Bible in 90 Days
7 “That is why I will be like a lion to them. I will be like a leopard waiting by the road. 8 I will attack them like a bear whose cubs were robbed from her. I will attack them and rip open their chests. I will be like a lion or other wild animal tearing and eating its prey.
Israel Cannot Be Saved From God’s Anger
9 “Israel, I helped you, but you turned against me. So now I will destroy you. 10 Where is your king? Can he save you in any of your cities? Where are your judges? You asked for them, saying, ‘Give me a king and leaders.’[a] 11 I was angry, and I gave you a king. And when I became very angry, I took him away.
12 “Ephraim tried to hide his guilt.
He thought his sins were a secret,
but he will be punished.
13 His punishment will be like the pain of a woman giving birth.
He will not be a wise son.
The time will come for his birth,
and he will not survive.
14 “I will save them from the grave.
I will rescue them from death.
Death, where are your diseases?
Grave, where is your power?
I am not looking for revenge.
15 Israel grows among his brothers,
but a powerful east wind will come—the Lord’s wind will blow from the desert.
Then his well will dry up.
His spring of water will be dry.
The wind will take away anything of value.
16 Samaria must be punished
because she turned against her God.
The Israelites will be killed with swords.
Their children will be torn to pieces,
and their pregnant women will be ripped open.”
Return to the Lord
14 Israel, you fell and sinned against God. So come back to the Lord your God. 2 Think about what you will say, and come back to the Lord. Say to him,
“Take away our sin,
and accept these words as our sacrifice.
We offer you the praise from our lips.[b]
3 Assyria will not save us.
We will not ride on war horses.
We will never again say, ‘Our God’
to something we made with our hands.
This is because you are the one who
shows mercy to orphans.”
The Lord Will Forgive Israel
4 The Lord says,
“I will forgive them for leaving me.
I will show them my love without limits,
because I have stopped being angry.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel.
Israel will blossom like the lily.
He will grow like the cedar trees of Lebanon.
6 His branches will grow,
and he will be like a beautiful olive tree.
He will be like the sweet smell
from the cedar trees of Lebanon.
7 The people of Israel will again live under my protection.
They will grow like grain.
They will bloom like a vine.
They will be like the wine of Lebanon.
The Lord Warns Israel About Idols
8 “Ephraim, I will have nothing more to do with idols.
I am the one who answers your prayers and watches over you.[c]
I am like a fir tree that is always green.
Your fruit comes from me.”
Final Advice
9 A wise person understands these things,
and a smart person should learn them.
The Lord’s ways are right.
Good people will live by them.
Sinners will die by them.[d]
Locusts Will Destroy the Crops
1 Joel son of Pethuel received this message from the Lord:
2 Leaders, listen to this message!
Listen to me, all you people who live in the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your life?
Did anything like this happen during your fathers’ lifetime?
3 You will tell these things to your children,
and your children will tell their children,
and your grandchildren will tell the people of the next generation.
4 What the cutting locust[e] has left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
And what the swarming locust has left,
the hopping locust has eaten.
And what the hopping locust has left,
the destroying locust has eaten!
The Locusts—A Powerful Army
5 Drunks, wake up and cry!
All of you who drink wine, cry
because your sweet wine is finished.
You will not taste it again.
6 A powerful nation came to attack my land.
Its soldiers were too many to count.
Its weapons were as sharp as a lion’s teeth
and as powerful as a lion’s jaw.
7 It destroyed my grapevine.
Its good vines withered and died.
It destroyed my fig tree,
stripped off the bark and threw it away.
The People Cry
8 Cry like a young woman crying
because the man she was ready to marry has died.
9 Priests, servants of the Lord, cry
because there will be no more grain and drink offerings in the Lord’s Temple.
10 The fields are ruined.
Even the ground is crying
because the grain is destroyed;
the new wine is dried up,
and the olive oil is gone.
11 Be sad, farmers!
Cry loudly for the grapes,
for the wheat, and for the barley,
because the harvest in the field is ruined.
12 The vines have become dry,
and the fig tree is dying.
All the trees in the field—
the pomegranate, the palm, and the apple—have withered.
