house of their idols they drink wine obtained by robbery. 9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before you, whose height was like the height of cedars, and who was as strong as oaks. I destroyed his fruit above and his roots below. 10 And I brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you through the wilderness forty years, to possess the land of the Amorite. 11 And I raised up some of your sons as prophets and some of your young men as teachers. Is that not so, people of Israel?” says the Lord. 12 “But you led your teachers astray with wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Do not prophesy.’ 13 Behold, I will bring distress upon you, and I will impede you in your place just as a cart is impeded when it is laden with sheaves. 14 The house of refuge shall fail the swift, the strong shall not retain his strength, and the warrior shall not save his life. 15 The bowman shall not stand his ground, the fleet-footed shall not save himself, nor shall the horseman save his life. 16 Even the most stouthearted among the warriors shall flee naked and unarmed at that time,” says the Lord.
3Hear this word, O people of Israel, that the Lord has decreed against you, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “In you alone have I taken pleasure out of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.” 3 Do two walk together without having met? 4 Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion raise a growl from its den without having made a capture? 5 Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground, if there is no hunter? Does a trap spring up from the ground without catching something? 6 If a trumpet is blown in a city when it is not its time, do the people who are in it not tremble? Or can misfortune come to a city unless it was done from before the Lord? 7 For things are not right that have been done before the Lord God, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets. 8 The lion roars; who will not be afraid? The Lord God has spoken, who will not hear the prophecy? 9 Proclaim it in the fortresses of Ashdod and in the fortresses of the land of Egypt! Say, “Gather on the hills of Samaria and see the great confusion in her midst and the oppressors in her midst.” 10 “They do not know how to carry out the law,” says the Lord, “whose storehouses are filled with robbed goods, and booty in their fortresses.” 11 Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Distress has gripped the land; your strength shall be taken away from you, and your fortresses shall be plundered.” 12 Thus says the Lord, “Just as the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs or a tip of an ear, so shall the people of Israel be rescued, who dwell in Samaria in the strength of power and who trust in Damascus.” 13 “Listen and testify against the house of Jacob,” says the Lord God, the God of hosts, 14 “that on the day when I punish Israel for its sins, I will also punish those who worship at the idolatrous altar in Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and shall fall to the ground. 15 I will break down the winter house together with the summer house; the houses which are inlaid with ivory shall be demolished and many houses shall be destroyed,” says the Lord.
4“Hear this word, you who are rich in possessions in the city of Samaria, who wrong the poor and oppress the needy, who say to their nobles, ‘Give us power so that we can plunder!’” 2 The Lord God has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you and the nations shall carry you off upon their shields, and your daughters in fishermen’s boats. 3 They shall break down the wall upon you and they shall lead you out headlong like women and deport you beyond the mountains of Armenia,” says the Lord. 4 “They came to Bethel and rebelled, in Gilgal they increased sinning, bringing your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days.[1] 5 You collect a free-will offering by violence and bring it with a song, saying, ‘This is for acceptance.’ For you love that sort of thing, O people of Israel,” says the Lord God. 6 “But I gave you dullness of teeth in all your cities and lack of food in all your settlements; yet you did not return to my worship,” says the Lord. 7 “But I withheld the rain from you three months before the time of the harvest; and I would send down rain on one city and send down no rain on another city; rain would fall on one property but another property, on which rain did not fall, would become parched. 8 Two or three cities would stagger with thirst to one city to drink water, but they would not be sated; yet you did not return to my worship,” says the Lord. 9 “I smote you with blight and mildew; the multitude of your gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive trees the crawling locust devoured; yet you did not return to my worship,” says the Lord. 10 “I sent against you death as in the way of Egypt; I slew your young men with the sword, with your captured horses; I made the stench of your camp rise up against your face, yet you did not return to my worship,” says the Lord. 11 “My Memra loathed you just as the Lord loathed Sodom and Gomorrah; and you were like a brand snatched from the fire; yet you did not return to my worship,” says the Lord. 12 Therefore this is what I will do to you, O Israel. Because you have not returned to the law, I will do this to you. Adorn yourself to receive the teaching of the law of your God, O Israel.” 13 For, behold, he who formed the mountains and created the wind, is revealing himself to tell men what his works are; to prepare light for the righteous ones like the light of the morning that gets ever stronger, and to bring darkness upon the wicked, so as to destroy the wicked of the earth; the Lord God of hosts is his name.” 14 For, behold, the God who forms the embryo in its mother’s womb and creates in it the breath of life and brings it into the world reveals Himself to tell His wonders to the sons of men. He puts the power of speech in its mouth, He puts light for it in its eyes, and knowledge and intelligence in its mind; He gives it strength to walk upon the earth. The Lord God of Hosts is His name.
