Bible in 90 Days
7 So I’ll be like a lion to them,
like a panther stalking the roadside.
8 I’ll meet them like a bear who’s lost her cubs;
I’ll rip open their chests.
I’ll devour them as if I’m a lion,
and I’ll tear them apart as if I’m a wild animal.
9 This is why you’re going to be destroyed, Israel:
you’re against Me, against the One who’s helping you!
10 Where is your king now?
Let’s see if he comes to save you and all your cities.
Where are your leaders, the ones of whom you demanded,
“Give me a king and princes!”?
11 I gave you a king, even though you made Me angry by asking for one,
and in My rage, I decided to take him away!
12 Ephraim’s guilt has been wrapped up;
his sin has been hidden.
13 The labor pains of his mother are coming for him, but he is unwise;
he does not move from the birth canal.
14 Should I deliver them from the power of the grave?
Should I rescue them from death’s cold grip?
Hey, Death! Where is your big win?
Hey, Grave! What happened to your sting?[a]
I’ll look the other way and not show them any pity.
15 Though Israel, among his brothers, is like a plant that flourishes in the wetlands,
an east wind will come—a dry desert wind sent by Me—
And the waters will dry up. His spring will run dry.
All the treasures in his storehouse will be plundered.
16 Because of her guilt and her rebellion against her God,
Samaria will be punished: her people will be cut down by the sword;
Her children will be dashed to pieces; her pregnant women will be torn open.
14 Return, Israel, to the Eternal, your True God.
You’ve stumbled because of your wickedness.
2 Think about what to say, and come back to the Eternal One.
Say to Him, “Forgive all our sins, and take us back again.
Bring us into Your good grace so we can offer You praise and sacrifice,
the fruit of our lips.
3 We admit that Assyria can’t save us, nor can riding horses and chariots into battle.
We’ll never again say to idols made with our own hands, ‘You’re our gods!’
We know You’re merciful because You take care of orphans.”
4 Eternal One: I’ll heal their apostate hearts so they won’t turn away from Me again;
I’ll love them freely because I won’t be angry with them anymore.
5 I’ll be like dew that waters Israel. She’ll blossom like the lily.
She’ll put down roots like the stable cedars of Lebanon;
6 She’ll send out shoots until her beauty is like the olive tree
and her fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.
7 The people will return from exile and sit in My shade once again;
they’ll flourish like grain; they’ll send out shoots like the vine.
And their fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim, what do I have in common with deaf and blind idols?
I’m the One who responds to your pleas and cares for you.
I’m like a flourishing juniper tree; I provide life year-round.
9 The wise will understand these things;
the perceptive will know them.
For everything the Eternal One does is right,
and the righteous follow His ways.
But those who turn against Him will stumble along His path.
1 This is the word of the Eternal One that came to Joel, Pethuel’s son:
2 Hear this, elders and leaders.
All who live in the land should pay close attention.
Has anything like this ever happened?
No, not in your lifetimes or your fathers’.
3 So be sure to tell this story to your sons and daughters.
Your sons should tell their sons and so on, for generations.
4 We have been invaded!
What the cutting locusts left,
the swarming locusts consumed;
What the swarming locusts left,
the creeping locusts consumed;
What the creeping locusts left,
the stripping locusts finished off.[b]
These four locusts are probably not different species of insect. Joel is describing four different locust invasions and how each ravages the land.
5 All you drunks, get up and cry!
Weep and wail, all of you wine drinkers.
Your sweet wine
has been snatched from your mouths.
6 Eternal One: For a people invaded My land.
Their army is strong; their numbers cannot be counted.
They attack with teeth as sharp as a lion’s;
they bare their fangs like a lioness.
7 My vines are ruined.
My fig trees are reduced to stumps now.
These enemy insects have stripped off the bark and tossed My trees aside like refuse.
The branches lie bare, broken and white.
8 Wail like a bride dressed in sackcloth instead of her gown, as a virgin
mourning the death of the groom she’d long been betrothed to.
9 Those who serve the Eternal One,
His priests, are in mourning too—
Because no one is able to bring grain or wine to offer
in the Eternal’s temple.
The priests are mourning because they have no offerings to make, but they are more concerned for themselves because without these offerings the priests lose their main source of food.
10 The fields lie desolate.
The earth herself mourns the loss,
For her golden grain is ruined.
The fruits of her vines have withered.
Her gift of oil has dried up.
11 Wilt in shame, you farmers. Wail with screams, you vinedressers.
Grieve for the wheat and the barley;
Grieve, for the crops in the field are ruined.
12 The grapevines have withered and died.
The fig trees have dried up.
The pomegranate, the date-palm, the apple tree—
indeed all the trees of the field—have dried up.
Joy has withered on the branches of the people and turned to shame.
13 You priests, throw off your fine robes. Dress in sackcloth and grieve.
Wail, you servants at the altar.
Come into the temple and spend all night in your sackcloth,
you ministers of my God,
Because no one brings grain and wine
to offer at your God’s house these days.