And happiness among the people has died.
13 Priests, put on sackcloth and cry loudly.
Servants of the altar, cry loudly.
Servants of my God, you will sleep in sackcloth,
because there will be no more grain and drink offerings in God’s Temple.
The Terrible Destruction of the Locusts
14 Tell the people that there will be a special time of fasting. Call them together for a special meeting. Bring the leaders and everyone living in the land together at the Temple of the Lord your God, and pray to the Lord.
15 Be sad because the Lord’s special day is near. At that time punishment will come like an attack from God All-Powerful. 16 Our food is gone. Joy and happiness are gone from the Temple of our God. 17 We planted seeds, but the seeds became dry and dead lying in the soil. Our plants are dry and dead. Our barns are empty and falling down.
18 The animals are hungry and groaning. The herds of cattle wander around confused because they have no grass to eat. The sheep are dying.[f] 19 Lord, I am calling to you for help. Fire has changed our green fields into a desert. Flames have burned all the trees in the field. 20 Wild animals also need your help. The streams are dry—there is no water! Fire has changed our green fields into a desert.
The Coming Day of the Lord
2 Blow the trumpet on Zion.
Shout a warning on my holy mountain.
Let all the people who live in the land shake with fear.
The Lord’s special day is coming;
it is near.
2 It will be a dark, gloomy day.
It will be a dark and cloudy day.
At sunrise you will see the army spread over the mountains.
It will be a great and powerful army.
There has never been anything like it before,
and there will never be anything like it again.
3 The army will destroy the land like a burning fire.
In front of them the land will be like the Garden of Eden.
Behind them the land will be like an empty desert.
Nothing will escape them.
4 They look like horses.
They run like war horses.
5 Listen to them.
It is like the noise of chariots
riding over the mountains.
It is like the noise of flames
burning the chaff.
They are a powerful people,
who are ready for war.
6 Before this army, people shake with fear.
Their faces become pale from fear.
7 The soldiers run fast.
They climb over the walls.
Each soldier marches straight ahead.
They don’t move from their path.
8 They don’t trip each other.
Each soldier walks in his own path.
If one of the soldiers is hit and falls down,
the others keep right on marching.
9 They run to the city.
They quickly climb over the wall.
They climb into the houses.
They climb through the windows like thieves.
10 Before them, earth and sky shake.
The sun and the moon become dark, and the stars stop shining.
11 The Lord calls loudly to his army.
His camp is very large.
The army obeys his commands.
His army is very powerful.
The Lord’s special day is a great and terrible day.
No one can stop it.
The Lord Tells the People to Change
12 This is the Lord’s message:
“Now come back to me with all your heart.
Cry and mourn, and don’t eat anything!
Show that you are sad for doing wrong.
13 Tear your hearts,
not your clothes.[g]”
Come back to the Lord your God.
He is kind and merciful.
He does not become angry quickly.
He has great love.
Maybe he will change his mind
about the bad punishment he planned.
14 Who knows, maybe he will change his mind
and leave behind a blessing for you.
Then you can give grain and drink offerings
to the Lord your God.
Pray to the Lord
15 Blow the trumpet at Zion.
Call for a special meeting.
Call for a special time of fasting.
16 Bring the people together.
Call for a special meeting.
Bring together the old men,
the children, and the small babies still at their mothers’ breasts.
Let the bride and her new husband
come from their bedroom.
17 Let the priests, the Lord’s servants,
cry between the porch[h] and the altar.
All of them should say this: “Lord, have mercy on your people.
Don’t let your people be put to shame.
Don’t let other people tell jokes about your people.
Don’t let the other nations laugh at us and say,
‘Where is their God?’”
The Lord Will Restore the Land
18 Then the Lord cared very much about his land.
He felt sorry for his people.
19 The Lord spoke to his people.
He said, “I will send you grain, wine, and oil.
You will have plenty.
I will not shame you among the nations anymore.
20 No, I will force the people from the north[i] to leave your land
and make them go into a dry, empty land.
Some of them will go to the eastern sea
and some to the western sea.