5Hear this word which I am taking up as a lamentation over you, O house of Israel. 2 “One of the daughters from the congregation of Israel has fallen, no more to rise, abandoned on the land with no one to lift her up.” 3 For thus says the Lord God, “The city from which goes forth a thousand shall have a hundred left in it; and the one from which goes forth a hundred shall have ten left in it to the house of Israel.” 4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, “Seek the fear of me and you shall endure.” 5 Do not seek to go to Bethel and do not go to Gilgal; do not cross over to Beer-sheba, for those who are in Gilgal shall certainly go into exile, and those who worship idols in Bethel shall become nothing.” 6 Seek the fear of the Lord and you shall endure, lest my anger is kindled like a fire against the house of Joseph, and it destroys, with no protection on account of your sins, you who are worshipping idols in Bethel, 7 you who turn justice into poison and have dashed righteousness to the ground. 8 They forgot to fear before him who makes the Pleiades and Orion, and turns darkness into light and darkens day into night; who commanded to assemble armies numerous as the waters of the sea and scatters them upon the face of the earth; the Lord is his name. 9 He who makes the weak prevail against the mighty and grants to the plunderers to rule over their strong cities.[2] 10 They hate him who admonishes them in court with words of the law, and they lead astray him who speaks what is right. 11 Therefore, because of your robbing the poor and oppressing the needy and taking money of deception from them, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted vineyards, but you shall not drink the wine. 12 For it is revealed to me how numerous are your rebellious acts, and how great is your waywardness. You persecute the innocent in order to gain money by deception and pervert the cause of the needy in your synagogues. 13 Therefore, you teachers, at that time keep silent before the wicked, for it is an evil time. 14 Seek to do good and not to do evil that you may endure, and so the Memra of the Lord God of hosts will be your help, as you have said. 15 Hate to do evil and love to do good, establish justice in your synagogues; perhaps pity will be shown to the remnant of Israel from the Lord God of hosts.” 16 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, “In every square there shall be lamentation and in every street they shall say ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmer to mourning and the lamenter to one skilled in wailing; 17 and in every vineyard there shall be lamentation, when I reveal myself to perform vengeance of judgement in your midst,” says the Lord. 18 Woe to those who desire the day that will come from the Lord. What will the day which will come from the Lord mean to you? It shall be darkness and not light, 19 as if a man fled from a lion and a bear met him; or as if he went indoors, leaned his hand on the wall and a snake bit him. 20 Shall not the day that will come from the Lord be darkness and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? 21 I hate, I reject your feasts and I will not accept with pleasure the offering of your assemblies. 22 For if you offer burnt offerings and your gift offerings before me, they will not be pleasing, and your holy sacrifices will not be accepted before me.” 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs, I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice be revealed like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. 25 Did you bring holy sacrifices and offerings before me for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 You carried Sikkut your statue and Kiyyun your idol, your astral images which you had made for yourselves.[3] 27 So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord; the God of hosts is his name.
6Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and those who are confident in the city of Samaria, who name their children with the names of the children of the nations and who think that the house of Israel depends on them. 2 Cross over to Calneh and see, go from there to Great Hamath, and go down to Gath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms or is their territory greater than yours? 3 They put far away the evil day, and you bring near violence in your synagogues. 4 They lie on beds which are inlaid with ivory, and there are stains upon their couches; they eat fatlings from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall. 5 They strum on the lute, they invent for themselves musical instruments like David. 6 They drink wine from silver bowls and anoint themselves with the choicest of fine oils; but they are not grieved over the ruin of Israel. 7 Now, therefore, they shall go into exile at the head of the exiles; feasting on cushions shall pass away from them. 8 The Lord God has sworn by his Memra. The Lord God of hosts says, “I loathe the pride of Jacob, and I detest his fortresses. I will deliver up the city and all that is in it. 9 If ten men are left in one house, they shall die. 10 And if someone’s relative takes him from the fire and brings the bones out of the house, and he says to the one in the corner of the house, ‘Is there still anyone with you?’ he will answer, ‘They have died.’ And he will say, ‘Hush!’ for when they were alive they did not pray in the name of the Lord.” 11 For, behold, the Lord commands, and he will smite the great kingdom with a mighty blow, and the little kingdom with a gentle blow. 12 Do horses gallop on a rock? Or is it ploughed with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into the poison of wicked serpents and the fruits of righteousness into wormwood, 13 you who rejoice in a thing of naught; who say, ‘Have we not by our own might acquired possessions for ourselves?’ 14 For I, O house of Israel, am raising up a nation against you,” says the Lord God of hosts, “who will harass you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the plain.”
7This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a formation of locusts at the beginning of the sprouting of the later crop; and behold, it was the young shoots after the king’s early crop was cut. 2 Before it had finished devouring the herbage of the land, I said, “Lord God, hear my prayer, forgive now the transgressions of the remnant of the house of Jacob. Who will stand and pray concerning their sins, for they are scattered?” 3 The Lord turned away his anger from this: “It shall not happen,” said the Lord. 4 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold the Lord God was ready to judge by fire, and it consumed the great deep and wiped out the inheritance. 5 I said, “Lord God, hear my prayer, forgive now the transgressions of the remnant of the house of Jacob. Who will stand and pray concerning their sins, for they are scattered?” 6 The Lord turned away his anger from this: “It shall not happen either,” said the Lord God. 7 This is what he showed me: behold the Lord was standing ready by a wall of judgement, and before him was judgement. 8 And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “Judgement.” Then the Lord said, “Behold I am exercising judgement in the midst of my people Israel, and I will never again forgive them. 9 The hill-shrines of Isaac shall be desolated and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will raise up against the house of Jeroboam those who kill with the sword.” 10 Amaziah, the leader of Bethel, sent to king Jeroboam of Israel, saying: “Amos is rebelling against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words. 11 For thus Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam shall be killed by the sword, and Israel shall surely be exiled from their land.’” 12 Amaziah also said to Amos, “Prophet, come, be off with you to the land of the house of Judah and eat bread there, and live there. 13 But never prophesy again at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.” 14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah: “I am no prophet, nor am I a prophet’s son. I am an owner of herds and I have sycamore trees in the Shephelah. Because of the sins of my people I am afflicting myself.[4] 15 But the Lord led me away from the sheep-pen, from after the sheep, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy about my people Israel.’ 16 So now, hear the word of the Lord. You say, ‘Do not prophesy about the house of Israel or teach about the house of Isaac.’ 17 Now this is what the Lord says, “Your wife shall play the harlot in the city, your sons and daughters shall be killed by the sword, and your land shall be divided up by lot; and you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall be exiled from its land.”
