AFV2020 - Amos

Chapter 1

1:1  The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa; the word which he saw concerning 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.

1:2  And he said, "The LORD will roar from Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall dry up."

1:3  Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of Damascus, yea for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron.

1:4  But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad.

1:5  I will also break the gate bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven, and from him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden. And the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir," says the LORD.

1:6  Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of Gaza, yea for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they deported the children of Judah as exiles to deliver them up to Edom.

1:7  But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour its palaces.

1:8  And I will cut off the people from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turn My hand against Ekron. And the rest of the Philistines shall perish," says the Lord GOD.

1:9  Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of Tyre, yea for four, I will not turn away its punishment. Because they delivered up the children of Judah as exiles to Edom, and did not remember the brotherly covenant.

1:10  But I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, which shall devour its palaces."

1:11  Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of Edom, yea for four, I will not turn away its punishment. Because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all mercy, and his anger raged perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.

1:12  But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah."

1:13  Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yea for four, I will not turn away its punishment. Because they have ripped up the pregnant women of Gilead, to make their own border larger.

1:14  But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour its palaces with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind.

1:15  And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together," says the LORD.

Chapter 2

2:1  Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of Moab, yea for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.

2:2  But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth. And Moab shall die with great noise, with shouting, with the sound of a ram's horn.

2:3  And I will cut off the judge from its midst, and will slay all its princes with him," says the LORD.

2:4  Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of Judah, yea for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have despised the laws of the LORD, and have not kept His commandments. And their lies caused them to err, those after which their fathers walked.

2:5  But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem."

2:6  Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of Israel, yea for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals;

2:7  They trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the meek. And a man and his father will go in to the same woman, to defile My holy name.

2:8  And beside every altar they lay themselves down upon garments taken in pledge, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

2:9  Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and whose strength was as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from below.

2:10  Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you forty years through the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite.

2:11  And I raised up prophets from your sons and Nazarites from your young men. Is it not even so, O children of Israel?" says the LORD.

2:12  "But you gave the Nazarites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, 'Do not prophesy.'

2:13  Behold, I will press you down, as a cart full of sheaves is pressed down.

2:14  Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his power, nor shall the mighty deliver his life;

2:15  Nor shall he who handles the bow stand. And the swift-footed shall not deliver himself; neither shall he that rides the horse deliver himself.

2:16  And the stout-hearted among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day," says the LORD.

Chapter 3

3:1  Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,

3:2  "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

3:3  Can two walk together unless they be agreed?

3:4  Will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den if he has caught nothing?

3:5  Will a bird fall into a trap on the ground, when there is no bait for it? Will a trap spring up from the ground, and nothing at all be caught?

3:6  If a ram's horn is blown in a city, will the people not also tremble? If there is a calamity in a city, has the LORD not also done it?

3:7  Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing unless He reveals His secret unto His servants the prophets.

3:8  The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken—who can but prophesy?

3:9  Make it heard at the palaces of Ashdod, and the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, 'Gather yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in its midst, and the oppressed within it,

3:10  For they do not know to do right,' says the LORD, 'those who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.' ”

3:11  Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "An enemy! And he shall be all around the land; and he shall bring you down from your strength, and your palaces shall be plundered."

3:12  Thus says the LORD, "As the shepherd takes two legs out of the mouth of the lion, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be taken out—those who dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus on a couch.

3:13  Hear and testify in the house of Jacob," says the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,

3:14  "For in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel. And the horns of the altar shall be cut off and shall fall to the ground.

3:15  And I will strike the winter house together with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish. And the great houses shall be swept away," says the LORD.

Chapter 4

4:1  Hear this word, cows of Bashan who are in the mountain of Samaria—who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, "Bring in wine that we may drink."

4:2  The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness, "Behold, the days shall come upon you when they will lift you up with meat hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.

4:3  And you shall go out at the breaches in the walls, each woman straight before her. And you shall be cast off to Harmon," says the LORD.

4:4  "Come to Bethel and transgress; to Gilgal and multiply transgressing at Gilgal. And bring your sacrifices for the morning, your tithes for three years;

4:5  And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving from that which is leavened, and cry out; call out the voluntary offerings, for so you love to do, O children of Israel!" says the Lord GOD.

4:6  "And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you have not returned to Me," says the LORD.

4:7  "And I have also withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest. And I caused rain to fall on one city and caused it not to rain on another city; one field was rained on, and the field on which it did not rain dried up.

4:8  So two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied; yet you have not returned to Me," says the LORD.