They did such terrible things,
but they will be like a dead and rotting body.
There will be such a terrible smell!”
The Land Will Be Made New Again
21 Land, don’t be afraid.
Be happy and full of joy.
The Lord will do great things.
22 Animals of the field, don’t be afraid.
The desert pastures will grow grass.
The trees will grow fruit.
The fig trees and the vines will grow plenty of fruit.
23 So be happy, people of Zion.
Be joyful in the Lord your God.
He is good and will give you rain.
He will send the early rains and the late rains as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with wheat,
and the barrels will overflow with wine and olive oil.
25 “I, the Lord, sent my army against you.
The swarming locusts and the hopping locusts
and the destroying locusts and the cutting locusts[j] ate everything you had.
But I will pay you back
for those years of trouble.
26 Then you will have plenty to eat.
You will be full.
You will praise the name of the Lord your God.
He has done wonderful things for you.
My people will never again be ashamed.
27 You will know that I am with Israel.
You will know that I am the Lord your God.
There is no other God.
My people will never be ashamed again.”
God Will Give His Spirit to All People
28 “After this,
I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will have dreams,
and your young men will see visions.
29 In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on servants, both men and women.
30 I will work wonders in the sky and on the earth.
There will be blood, fire, and thick smoke.
31 The sun will be changed into darkness,
and the moon will be as red as blood.
Then the great and fearful day of the Lord will come!
32 And everyone who trusts in the Lord[k] will be saved.
There will be survivors on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
just as the Lord said.
Yes, those left alive will be the ones
the Lord has called.
Judah’s Enemies Will Be Punished
3 “Yes, at that time I will bring back the people of Judah and Jerusalem from captivity. 2 I will also gather all the nations together. I will bring all these nations down into Jehoshaphat Valley.[l] There I will judge them. Those nations scattered my people, Israel. They forced them to live in other nations, so I will punish those nations. They divided up my land. 3 They threw lots for my people. They sold boys to buy a prostitute, and they sold girls to buy wine to drink.
4 “Tyre! Sidon! All of you areas of Philistia! You are not important to me![m] Are you punishing me for something I did? You might think that you are punishing me, but I will soon punish you. 5 You took my silver and gold. You took my precious treasures and put them in your temples.[n]
6 “You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks. That way you could take them far from their land. 7 You sent my people to that faraway place, but I will bring them back. And I will punish you for what you did. 8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah. Then they will sell them to the faraway Sabeans.[o]” This is what the Lord said.
Prepare for War
9 Announce this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
Wake up the strong men!
Let all the men of war come near.
Let them come up!
10 Beat your plows into swords.
Make spears from your pruning hooks.[p]
Let the weak man say,
“I am a strong soldier.”
11 All you nations, hurry!
Come together in that place.
Lord, bring your strong soldiers.
12 Wake up, nations!
Come to Jehoshaphat Valley.
There I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
13 Bring the sickle,
because the harvest is ripe.[q]
Come, walk on the grapes,
because the winepress is full.
The barrels will be full and spilling over,
because their evil is great.
14 There are many, many people in the Valley of Decision.[r]
The Lord’s special day is near in the Valley of Decision.
15 The sun and the moon will become dark.
The stars will stop shining.
16 The Lord God will shout from Zion.
He will shout from Jerusalem,
and the sky and the earth will shake.
But the Lord God will be a safe place for his people.
He will be a place of safety for the people of Israel.
17 “Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.
I live on Zion, my holy mountain.
Jerusalem will become holy.
Strangers will never pass through that city again.
A New Life for Judah Promised
18 “On that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine.
The hills will flow with milk,
and water will flow through all the empty rivers of Judah.
A fountain will come from the Lord’s Temple.
It will give water to Acacia Valley.
19 Egypt will be empty.
Edom will be an empty wilderness,
because they were cruel to the people of Judah.
They killed innocent people[s] in their country.
20 But there will always be people living in Judah.
People will live in Jerusalem through many generations.
21 Those people killed my people,
so I really will punish them!”
The Lord God will live in Zion!