14 So consecrate a holy fast; call everyone together.
Gather all the elders and leaders and the rest who live in the land.
Call everyone to the temple of your God, the Eternal.
Then cry out to Him with all your heart.
15 But look! It is coming!
The day of the Eternal One is near.
Destruction, not salvation,
will be the sentence from the Highest God.
16 Hasn’t all our food been destroyed right before our eyes?
Haven’t joyful celebrations ceased in God’s house?
17 The seeds the farmers planted have shriveled beneath the ground;[c]
all the storehouses are empty; their supplies are gone.
The barns are breaking down
because there is no more grain to fill them.
18 Now even the beasts groan!
Herds of cattle wander, confused and agitated,
For they have no more pasture to feed in.
Flocks of sheep suffer this ordeal too.
19 I cry out to you, O Eternal One,
along with everyone else.
For the fire of Your wrath has consumed
the open pastures,
And flames have scorched
all the trees in the field.
20 Even the wild beasts call to You:
they are dying of thirst—the streams have dried up;
They are dying of hunger—the fire of Your wrath has consumed open pastures.
2 Eternal One: Blow the trumpet in Zion;
signal the alarm from My holy mountain!
It is almost here. Let all who live in the land tremble
because the day of the Eternal One is coming.
2 Judgment will come on a black and fearful day;
a thick cloud of darkness will loom over everything.
A great and mighty army advances
like dawn spreading across the mountains.
Never has the world seen anything like it before,
nor will future generations ever see anything like it again.
3 The army is like a fire, consuming everything in its path—
a scorching flame burning everything behind them.
The land before them is sweet like the garden of Eden.
The land following—only a lonely desert; nothing is spared in judgment.
4 They look like horses arrayed for battle;
they charge ahead like warhorses.
5 They sound like clattering chariots racing over mountaintops,
like a crackling fire engulfing stubble,
Like a mighty army maneuvering for battle.
6 Seeing the result of God’s judgment looming, the nations writhe in anguish;
each face grows as pale as a ghost.
7 They run like champions into the fight.
Like skilled soldiers, they scale city walls;
Every man marches in formation, never leaving his rank.
8 Organized—no soldier crowds another.
Independent—each man marches straight ahead.
Together—they are unstoppable as they break through the defenses
and do not break off the attack.
9 They charge the city, scurry along its wall.
They swarm through windows into houses, like common thieves.
10 Before them the earth trembles and the heavens shake.
The sun and the moon become a void of darkness.
The stars lose their radiance too.
11 The Eternal One shouts commands from the front line of His army;
His forces are vast—uncountable mighty soldiers obey His command.
The day of the Eternal One is great, fearsome indeed.
Who can survive?
12 Eternal One: Even now, turn back your heart and rededicate yourselves to Me;
Show Me your repentance by fasting, weeping, and mourning.
13 Rip the wickedness out of your hearts; don’t just tear your clothing.
Now return to the Eternal, your True God.
You already know He is gracious and compassionate.
He does not anger easily and maintains faithful love.
He is willing to relent and not harm you.
14 Who knows? Perhaps He will turn and relieve you of this threat,
and leave behind some blessing as He goes—
Maybe enough grain and wine to offer
to the Eternal, your True God?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; set apart a time for fasting;
tell everyone to be still and stop working.
16 Assemble the people. Consecrate the congregation.
Gather the elders and other leaders,
The young children, and even the nursing babies.
Let the bride and groom leave their chambers on their wedding night.
17 Let the priests, the Eternal’s servants, stand between the porch and the altar
and weep as they intercede. Let them say,
Priests: Have pity on Your people, O Eternal One!
And do not let Your legacy—Your covenant people—
Be taunted and mocked by the nations,
who ask, “Where is their God?”
18 But wait—the Eternal One has become possessive of His land;
He will restore us in compassion, His people!
19 In response to our prayers, the Eternal will answer:
Eternal One: Listen! I am sending you a great harvest of grain, wine, and oil.
You will be completely satisfied and no longer
Will I make you a people held in contempt by the nations.
20 I will remove My armies who attack from the north far from your borders,
driving them into a parched and lonely desert.
Then I will separate them: the front line to the Dead Sea,
the rear guard into the Mediterranean Sea
with the vile stench of their rotting corpses rising up.
Surely the Eternal One has done great things!
21 Do not fear, O land. You have been revived.
Celebrate and rejoice, for the Eternal One has done great things!
22 Do not fear, you wild beasts: You will eat again,
for the desert pastures are green again!
And so will we: the trees bear their fruit;
the fig trees and the vines produce their bounty once again.
23 People of Zion, shout with joy
and happiness in the Eternal, your God;
The drought is over; He has sent the early autumn rain as a sign of His faithfulness.
He has poured down heavy rain, autumn and spring, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be covered in grain;
the vats will spill over with new wine and fresh oil.
25 Eternal One: I will compensate you for the years
that the locusts have eaten—the swarming locusts,
The creeping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts—[d]
My great army that I unleashed against you.
26 In that day, you will eat plenty of food and always have enough,
so you will praise My name,
The Eternal One, your God who is merciful to you.