4:9  "I have stricken you with blasting and mildew. When your gardens and your vineyards, and your fig trees, and your olive trees increased, the creeping locust devoured them; yet you have not returned to Me," says the LORD.

4:10  "I have sent the plague among you after the manner of Egypt; I have slain your young men with the sword, and have taken away your horses. And I have made the stench of your camps to come up into your nostrils; yet you have not returned to Me," says the LORD.

4:11  "I have overthrown some among you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand plucked out of the burning; yet you have not returned to Me," says the LORD.

4:12  "Therefore I will do this to you, O Israel; and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!"

4:13  For lo, He forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what his thought is. He who makes the morning darkness, and treads upon the high places of the earth—the LORD, the God of hosts, is His name.

Chapter 5

5:1  Hear this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

5:2  The virgin of Israel has fallen; she shall rise no more; she lies forsaken on her land. There is none to raise her up,

5:3  For thus says the Lord GOD, "The city that went out by a thousand shall leave a hundred, and that which went out by a hundred shall have ten left in the house of Israel,"

5:4  For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, "Seek Me, and you shall live.

5:5  But do not seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and do not pass to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.

5:6  Seek the LORD and you shall live, lest He break out like a fire on the house of Joseph and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel—

5:7  You who turn judgment to wormwood and leave off righteousness in the earth!"

5:8  Seek Him Who created the Pleiades and Orion, and Who turned the deep darkness into the morning, and Him Who darkened the day into night. Seek Him Who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth— the LORD is His name,

5:9  Who causes destruction to flash out against the strong, and destruction against the fortress.

5:10  They hate him who rebukes in the gate, and they despise him who speaks uprightly.

5:11  Therefore—because of your trampling upon the poor, and because you take tribute of grain from him—though you have built houses of carved stone, you shall not dwell in them; though you have planted desirable vineyards, you shall not drink wine from them,

5:12  For I know your many transgressions and your many sins. They afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate.

5:13  Therefore the prudent shall keep silent in that time; for it is an evil time.

5:14  Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken.

5:15  Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate. It may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

5:16  Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Master, says this, "Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, 'Alas! Alas!' And they shall call the tiller to mourning, and those who are skillful in mourning to wailing.

5:17  And there shall be wailing in all vineyards; for I will pass through you," says the LORD.

5:18  Woe to those desiring the day of the LORD! What is this for you? The day of the LORD is darkness and not light;

5:19  As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.

5:20  Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?

5:21  "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

5:22  Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them. Nor will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

5:23  Take the noise of your songs away from Me; for I will not hear the melody of your harps.

5:24  But let judgment roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

5:25  Have you offered sacrifices and offerings to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

5:26  But now you have carried the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves.

5:27  So I will cause you to go into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, Whose name is the God of hosts.

Chapter 6

6:1  Woe to those at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, who are named chief of the nations. And the house of Israel came to them.

6:2  Pass over to Calneh, and see; and from there go to Hamath the great. Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms, or is their border greater than your border?

6:3  You who put the evil day far away, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

6:4  Who lie upon beds of ivory, and those sprawling upon their couches, and eating lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

6:5  Who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp; and invent instruments of music for themselves, like David;

6:6  Who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best of oils—but do not grieve for the affliction of Joseph!

6:7  Therefore now they shall go into exile with the first of the exiles. And the feasting of those who recline themselves shall cease.

6:8  The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself— thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, "I despise the glory of Jacob, and hate his palaces; and I will shut up the city and all its fullness.

6:9  And it shall be if ten men remain in one house, then they shall die.

6:10  And a dead man's uncle shall take him up, and he who burns the bodies, to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him left in the recesses of the house, "Are any bodies still with you?" And he shall say, "No." Then he shall say, "Hold your tongue, for no one shall mention the name of the LORD."

6:11  For, behold, the LORD commands, and He will strike the great house into pieces, and the little house into cracks.

6:12  Shall horses run upon the rock? Will one plow there with oxen? For you have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock—

6:13  You who rejoice over nothing, who say, "Have we not taken horns to ourselves by our own strength?"

6:14  "But behold, I will raise a nation up against you, O house of Israel," says the LORD, the God of hosts. "And they shall afflict you from the entrance to Hamath to the river of the Arabah."

Chapter 7

7:1  The Lord GOD made me see this: And behold, He is forming locusts at the beginning of the growth of the late grass—even behold, the late grass after the king's mowings.