Introduction
1 This is the message of Amos, one of the shepherds from the city Tekoa. He saw visions about Israel during the time that Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Joash was king of Israel. This was two years before the earthquake.
Punishment for Aram
2 Amos said,
“The Lord will shout like a lion in Zion.
His loud voice will roar from Jerusalem.
The green pastures of the shepherds will turn brown and die.
Even Mount Carmel[t] will become dry.”
3 This is what the Lord says: “I will definitely punish the people of Damascus for the many crimes they did.[u] They crushed the people of Gilead with iron threshing tools. 4 So I will start a fire at Hazael’s[v] house that will destroy the great palaces of Ben-Hadad.[w]
5 “I will also break open the gates of Damascus[x] and remove the one who sits on the throne in the Valley of Aven.[y] I will remove the symbol of power from Beth Eden,[z] and the Arameans will be defeated and taken back to Kir.[aa]” This is what the Lord said.
Punishment for the Philistines
6 This is what the Lord says: “I will definitely punish the people of Gaza[ab] for the many crimes they did. They took an entire nation of people and sent them as slaves to Edom. 7 So I will start a fire at the wall of Gaza that will destroy the high towers in Gaza. 8 And I will destroy the one who sits on the throne in Ashdod. I will destroy the king who holds the scepter in Ashkelon. I will punish the people of Ekron.[ac] Then the Philistines who are still left alive will die.” This is what the Lord God said.
Punishment for Phoenicia
9 This is what the Lord says: “I will definitely punish the people of Tyre[ad] for the many crimes they did. They took an entire nation and sent them as slaves to Edom. They did not remember the agreement they had made with their brothers.[ae] 10 So I will start a fire at the walls of Tyre that will destroy the high towers in Tyre.”
Punishment for the Edomites
11 This is what the Lord says: “I will definitely punish the people of Edom for their many crimes. Edom chased his brother with the sword, and he showed no mercy. His anger never stopped. He kept tearing and tearing at Israel like a wild animal. 12 So I will start a fire at Teman that will destroy the high towers of Bozrah.”
Punishment for the Ammonites
13 This is what the Lord says: “I will definitely punish the Ammonites[af] for the many crimes they did. They killed the pregnant women in Gilead. The Ammonites did this so that they could take that land and make their country larger. 14 So I will start a fire at the wall of Rabbah[ag] that will destroy the high towers of Rabbah. Troubles will come to them like a whirlwind[ah] into their country. 15 Then their kings and leaders will be captured. They will all be taken together.” This is what the Lord said.
Punishment for Moab
2 This is what the Lord says: “I will definitely punish the people of Moab for the many crimes they did. Moab burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. 2 So I will start a fire in Moab that will destroy the high towers of Kerioth.[ai] There will be terrible shouting and the sounds of a trumpet, and Moab will die. 3 So I will bring an end to the kings[aj] of Moab, and I will kill all the leaders of Moab.” This is what the Lord said.
Punishment for Judah
4 This is what the Lord says: “I will definitely punish Judah for the many crimes they did. They refused to obey the Lord’s teachings and they did not keep his commands. Their ancestors believed lies, and those same lies caused the people of Judah to stop following God. 5 So I will start a fire in Judah that will destroy the high towers of Jerusalem.”
Punishment for Israel
6 This is what the Lord says: “I will definitely punish Israel for the many crimes they have done. They sold honest people for a little silver. They sold the poor for the price of a pair of sandals. 7 They pushed their faces into the ground and walked on them. They stopped listening to suffering people. Fathers and sons had sexual relations with the same woman. They ruined my holy name. 8 They took clothes from the poor, and then they sat on those clothes while worshiping at their altars. They loaned money to the poor, and then they took their clothes as a promise for payment.[ak] They made people pay fines and used the money to buy wine for themselves to drink in the temple of their god.