Never again will My people be shamed among the nations.
27 Return to Me and you will know that I live among My people Israel
and that I, the Eternal One, am your God and there is no other.
Never again will My people be shamed among the nations.
28 Then in those days I will pour My Spirit to all humanity;
your children will boldly and prophetically speak the word of God.
Your elders will dream dreams;
your young warriors will see visions.
29 No one will be left out. In those days I will offer My spirit
to all servants, both male and female.
30 In the heaven above and on the earth below,
I will give signs of My intervention: blood, fire, and clouds of smoke.
31 The sun will become a void of darkness, and the moon will become blood
just before the great and dreadful day of the Eternal One arrives.
Was the day of the Eternal One wonderful to long for or horrific to dread? For Joel, it is both. Each of the five times this day is mentioned, he expresses a different expectation. In Joel 1:15 the prophet signals distressing locust invasions, in Joel 2:1 the day is filled with human invaders against Jerusalem, and in Joel 2:11 it is a stunning event. But in Joel 2:31 the outlook begins to change. Not only is the earth transformed with the heavenly rains and Spirit of God, but also the celestial bodies cease to carry out their functions of giving light and setting seasons for the earth. Both in verse 31 and in Joel 3:14, the day of the Eternal is positive for Israel but ominous for all other nations. Now the tables have been turned, and Zion is not a mountain devoured by locusts and human armies. It is a wonderful garden where the Eternal One meets constantly with His people, surrounded by abundant and perennial agriculture.
32 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Eternal One will be liberated.[e]
Mount Zion and Jerusalem will shelter those who survive exile,
Just as the Eternal says, “Among those who survived, He will call them.”
3 Eternal One: Know that in those days and at that time
I will bring back Judah and Jerusalem from their captivity.
2 I will assemble all Israel’s enemies in the valley of Jehoshaphat—My judgment.
I will judge them for how they treated My people, My legacy, Israel—
Whom they deported and exiled to the nations.
They divided My land among themselves;
3 They cast lots for My people, selling them into slavery—
trading boys for prostitutes, selling young girls for a drink of wine.
4 Tyre, Sidon, and all the districts of Philistia, what do you have against Me?
Are you trying to get back at Me?
Do you pay me back?
I will turn your wicked actions back upon your heads, fast and sure.
5 You have taken wonderful treasures from My house, My silver and gold,
and you carried them to your own temples and palaces.
6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks
to send them far away from their home without hope of return.
7 But now, watch! I am going to awaken them to action,
and in those distant lands where you sold them
I will turn your wicked actions back upon your heads:
8 I will sell your sons and daughters into slavery.
Now the people of Judah will be your children’s masters.
Indeed, they will sell your children to the Sabeans,
who will take them far, far away.
The Eternal One has spoken.
9 Proclaim this among the nations: “Get ready for war.
Awaken your great warriors.
Let all the soldiers come near the valley, poised for battle.
10 Hammer your sickles into swords.
Forge your pruning shears into spears.
For this final battle, even the weakling must say, ‘I am a warrior!’
11 “Hurry up! Join the battle, you nations all around;
gather in the valley of Jehoshaphat.”
Eternal One, march Your troops to war.
12 Eternal One: Let the nations awaken
and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
For that is where I will come Myself and set forth judgment against
the nations who surrounded and attacked My Israel.
13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe for judgment.
Come on and tread the grapes, for the winepress is full.
Indeed, the vats are overflowing with oil, for their evil is great.
14 The thunder of battle goes up in the valley of decision,
and the day of the Eternal One is near that valley.
15 It is time. The sun and moon have become a void of darkness;
the stars, too, lose their radiance.
16 The Eternal roars from Zion;
His voice thunders from Jerusalem.
The earth and the heavens tremble before Him.
But the Eternal is a hiding place for His people,
a fortress for the Israelites.
17 Eternal One: Then you will know that I am the Eternal, your God,
and I live in Zion, My sacred mountain.
Jerusalem will be My holy city;
never again will foreign invaders infiltrate it.
18 On that great day, the Eternal will provide:
Sweet wine will drip down from the mountains.
Fresh milk will pour down from the hills.
Clear water will run through Judah’s ravines.
A fountain will bubble up from the Eternal’s temple
and water the arid stream bed of Shittim.
19 Egypt will become a wasteland and Edom a lonely desert,
because they violently attacked the people of Judah
And murdered the innocent in Israel.
20 But as for Judah, it will always be full of people.
Eternal One: Jerusalem, too, will endure for generations to come.
21 I will avenge those who were hurt, enslaved, exiled, and killed;
I will not let the guilty go free.
For the Eternal One lives in Zion.
1 These are the words of Amos, one of the shepherds in Tekoa, a city in the highlands of Judah. God gave him these visions regarding Israel in the time of Uzziah (who ruled Judah) and Jeroboam (the son of Joash, who ruled Israel) two years before the great earthquake.
2 The Eternal One roars from Zion;
His voice thunders from Jerusalem.