8This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, there was a dish full of late summer fruit. 2 And he said, “What do you see Amos?” I said, “A dish full of late summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The final punishment has come upon my people Israel; I will not forgive them again. 3 They shall be wailing instead of singing in their houses at that time,” says the Lord God. The corpses of the slaughtered shall be numerous wherever it is said, ‘Throw them down! Hush!’” 4 Listen to this, you who trample the heads of the needy like the dust of the earth, you who think of abolishing the words of the poor from the land; 5 who say, ‘When will the month for corn arrive, so that we can sell corn? Or the sabbatical year, so that we can open the storehouses, and make the measure small and make the se’la greater, dealing dishonestly with deceitful scales? 6 That we may buy the poor for silver and the needy in order to acquire an inheritance, that we may sell the refuse of the corn.’ 7 The Lord who gave greatness to Jacob swears: “None of their deeds will ever be forgotten.” 8 Shall not the land be laid waste for this, and all that dwell in it be desolated? A king shall come up against it with his army which is great like the waters of a river, and he shall cover it all and drive out its inhabitants, and it shall sink like the river of Egypt. 9 And at that time, says the Lord God, I will cover the sun at noon, and I will darken the earth on a sunny day. 10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. I will put sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head. I will make it like mourning for an only child, and the end of it like a bitter day. 11 Behold the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land: not that one will hunger for eating or thirst for drinking, but for hearing the words of the Lord. 12 Men shall wander from the sea to the west and from the north to the east; they shall roam to seek instruction from the Lord, but they shall not find it. 13 At that time, the congregations of Israel, who are like beautiful maidens that in their beauty fornicated with wicked young men, shall be weary and they shall be struck down and prostrated with thirst. 14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria, saying, “The god who is in Dan lives,” and “The laws of Beer-sheba endure,” shall fall and never rise again.
9The prophet said, “I saw the glory of the Lord; it ascended by the cherub and rested on the altar, and he said, ‘If my people Israel will not return to the law, extinguish the lamp; king Josiah shall be slain, the temple shall be laid waste, and the temple courts shall be destroyed; and the vessels of the Sanctuary shall be taken into captivity. The last of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall escape, and not one of them shall survive.[5] 2 If they should think to hide as though in Sheol, from there they shall be taken by my Memra; and if they climb high buildings to heaven, from there they shall be brought down by my Memra. 3 If they should think to hide on top of city towers, there I will command searchers, and they will search them out; and if they hide from my Memra among the islands of the sea, there I will command nations who are strong like the serpent to slay them. 4 And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command those who kill with the sword to slay them. I will set my Memra against them for evil and not for good.’” 5 It is the Lord God of hosts who rebukes the land and it trembles; all who dwell in it will be desolated. And a king shall come up against it with his army, which is great like the waters of a river, and he shall cover it all and it shall sink like the river of Egypt. 6 It is he who made the Shekinah of his glory dwell in the lofty stronghold and established his congregation on the earth; who commanded to assemble armies as numerous as the waters of the sea and scatters them upon the face of the earth; the Lord is his name. 7 “Children of Israel, are you not regarded as beloved children before me?” says the Lord. “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Cappadocia, and the Arameans from Cyrene? 8 Behold, the works of the sinful kingdom have been revealed before the Lord God, and I will destroy it off the face of the earth! But I will not completely destroy the house of Jacob,” says the Lord. 9 “For, behold, I will give the order and I will scatter the house of Israel among all the nations, as one shakes with a sieve, and not a stone from it falls through the meshes to the ground. 10 All the sinners of my people shall be killed with the sword, who say, ‘Evil shall neither hasten nor come upon us.’ 11 At that time, I will set up again the kingdom of the house of David that has fallen; I will rebuild their cities and set up their congregations anew. It shall rule over all the kingdoms and it shall destroy and make an end of the greatness of armies; but it shall be rebuilt and reestablished as in the days of old, 12 so that the house of Israel, who are called by my name, may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations, says the Lord. Behold, this is what I will do. 13 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the ploughman shall meet the reaper, and the presser of grapes him who puts out the seed; and the mountains shall produce sweet wine, and all the hills shall be tilled. 14 I will bring back the exiles of my people Israel. They shall rebuild ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine; they shall till gardens and eat their fruit. 15 And I will establish them upon their land, nevermore to be exiled from their land which I have given them,” says the Lord your God.