9 “But it was I who destroyed the Amorites[al] before them. They were as tall as cedar trees and as strong as oaks, but I destroyed their fruit above and their roots below.[am]
10 “I was the one who brought you from the land of Egypt. For 40 years I led you through the desert. I helped you take the Amorites’ land. 11 I made some of your sons to be prophets and some of your young men to be Nazirites. People of Israel, it is true.” This is what the Lord said. 12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine. You told the prophets not to prophesy. 13 You have become more than I can bear. I am bent low like a wagon loaded with grain. 14 No one will escape, not even the fastest runner. Strong men will not be strong enough. Soldiers will not be able to save themselves. 15 People with bows and arrows will not survive. Fast runners will not escape. People on horses will not escape alive. 16 At that time even very brave soldiers will run away. They will not take the time to put their clothes on.” This is what the Lord said.
Warning to Israel
3 People of Israel, listen to this message! This is what the Lord said about you, Israel. This message is about all the families that I brought from the land of Egypt. 2 “There are many families on earth, but you are the only family I chose to know in a special way. And you turned against me, so I will punish you for all your sins.”
The Cause of Israel’s Punishment
3 Two people will not walk together
unless they have agreed to do so.
4 A lion will roar in the forest
only if it catches its prey.
A young lion roaring in his cave
means he has caught something to eat.
5 A bird doesn’t fly into a trap
unless there is food in it.
If a trap closes,
it will catch the bird.
6 If people hear the warning blast of a trumpet,
they shake with fear.
If trouble comes to a city,
the Lord caused it to happen.
7 When the Lord God decides to do something, he will first tell his servants, the prophets. 8 When a lion roars, people are frightened. When the Lord God speaks, a prophet must prophesy.
9-10 Go to the high towers in Ashdod[an] and in Egypt and announce this message from the Lord: “Come together on the mountains of Samaria. See the great confusion there because the people don’t know how to live right. See how cruel they are to others. They take things from people to hide in their high towers. Their treasuries are filled with the things they have taken in war.”
11 So the Lord God says, “An enemy will surround your land. They will break down your strong walls and take the things you have hidden in your high towers.”
12 The Lord says,
“A lion might attack a lamb,
and a shepherd might try to save the lamb.
But the shepherd will save
only a part of that lamb.
He might pull two legs
or a part of an ear from the lion’s mouth.
In the same way, most of the people of Israel will not be saved.
Those who live in Samaria will save only a corner from a bed,
or a piece of cloth from a couch.”
13 This is what the Lord God All-Powerful says: “Warn the family of Jacob about these things. 14 Israel sinned, and I will punish them for their sins. And when I do, I will also destroy the altars at Bethel.[ao] The horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground. 15 I will destroy the winter house with the summer house. The houses of ivory will be destroyed. Many houses will be destroyed.” This is what the Lord said.
The Women Who Love Pleasure
4 Listen to me, you cows of Bashan[ap] on Samaria’s mountain. You hurt the poor and crush those in need. You tell your husbands,[aq] “Bring us something to drink!”
2 The Lord God made a promise. He promised by his holiness that troubles will come to you. People will use hooks and take you away as prisoners. They will use fishhooks to take away your children. 3 Your city will be destroyed. The women will rush out through cracks in the wall and throw themselves onto the pile of dead bodies.[ar]
This is what the Lord says: 4 “Go to Bethel and sin. Go to Gilgal[as] and sin even more. Offer your sacrifices in the morning. Bring a tenth of your crops for the three-day festival. 5 And offer a thank offering made with yeast. Tell everyone about the freewill offerings.[at] Israel, you love to do those things. So go and do them.” This is what the Lord God said.
6 “I didn’t give you any food to eat.[au] There was no food in any of your cities, but you didn’t come back to me.” This is what the Lord said.
7 “I also stopped the rain, and it was three months before harvest time. So no crops grew. Then I let it rain on one city, but not on another city. Rain fell on one part of the country, but on the other part of the country, the land became very dry. 8 So the people from two or three cities staggered to another city to get water, but there was not enough water for everyone. Still you didn’t come to me for help.” This is what the Lord said.
9 “I made your crops die from heat and disease. I destroyed your gardens and your vineyards. Locusts ate your fig trees and olive trees. But you still didn’t come to me for help.” This is what the Lord said.
10 “I sent diseases against you, as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with swords. I took away your horses. I made your camp smell very bad from all the dead bodies, but still you didn’t come back to me for help.” This is what the Lord said.