The pastures shrivel and die beneath the shepherds’ feet,
and the crest of Mount Carmel dries to dust as all await His judgment.
3 Eternal One: For three crimes of Damascus,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they have threshed the people of Gilead
with threshing-sledges made of iron.
4 I will send down fire on the house of Hazael, the ruler in Damascus,
and burn down the fortresses of Ben-hadad, his son and successor.
5 I will smash the gates of Damascus,
wipe out those who live in the valley of Aven.
I will cut off the hand that holds the scepter in Beth-eden
and force the people of Aram into exile in Kir.
So says the Eternal about Aram, Israel’s constant enemy to the northeast.
6 Eternal One: For three crimes of Gaza,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they sent entire communities into exile,
including women and children,
Because they sold My people
as slaves to Edom.
7 So I will send down fire on the wall that protects Gaza
and burn down all of its fortifications.
8 I will destroy those who live in Ashdod
and cut off the hand that holds the scepter in Ashkelon.
I will raise My hand against Ekron and the rest of the Philistines;
even those in the formerly great city of Gath will perish.
Four of the five major cities of Philistia are mentioned here; only Gath is excluded. It was previously destroyed by Judah under King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:6).
So says the Eternal Lord about Philistia, Israel’s enemy in the southwest.
9 Here is what the Eternal says about Tyre, that maritime power to the northwest:
Eternal One: For three crimes of Tyre,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they also handed over whole communities to Edom
and ignored the covenant of brotherhood, the treaty between Phoenicia and Israel.
10 So I will send down fire on the wall that protects Tyre
and burn down all of its fortifications.
11 Here is what the Eternal says about Edom, our neighbor to the southeast:
Eternal One: For three crimes of Edom,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because he pursued his brother, Israel, with the sword
without any pity,
Because he continually stoked his anger
and nourished his rage.
12 So I will send down fire on Teman, its largest city in the south,
and burn down the fortresses of Bozrah in the north.
13 Here is what the Eternal says about Ammon, just northeast of the Jordan:
Eternal One: For three crimes of the Ammonites,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they ripped open the bellies of pregnant women in Gilead
as they made war to expand their territory.
14 So I will send down fire on the wall that protects Rabbah, its only major city,
and burn down all of its fortifications.
With shouts and war cries on the day of battle,
with a whirlwind in the midst of the storm,
15 I will force the king into exile,
along with all the officials who counsel him.
So says the Eternal One.
2 Here is what the Eternal says about Moab, Ammon’s brother nation east of the Jordan:
Eternal One: For three crimes of Moab,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they burned to ash the bones of the king of Edom,
believing this would prevent his resurrection.
2 So I will send down fire on Moab and burn down the fortresses of Kerioth,
where the people worship Chemosh.
Moab will be destroyed in an uproar,
with warriors screaming and war horns blaring,
3 And I will destroy their ruler,
along with all the officials who counsel him.
4 Here is what the Eternal says about Judah:
Eternal One: For three crimes of Judah,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they have rejected the teachings of the Eternal One
and have not kept His commandments,
But they have walked away to follow the same lying idols
their ancestors pursued.
5 So I will send down fire on Judah
and burn down all the fortresses of Jerusalem.
6 Here, Israel, is what the Eternal says about your past and present behavior:
Eternal One: For three crimes of Israel,
no for four, I have laid down My sentence and will not revoke it
Because they have sold the right-living for silver
and the poor and their property for a pair of sandals.
7 They have trampled the heads of the weak into the dirt
and pushed the oppressed even further down.
A father and his son sleep with the same girl,
trampling My holy name in the process.
8 And the religious lie beside every altar
on garments taken as collateral from their debtors;
And in the house of their pagan god, they drink
wine bought with the fines they have imposed on others.
9 Still I destroyed all of Canaan’s Amorites before them,
those Canaanites who were as tall as the towering cedars,
as strong as the mighty oaks.
As entrenched as they were, I still destroyed their fruit above
and their roots underneath My promised land.
10 And I brought you up out of the land of Egypt
and led you safely through 40 years of wilderness wandering
to take possession of the land of the Amorites.
11 I took some of your children and raised them up as prophets,
and I called some of your youth to be Nazirites, set aside to My service.
Isn’t this true, people of Israel?
God’s very own people are forcing those who have dedicated their service to Him to abandon their calling. Here He renders His judgment on them.
So says the Eternal.
12 Eternal One: But you made the Nazirites break their vows and drink wine.
You told the prophets, “Don’t you dare prophesy!”
13 I will press you down beneath your enemies, just as a wagon full of fresh grain creaks
and groans beneath its own weight.
14 The swift will lose their speed; there will be no escape;
the strong will lose his strength; the warrior will not survive the battle;
15 The archer will not be able to stand his ground and aim his arrows.
Even the fastest runner will not escape, nor will the one who rides on horseback.
16 The bravest and strongest soldiers will throw down their weapons
and run naked for cover on that day.
So says the Eternal One.