7:2  And it came to pass that when they had made an end of eating the tender plant of the land, then I said, "O Lord GOD, forgive, I pray You. How can Jacob stand? For he is small."

7:3  The LORD repented for this; "It shall not be," says the LORD.

7:4  The Lord GOD made me see this: And behold, the Lord GOD was calling to contend by fire. And it consumed the great deep, and it was devouring part of it.

7:5  Then I said, "O Lord GOD, I pray You, cease. How can Jacob stand? For he is small."

7:6  The LORD repented for this; "This also shall not be," says the Lord GOD.

7:7  He made me see this: And behold, the LORD was standing upon a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand.

7:8  And the LORD said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the LORD said, "Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.

7:9  And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the holy places of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."

7:10  Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, "Amos has plotted against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words.

7:11  For thus Amos says, 'Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely go into exile out of his land.' ”

7:12  And Amaziah said to Amos, "O seer, go, flee for yourself into the land of Judah; and eat bread there, and prophesy there.

7:13  But do not prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king's temple, and it is the king's royal house."

7:14  Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, "I was no prophet, nor was I a prophet's son. But I was a shepherd and a gatherer of fruit from sycamore trees.

7:15  And the LORD took me from behind the flock, and the LORD said to me, 'Go, prophesy to My people Israel.'

7:16  Now therefore hear the Word of the LORD. You say, 'Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not drop words against the house of Isaac.'

7:17  Therefore thus says the LORD, 'Your wife shall be a harlot in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line. And you shall die in a defiled land; and Israel shall surely go into exile out of his land.' ”

Chapter 8

8:1  The Lord GOD made me see this: And behold, a basket of summer fruit!

8:2  And He said, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me, "The end has come to My people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more.

8:3  And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day," says the Lord GOD. "The dead bodies shall be many. In every place one shall throw them out with silence."

8:4  Hear this, you who trample upon the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

8:5  Saying, "When will the new moon be gone so that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small and the shekel great, and perverting the balances by deceit;

8:6  That we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals; and sell the chaff of the wheat?"

8:7  The LORD has sworn by the Glory of Jacob, "Surely I will never forget any of their works.

8:8  Shall not the land tremble for this, and all who dwell in it mourn? And all of it shall rise up like a flood. And it shall overflow and sink like the Nile of Egypt.

8:9  And it shall be in that day," says the Lord GOD, "I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the light of day.

8:10  And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into weeping; and I will bring up sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head. And I will make it like the mourning of an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.

8:11  Behold, the days come," says the Lord GOD, "that I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.

8:12  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

8:13  In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst.

8:14  Those who swear by the sin of Samaria and say, 'As your God lives, O Dan,' and, 'As the way of Beersheba lives'—even they shall fall and never rise up again."

Chapter 9

9:1  I saw the LORD standing by the altar. And He said, "Strike the lintel of the door, so that the thresholds shall shake; and break them on the heads of all of them. And I will kill the last of them with the sword. Not one of them fleeing will get away, and not a fugitive of them will escape.

9:2  If they dig into the grave, there My hand shall take them. And if they go up to the heavens, I will bring them down from there.

9:3  And if they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there. And if they are hidden from My sight in the bottom of the sea, I will command the serpent there, and he shall bite them.

9:4  And if they go into captivity before their enemies, I will command the sword there, and it shall kill them; and I will set My eyes upon them for evil, and not for good."

9:5  And the Lord GOD of hosts is He Who touches the land, and it shall melt, and all who dwell in it shall mourn. And all of it shall rise up like a flood, and sink down like the Nile of Egypt.

9:6  It is He Who builds His staircase in the heavens, and He has founded the heavens over the earth; He Who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth; the LORD is His name.

9:7  "Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to Me, O children of Israel," says the LORD? "Have I not brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt—and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

9:8  Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; except that I will not completely destroy the house of Jacob," says the LORD.

9:9  "For lo, I will command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as one shakes with a sieve, yet not a grain shall fall to the earth.

9:10  All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, who say, 'The evil shall not draw near, or confront us.'

9:11  In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that has fallen, and close up its breaches; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;

9:12  So that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the nations on whom My name is called," says the LORD who is doing this.

9:13  "Behold, the days come," says the LORD, "that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed. And the mountains will drop sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it.

9:14  And I will bring back the exiles of My people Israel, and they shall build the cities which are desolate, and they shall live in them. And they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine. They shall also make gardens and eat their fruit.

9:15  And I will plant them in their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them," says the LORD your God.