11 “I destroyed you as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And those cities were completely destroyed. You were like a burned stick pulled from a fire, but still you didn’t come back to me for help.” This is what the Lord says.
12 “So, Israel, this is what I will do to you. You people of Israel, prepare to meet your God.”
13 He is the one who made the mountains.
He created the wind.[av]
He lets people know his thoughts.
He changes the darkness into dawn.
He walks over the mountains of the earth.
His name is Yahweh, Lord God All-Powerful.
A Sad Song for Israel
5 People of Israel, listen to this song. This funeral song is about you.
2 The virgin[aw] of Israel has fallen.
She will not get up anymore.
She was left alone, lying in the dirt.
There is no one to lift her up.
3 This is what the Lord God says:
“Officers leaving the city with 1000 men
will return with only 100 men.
Officers leaving the city with 100 men
will return with only ten men.”
The Lord Encourages Israel to Come Back
4 The Lord says this to the nation[ax] of Israel:
“Come looking for me and live.
5 But don’t look in Bethel.
Don’t go to Gilgal.
Don’t cross the border and go down to Beersheba.[ay]
The people of Gilgal will be taken away as prisoners,[az]
and Bethel will be destroyed.[ba]
6 Come to the Lord and live.
If you don’t go to him, a fire will start at Joseph’s house,[bb]
and no one in Bethel[bc] can stop it.
7-9 You should go to the Lord for help.
He is the one who made the Pleiades and Orion.[bd]
He changes darkness into the morning light.
He changes the day into the dark night.
He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the earth.
His name is Yahweh!
He keeps one strong city safe,
and he lets another strong city be destroyed.”
The Evil Things That the Israelites Did
You change justice to poison.[be]
You throw away fairness like trash.
10 You hate those prophets, who go to public places and speak against evil,
even though they teach good, simple truths.
11 You take unfair taxes[bf] from the poor.
You take loads of wheat from them.
You build fancy houses with cut stone,
but you will not live in them.
You plant beautiful vineyards,
but you will not drink the wine from them.
12 This is because I know about your many sins.
You have done some very bad things:
You hurt people who do right,
you accept money to do wrong,
and you keep the poor from receiving justice in court.
13 At that time wise teachers will be quiet,
because it is a bad time.
14 You say that God is with you,
so you should do good things, not evil.
Then you will live,
and the Lord God All-Powerful will be with you.
15 Hate evil and love goodness.
Bring justice back into the courts.
Maybe then the Lord God All-Powerful
will be kind to the survivors from Joseph’s family.
A Time of Great Sadness Is Coming
16 The Lord, the Lord God All-Powerful says,
“People will be crying in the public places.
They will be crying in the streets.
They will hire the professional criers.[bg]
17 People will be crying in the vineyards,
because I will pass through and punish you.”
This is what the Lord said.
18 Some of you want to see
the Lord’s special day of judgment.
Why do you want to see that day of the Lord?
His special day will bring darkness, not light.
19 You will be like someone who escapes from a lion
only to be attacked by a bear,
or like someone who goes into the safety of his house,
leans against the wall,
and is bitten by a snake.
20 The Lord’s special day will be
a day of darkness, not light—a day of gloom, without a ray of light.
The Lord Rejects Israel’s Worship
21 “I hate your festivals;
I will not accept them.
I don’t enjoy your religious meetings.
22 Even if you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
I will not even look at the fat animals
you give as fellowship offerings.
23 Take your noisy songs away from here.
I will not listen to the music from your harps.
24 But let justice flow like a river,
and let goodness flow like a stream that never becomes dry.
25 Israel, you offered me sacrifices
and offerings in the desert for 40 years.[bh]
26 But you also carried statues of Sakkuth, your king, and Kaiwan.[bi]
There was also that star god[bj] that you made for yourselves.
27 So I will send you as captives, far beyond Damascus.”
This is what the Lord says.
His name is God All-Powerful.
Israel’s Good Times Will Be Taken Away
6 Oh, look at the people enjoying life in Zion,
and those on Mount Samaria who feel so safe.