We are appalled to hear of horrible atrocities and crimes against humanity. Today we work to put an end to ethnic cleansing and sex trafficking, but these crimes are nothing new. Consider the world Amos occupies: it’s a world where the Philistines, the most technologically advanced people in their region, sell people into slavery; where the Edomites attack their neighbors in hand-to-hand combat and violently end their lives; where Ammonites rip open pregnant women in order to annex a few more acres; and where the Israelites, God’s own covenant people, sell the needy, while both father and son have sexual relationships with the same girl. If we are appalled to hear these stories, imagine how much more God, the Father of all, is angry with those who act in these ways. Since God’s prophet Amos knows His mind, he will not sit idly by and let the poor and right-living suffer.
3 Hear the message that the Eternal has spoken about you, people of Israel—the words He has spoken against the whole family:
Eternal One: I brought you up from Egypt
2 Of all the peoples on the earth,
I knew and chose you for a relationship with Me.
So I will punish you for the wrong you have done.
3 Do two people travel together
if they had to set up a time to meet?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest
if it has not found its prey?
Does a young lion growl in its den
if it has not caught something?
5 Does a bird fall into a trap
if no net has been set for it?
Does a trap snap shut
if nothing has set it off?
6 Does the trumpet sound the alarm in the city
without frightening the people?
Does disaster come to a city
unless the Eternal One has permitted it?
7 The answer to all is the same: No.
The Eternal Lord does nothing
Without revealing His plan to His servants, the prophets.
They are His spokespeople.
8 The lion has roared;
who is not afraid?
The Eternal Lord has been heard;
His prophets can’t help but prophesy.
9 Speak to the fortresses of Ashdod
and to the fortresses in the land of Egypt.
Tell their leaders, “Gather on the hillsides in Samaria
and see what great wrongs are done in Israel;
Witness the acts of oppression done there.
10 Eternal One: Those who fill their fortresses with finery through violence and robbery
have no idea how to do what is right.
Israel has forgotten God’s laws, so of course the people can’t follow them. They have fallen into slavery and oppression.
11 So the Eternal Lord says to Israel,
Eternal One: An enemy will surround and besiege your land.
It will overwhelm your defenses, and your fortresses will be plundered.
12 Just as the shepherd rescues two legs or the tip of an ear from the hungry lion, that is the kind of rescue the wealthy people of God dwelling in Samaria will see: only a small piece of fabric from their luxurious linens and furnishings will remain.[f]
13 Listen to what I am saying, and testify against Jacob’s house.
The Eternal Lord, the Commander of heavenly armies, says,
14 Eternal One: On the day I punish Israel for its wrongdoing,
I will also fall upon the altars of Bethel, that center of cultic worship,
Where the horns of the altar will be hacked off
and topple to the ground, making their illegal sacrifice impossible.
15 I will demolish the winter house of the rich and the summer house as well;
their palaces decorated with ivory will be torn down,
And their fine mansions will be laid low.
So says the Eternal One.
4 Hear this word, you cows on the fertile pastures of Bashan,
who grow fat and happy on the hillsides of Samaria,
Who oppress the poor and destroy the needy
while you order your husbands to do your own work.
2 The Eternal Lord has made a vow by His own holiness:
Eternal One: The day will come when your enemy will drag you away
with hooks like sides of beef—will subdue you with fishhooks, each and every one of you.
3 You’ll be forced to leave through breached walls,
each one of you taken straight out and cast into Harmon, a place of exile.
4 I dare you: Come to My shrine at Bethel and do wrong;
come, worship Me at Gilgal, and watch your sins multiply.
Go ahead, bring your ritual sacrifices there every morning
and ten percent of your earnings every three days.
5 Burn a thanksgiving offering of leavened bread,
boast about your freewill offerings, and let everyone know
because these things are what you love to do, people of Israel.
So says the Eternal Lord.
6 Eternal One: I kept your teeth clean and your stomachs empty
when famine struck all your cities and no food could be found in your towns,
But still you did not come back to Me.
7 I held back the rain from your fields
when there were still three months left until harvest.
I would send rain on one city
but not on another.
I would send rain on one field
but not on another, so the dry field withered.
8 So people from two or three towns stumbled to one
that had water to drink, but they were still thirsty.
And still you did not return to Me.
9 I struck your crops with disease and mildew.
Whatever survived in your gardens and vineyards,
Whatever remained of your fig and olive trees, the locusts devoured;
and still you did not return to Me.
10 I sent plagues on you like the plagues I unleashed upon Egypt.
I slaughtered your young men in battle,
Stole away your horses, and sent the stench
of those bodies rotting in your camps reeking into your nostrils;
And still you did not return to Me.
11 I destroyed some of you as I destroyed the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,
and those who survived were like a smoking branch plucked from the fire;
And still you did not return to Me.
12 So this is what I am going to do to you, Israel.
Because of what I am planning, prepare to meet your God, people of Israel!
13 Witness the One who shapes the mountains and fashions the wind,
who reveals His thoughts to human beings,
Who changes dawn to darkness
and treads upon the high places of the earth.
The Eternal God, Commander of heavenly armies, is His name.