They are such important leaders of a most important nation.
The “House of Israel” comes to you for advice.
2 Go look at Calneh.
From there, go to the large city Hamath.
Go to the Philistine city of Gath.[bk]
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Their countries are larger than yours.
3 You people are rushing toward the day of punishment.
You bring near the rule of violence.
4 But now you lie on ivory beds
and stretch out on your couches.
You eat tender young lambs from the flock
and young calves from the stable.
5 You play your harps,
and like David, you practice on[bl] your musical instruments.
6 You drink wine in fancy cups.[bm]
You use the best perfumes.
And it doesn’t even bother you
that Joseph’s family is being destroyed.
7 You people are stretched out on your couches now, but your good times will end. You will be taken away as prisoners to a foreign country, and you will be some of the first people taken. 8 The Lord God used his own name and made an oath. The Lord God All-Powerful said,
“I hate what Jacob is proud of.
I hate his strong towers.
So I will let an enemy take the city
and everything in it.”
There Will Be Few Israelites Left Alive
9 At that time ten people in one house might survive, but they too will die. 10 And when someone dies, a relative will come to get the body so that it can be taken out and burned.[bn] Relatives will come to take away the bones. They will call to anyone who might be hiding back in the house, “Are there any other dead bodies in there with you?”
That person will answer, “No, ….”[bo]
But the relative will interrupt and say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”
11 Look, the Lord will give the command,
and the large houses will be broken to pieces,
and the small houses will be broken to small pieces.
12 Do horses run over loose rocks?
No, and people don’t use cows for plowing.
But you turned everything upside down.
You changed justice and goodness to bitter poison.
13 You are so excited about defeating Lo Debar.[bp]
And you boast, “We have taken Karnaim[bq] by our own strength.”
14 “But Israel, I will bring a nation against you that will bring troubles to your whole country from Lebo Hamath to Arabah Brook.” This is what the Lord God All-Powerful said.
The Vision of the Locusts
7 This is what the Lord God showed me: He was making locusts. This was at the time the second crop began to grow, after the king’s people had cut the first crop. 2 Before the locusts could eat all the grass in the country, I said, “Lord God, I beg you, forgive us! Jacob cannot survive! He is too small!”
3 Then the Lord changed his mind about this. The Lord said, “It will not happen.”
The Vision of the Fire
4 This is what the Lord God showed me: I saw the Lord God calling for judgment by fire. The fire destroyed the ocean and was beginning to eat up the land. 5 But I said, “Lord God, stop, I beg you! Jacob cannot survive! He is too small!”
6 Then the Lord changed his mind about this. The Lord God said, “It will not happen either.”
The Vision of the Plumb Line
7 This is what the Lord showed me: He stood by a wall with a plumb line[br] in his hand. (The wall had been marked with a plumb line.) 8 The Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
I said, “A plumb line.”
Then the Lord said to me, “See, I will put a plumb line among my people Israel. I will not let their ‘crooked ways’ pass inspection anymore. 9 Isaac’s high places will be destroyed. Israel’s holy places will be made into a pile of rocks. I will attack and kill Jeroboam’s[bs] family with swords.”
Amaziah Tries to Stop Amos
10 Amaziah, a priest at Bethel,[bt] sent this message to Jeroboam, the king of Israel: “Amos is making plans against you. He is trying to make the people of Israel fight against you. He has been speaking so much that this country cannot hold all his words. 11 Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and the people of Israel will be taken as prisoners out of their country.’”
12 Amaziah also said to Amos, “You seer, go down to Judah and eat there.[bu] Do your prophesying there. 13 But don’t prophesy anymore here at Bethel. This is Jeroboam’s holy place. This is Israel’s temple.”
14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am not a professional prophet, and I am not from a prophet’s family. I raise cattle and take care of sycamore trees. 15 I was a shepherd and the Lord took me from following the sheep. The Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 So listen to the Lord’s message. You tell me, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel. Don’t speak against Isaac’s family.’ 17 But the Lord says, ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city. Your sons and daughters will be killed with swords. Other people will take your land and divide it among themselves, and you will die in a foreign[bv] country. The people of Israel will definitely be taken from this country as prisoners.’”