5 Hear this message I sing about you;
it is my dirge for you, people of Israel:
2 The virgin Israel has fallen,
fallen never to rise again;
Forsaken in her land, forgotten where she lies.
No one is there to help her rise again.
3 So says the Eternal Lord:
Eternal One: The city that sent out a thousand soldiers
will see only a hundred of them survive;
And the town that sent out a hundred
will see only ten remain for the house of Israel.
4 So says the Eternal to Israel:
Eternal One: Turn back to Me and you will live. There is still time.
5 But don’t hang your hopes on Bethel,
Or travel to Gilgal or Beersheba or any other sanctuary expecting help,
because Gilgal will surely be sent into exile,
And the shrine at Bethel will come to nothing.
6 Turn back to the Eternal One, and you will live.
If you don’t, He will flame up like fire against the house of Joseph,
Burn it to the ground, and no one in Bethel will be able to put it out.
7 Listen, you who distort justice and make it taste bitter
and trample righteousness to the ground.
8 The One who set the Pleiades and Orion in the heavens,
who turns night’s shadow into morning and darkens the day with night,
Who calls forth the waters of the sea to pour down rain and flood the earth—
the Eternal One is His name,
9 Who destroys the mighty in a flash,
and crashes against the fortress with the force of a tidal wave.
10 Those of you who hold power now hate the one who judges in the courts at the gate
and detest anybody who speaks the truth.
11 So because you have climbed to success on the backs of the poor[g]
and your wealth comes from taxes you impose on their harvests,
You may well build mansions of expensively-cut stones,
but you’ll never occupy them.
You may plant beautiful vineyards,
but you’ll never enjoy their delicious wine.
12 For I know the depth of evil that you’ve done,
and I see the gravity of your sins:
You persecute those who do the right thing, you take bribes,
and you push the poor to one side in the courts at the city gates instead of helping them.
13 So the wise may decide to keep quiet just then,
because truly, it is an evil time.
14 Search for good and not for evil
so that you may live;
That way the Eternal God, the Commander of heavenly armies, will be at your side,
as you yourselves have even said.
15 Hate what is evil, and love all that is good;
apply His laws justly in the courts at the city gates,
And it may be that the Eternal God, the Commander of heavenly armies,
will have mercy on those descendants of Joseph who survived.
Amos looks into the future to a day when God’s judgment will fall on His people. But judgment and destruction are not intended to be the end. The last word belongs to God, and it is a word of mercy on His covenant people. Sin, of course, must be dealt with; it must be punished decisively. But in God’s grace, some will survive the onslaught. These survivors the prophets call “the remnant.” They are the ones God destines to be restored and to carry on His name. Centuries later, the remnant will refound Israel and extend the covenant blessings to every family on the face of the earth.
16 So says the Eternal God, Commander of heavenly armies, the Lord of all:
Eternal One: Get ready to hear wailing from every street,
people crying out in pain and sorrow along every highway.
The farmers will be pulled away from their fields to mourn,
and those who are trained to grieve will wail with them.
17 In every vineyard, there will be mourning
because I will pass through the middle of you.
Says the Eternal One.
Most people think they are OK with God; it’s the other fellow who should be worried. Some apparently think that they will fare well in the day of the Eternal One, a day when God will judge sin and defeat His enemies. Ironically, God’s own people have become His enemies. So Amos warns that the day of the Eternal One will bring a big surprise to those who think they are in good standing with God. It will be a day of darkness, not light—a day of gloom from which there will be no escape.
18 How horrible for you who look forward to the day of the Eternal One!
Why do you want it to come?
For you, its arrival will mean darkness, not light.
19 It will be as if you were to escape from a lion
only to run headlong into a bear,
As if you ran into a house to hide, leaned against the wall to rest,
and a poisonous snake latched onto your hand.
20 Will not the day of the Eternal One be darkness instead of light,
pitch black, without even a hint of brightness?
21 Eternal One: I hate—I totally reject—your religious ceremonies
and have nothing to do with your solemn gatherings.
22 You can offer Me whole burnt offerings and grain offerings,
but I will not accept them.
You can sacrifice your finest, fattest young animals as a peace offering,
but I will not even look up.
23 And stop making that music for Me—it’s just noise.
I will not listen to the melodies you play on the harp.
24 Here’s what I want: Let justice thunder down like a waterfall;
let righteousness flow like a mighty river that never runs dry.
25 Did you offer Me sacrifices or give Me offerings during the 40 years I guided you in the wilderness, people of Israel? 26 But now you place your trust in false gods; you pray to the idols Sikkuth (your king) and Kiyyun (the star god), those detestable images that you’ve made for yourselves. 27 Because of your worship offered to man-made images, you must go away—beyond Damascus.[h]
So says the Eternal God, the Commander of heavenly armies.
Didn’t God institute the festivals? Didn’t He instruct His people to sacrifice? Didn’t He inspire the singers and songwriters to praise His name? Yes. Even the most beautiful ceremony can become empty ritual, and a sacred time should not be mixed with activities that displease God. He wants more than pious exercises; He wants His people to follow His instructions, to do what is right, and to honor Him because they recognize that He is the one all-powerful God.