The Vision of the Ripe Fruit
8 This is what the Lord God showed me: I saw a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said to me, “Amos, what do you see?”
I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”
Then the Lord said to me, “The end[bw] has come to my people Israel. I will not ignore their sins anymore. 3 Their temple songs will become funeral songs.” This is what the Lord God said. “There will be dead bodies everywhere. In silence, people will take out the dead bodies and throw them onto the pile.[bx]”
Merchants Only Want to Make Money
4 Listen to me, you who trample on helpless people.
You are trying to destroy the poor of this country.
5 You merchants say,
“When will the New Moon be over so that we can sell grain?
When will the Sabbath be over
so that we can bring out more wheat to sell?
We can raise the price
and make the measure smaller.[by]
We can fix the scales
and cheat the people.[bz]
6 The poor cannot pay their loans,
so we will buy them as slaves.
We will buy those helpless people
for the price of a pair of sandals.
Oh, and we can sell the wheat
that was spilled on the floor.”
7 The Lord made a promise. He used his name, “Pride of Jacob,” and made this promise:
“I will never forget what those people did.
8 There will be an earthquake
that will shake the whole land because of what they did.
Everyone living there will cry for those who died.
The land will be tossed around.
The whole land will rise and fall like the Nile River in Egypt.”
9 The Lord God also said,
“At that time I will make the sun set at noon
and make the land dark on a clear day.
10 I will change your festivals into days of crying for the dead.
All your songs will be songs of sadness for those who are dead.
I will put mourning clothes on every body
and baldness on every head.[ca]
I will cause mourning everywhere,
like that for an only son who has died.
It will be a very bitter end.”
A Famine of God’s Word
11 The Lord God says,
“Look, the days are coming
when I will cause a famine in the land.
The people will not be hungry for bread.
They will not be thirsty for water.
No, they will be hungry for words from the Lord.
12 The people will wander around the country,
from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,
and from the north part of the country to the east.
They will go back and forth looking for a message from the Lord,
but they will not find it.
13 At that time the beautiful young men and women
will become weak from thirst.
14 They made promises by the sin of Samaria,[cb]
They said, ‘Dan,[cc] as surely as your god lives, we promise ….’
And they said, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba[cd] lives, we promise ….’
But they will fall
and never get up again.”
Vision of the Lord Standing by the Altar
9 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said,
“Hit the top of the columns,
and shake them to the ground.
Push them and they will fall
on everyone’s head.
As for those who survive,
I will kill them with a sword.
None of them will run away.
None of them will escape.
2 If they dig deep into the ground,[ce]
I will pull them from there.
If they go up into the skies,[cf]
I will bring them down from there.
3 If they hide at the top of Mount Carmel,[cg]
I will find them there and take them from that place.
If they try to hide from me at the bottom of the sea,
I will command the snake, and it will bite them.
4 If they are captured and taken away by their enemies,
I will command the sword,
and it will kill them there.
Yes, I will watch over them,
but I will watch for ways to give them troubles,
not for ways to do good things.”
Punishment Will Destroy the People
5 The Lord God All-Powerful will touch the land,
and the land will melt.
Then all the people who live in the land will cry for the dead.
The land will rise and fall
like the Nile River in Egypt.
6 He built his upper rooms above the skies.
He put his skies[ch] over the earth.
He calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out as rain on the land.
Yahweh is his name.
The Lord Promises Destruction for Israel
7 This is what the Lord says:
“Israel, you are like the Ethiopians to me.
I brought Israel out of the land of Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor,[ci]
and the Arameans from Kir.[cj]”
8 The Lord God is watching this sinful kingdom.
The Lord says,
“I will wipe Israel off the face of the earth,
but I will never completely destroy Jacob’s family.
9 I am giving the command
to scatter the people of Israel among all nations.
But it will be like someone sifting flour.
A person shakes flour through a sifter.[ck]
The good flour falls through, but the bad lumps are caught.
10 “Sinners among my people say,
‘Nothing bad will happen to us.’
But all of them will be killed with swords.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International