6 Grief is coming to those who live comfortably in Zion
and those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria;
The noteworthy of this nation
and those respected by the people of Israel have much to dread.
2 Go over to Calneh and look at what happened there,
then cross over to the great city of Hamath in Aram,
Then go down to Gath, the city of the Philistines.
Are you any more powerful than these fallen kingdoms were?
Are your lands any larger than theirs?
3 You try to hold off the evil day,
but your actions bring the reign of violence ever nearer.
4 Grief is coming to those who lounge on beds inlaid with ivory,
who stretch out on their luxurious sofas,
And who feast on lambs from their flocks
and stall-fattened calves anytime, not just during festivals.
5 Grief is coming to those who sing foolish songs to the sounds of the harp,
who think they can play like David;
6 Who guzzle fine wine by the gallon from elegant bowls;
who apply expensive oils to their bodies, when cheaper ones will do,
But they are not grieved by the awful state of Joseph’s people.
7 That is why they will be the first ones carried off into exile,
and their lives of leisure and feasting will disappear.
8 The Eternal Lord has sworn by His own holiness,
and the Eternal God, the Commander of heavenly armies,
Promises this:
Eternal One: I detest the pride of Israel, descendants of My servant Jacob,
and I hate their fortresses,
And I will hand over the city and all its wealth to their enemies.
9 If there are only 10 people left in one house, they will all die. 10 If a man arrives to take his relative’s remains out of the house for burial and he calls back into the darkened house, “Is anyone else with you?” the only survivor will respond, “No.” The relative will cut the survivor off: “Quiet! Not another word! We mustn’t mention the name of the Eternal One.”
11 Look: the Eternal gives the order,
and the great house is smashed to pieces, and the little house crumbles.
12 Do horses gallop over big boulders?
Does a person plow such rocks with a team of oxen?
But you have somehow managed to make justice poisonous
and turned the sweet fruits of righteousness into bitterness—
13 You, who celebrate taking back worthless Lo-debar
and ask, “Haven’t we captured Karnaim with our own strong armies?”
14 Eternal One: You will see—I am raising up a strong nation against you, people of Israel,
and they will hound you from Hamath pass in the north
To the Great Rift Valley at Arabah in the south.
So says the Eternal God, the Commander of heavenly armies.
Prophets find God’s message in every word and turn of phrase. Lo-debar and Karnaim were two cities recaptured by Jeroboam II, king of Israel, after a foreign ruler had annexed them as part of his kingdom (2 Kings 10:32–36). When Jeroboam won back the region, the people celebrated (2 Kings 14:23–29); but Jeroboam was out of step with God, so the joy was short-lived. That’s where the names of the two cities become interesting. In Hebrew Lo-debar means “no thing”; Karnaim means “horns,” and horns are a symbol of strength. In a bit of sarcasm, the prophet quips that those who celebrate the retaking of Lo-debar are celebrating “nothing,” while those who claim the victory at Karnaim have only their horn, their own strength, to thank. God will have none of it.
7 This is what the Eternal Lord showed me: He brought a swarm of locusts when the crops had begun to sprout in late spring (after the king’s portion of the hay had been cut). 2 When I saw the locusts devour everything green in the land that belonged to the farmers, I spoke.
Amos: O Eternal Lord, please forgive us!
How will Jacob’s descendants survive this?
The nation is so small.
3 The Eternal relented and showed mercy.
Eternal One: What you have seen will not be.
4 Then the Eternal Lord showed me this: He called for a rain of fire, and it devoured the deep abyss and began to devour the land itself.
5 Amos: O Eternal Lord, please no! Not this!
How will Jacob’s descendants survive this?
The nation is so small.
6 And the Eternal again relented and showed mercy.
Eternal One: This will not happen either.
7 Then He showed me this: The Lord was standing by a wall built with a plumb line, and in His hand was a plumb line.
Eternal One: 8 What do you see, Amos?
Amos: A plumb line.
Eternal One: Watch what I’m about to do! I am going to put a plumb line
up against My people Israel to see what is straight and true,
And I will not look the other way any longer.
9 The high places of Isaac will be destroyed
and the religious shrines of Israel reduced to ruin,
And with sword in hand, I will bring down the house of Jeroboam the king.
10 Then Amaziah, the priest at the royal shrine in Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam, king of Israel.
Amaziah’s Message: Amos is plotting conspiracy against you in the very heart of the land of Israel. You must act. The land cannot bear any more of his speeches. 11 For this is what Amos is saying:
Amos: Jeroboam is going to die by the sword,
and the people of Israel will be captured and led away into exile far from home.
Amaziah’s Message: 12 I told Amos, “Listen, seer—run for the land of Judah; earn your living and spread your prophesies there, 13 but don’t ever show your face and try to prophesy at Bethel again because it is the king’s sanctuary and a temple for this kingdom.”
14 But Amos persisted.
Amos: I am not a professional prophet, or even the son of one. You shouldn’t be afraid of me; I am just a man who followed my herds and gathered the fruit from the sycamores 15 until the Eternal spoke to me, as I was minding my flock.
Eternal One: Go and speak My words to the people of Israel!
16 So now listen to what the Eternal has to say, you who say,
“Don’t prophesy against Israel,
Or predict the downfall of Isaac’s descendants.”
17 The Eternal One says this:
Eternal One: Your wife will be reduced to selling herself in the streets,
your sons and daughters will die by the sword,
your land will be measured out to others,
You yourself will end your days in an impure land,
and Israel will be sent into exile far from home.
Prophecy has often been described as “speaking truth to power.” Amos predicts the demise of the king, not in some corner somewhere but at the king’s royal shrine at Bethel. The priest in charge, Amaziah, reports the traitorous words to the king and bans the prophet from ever returning to the religious center of Israel, the Northern Kingdom. But Amos has the last word. He will not be silent despite the threats against him. The word of God cannot be suppressed by powerful priests or royal decree. Judgment will surely come to the land because the Lord has decided it!
8 This is what the Eternal Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.
Eternal One: 2 What do you see, Amos?
Amos: I see a basket of ripe fruit.
Eternal One: The time is ripe for the end of My people, Israel.
I will not overlook their wrongdoing any longer.
3 On that day, the joyous songs sung in the temple will turn to wailing and crying,
and dead bodies will be piled up everywhere, scattered here, scattered there.
Silence!
Says the Eternal Lord.
4 Listen to this, you who trample on the needy
and bring the poor to ruin,
5 Who ask, “When will the new moon festival be done
so we can sell our grain?
And when will the Sabbath end
so we can sell our wheat?
Then we can tamper with our scales
and make the bushel measure smaller
And the counterweight heavier to cheat our customers.
6 We can buy the needy for silver
and the poor and their property for the price of a pair of sandals.
We can even sell the chaff we sweep up as grain.”
7 The Eternal has sworn by the pride of Jacob, the very land He gave to them:
Eternal One: I will not forget anything that Israel has done.
8 Won’t the land beneath their feet tremble for this,
and everyone who lives in it mourn?
The ground will rise and fall like the river Nile, which floods and recedes;
it will ripple and roll like the current of Egypt’s Nile.
9 The Eternal Lord says,
Eternal One: On that day, I will make the sun set at noon
and send darkness across the earth when it should be broad daylight.
10 I will turn your celebrations into mourning
and all your singing into wailing.
I will make it so that all wear mourning sackcloth
and every head is shaved out of sadness.
It will be like the grief you feel at the death of an only child,
and it will be a bitter day by the end.
11 The Eternal Lord says,
Eternal One: The days are coming
when I will send a famine on the land—
Not a hunger for food or thirst for water,
but starvation for the words of the Eternal.
12 People will stagger from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,
and from the north to the east;
They will run everywhere, desperate to hear the voice of the Eternal One,
but they will not hear it.
13 When that time comes, beautiful young women and strong young men
will fall from thirst.
14 And those who swear by the pagan idols of Samaria—
who say “As your god lives, Dan!”
Or “As your power lives, Beersheba!”—
will all fall, never to rise again.
9 I looked and saw the Lord standing by the altar.
Eternal One: Strike the tops of the pillars so that the foundations shake,
and cut them off so the building crashes down upon the heads of all the people!
I will kill with the sword any who survive.
Not one of them will get away.
Not one of them will escape.
2 If they dig down to the land of the dead,
My hand will find them and pull them back up.
If they try to climb to heaven,
I will bring them back down from there.
3 If they try to hide on the summit and in the dense forests of Mount Carmel,
I will track them down and capture them.
If they try to disappear from sight in the depths of the sea,
I will send a sea monster to bite and devour them.
4 If they are taken captive by their enemies,
I will command that they be killed by the sword in their exile,
And I will fix My gaze upon them,
not for their good, but for their harm.
5 The Eternal Lord, Commander of heavenly armies—
He touches the earth and it cracks and crumbles,
and everyone upon it cries with grief.
He touches the land and it rises and falls,
falls and rises like the Nile in Egypt.
6 He builds His upper chambers in the heavens
and founds His storeroom[i] on the earth.
He calls up the waters of the sea
and pours them out across the land—
Eternal One is His name.
7 Eternal One: To Me, aren’t you like the people of Ethiopia,
overwhelmed by the powers around you,
You people of Israel?
Didn’t I bring the people of Israel from the land of Egypt,
And the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Arameans from Kir?
8 Look! The eyes of the Eternal Lord are fixed upon your sinful kingdom,
and I will wipe it off the face of the earth.
But I will not destroy Jacob’s descendants completely.
So says the Eternal.
9 Eternal One: I will give the order,
and I will shake the nation of Israel among all the nations
The way grain is shaken in a sieve.
All the good kernels will fall to the ground,
But the rocks will stay trapped in the sieve, ready for disposal.
10 I will see all of My people who do wrong,
who say, “Nothing bad will ever happen to us.”
I will see them all fall to the sword.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.