9Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for battle!
Arouse the warriors,
Let all the fighters come and draw near!
10Beat your plowsharesb into swords,
And your pruning hooks into spears.
Let even the weakling say, “I am strong.”
11c-Rouse yourselves-c and come,
All you nations;
Come together
From roundabout.
There c-bring down-c
Your warriors, O LORD!
12Let the nations rouse themselves and march up
To the Valley of Jehoshaphat;d
For there I will sit in judgment
Over all the nations roundabout.
13Swing the sickle,
For the crop is ripe;
Come and tread,
For the winepress is full,
The vats are overflowing!
For great is their wickedness.
14Multitudes upon multitudes
In the Valley of Decision!
For the day of the LORD is at hand
In the Valley of Decision.
15Sun and moon are darkened,
And stars withdraw their brightness.
16And the LORD will roar from Zion,
And shout aloud from Jerusalem,
So that heaven and earth tremble.
But the LORD will be a shelter to His people,
A refuge to the children of Israel.
17And you shall know that I the LORD your God
Dwell in Zion, My holy mount.
And Jerusalem shall be holy;
Nevermore shall strangers pass through it.
18And in that day,
The mountains shall drip with wine,
The hills shall flow with milk,
And all the watercourses of Judah shall flow with water;
A spring shall issue from the House of the LORD
And shall water the Wadi of the Acacias.
19Egypt shall be a desolation,
And Edom a desolate waste,
Because of the outrage to the people of Judah,
In whose land they shed the blood of the innocent.
20But Judah shall be inhabited forever,
And Jerusalem throughout the ages.
21Thus e-I will treat as innocent their blood
Which I have not treated as innocent;-e
And the LORD shall dwell in Zion.
a The Heb. terms translated “cutter, locust, grub, and hopper” are of uncertain meaning; they probably designate stages in the development of the locust.
b-b Lit. “cut off from your mouth.”
c Traditionally “the Almighty”; see Gen. 17.1.
d-d Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
e I.e., scorching heat.
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain; cf. Nah. 2.11.
b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c When the locusts depart, there will again be yield enough for offerings; see 1.9.
d Cf. Exod. 19.10; Zeph. 1.7.
e I.e., the locusts. Emendation yields “My multitude”; cf. “nation” (1.6), “horde,” “army,” and “host” (2.2, 5, 11, and 25).
f The Dead Sea.
g The Mediterranean Sea.
h-h Emendation yields “double what was.”
a-a Brought up from v. 4 for clarity.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a Here understood as “The LORD contends”; contrast v. 12.
b See note at Isa, 2.4.
c-c Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
d Here understood as “The LORD judges”; contrast v. 2.
e-e Emendation yields “their unavenged blood shall be avenged.”
Amos
1 The words of Amos, a sheepbreeder from Tekoa, who prophesied concerning Israel in the reigns of Kings Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake.a
2He proclaimed:
The LORD roars from Zion,
Shouts aloud from Jerusalem;
And the pastures of the shepherds shall languish,
And the summit of Carmel shall wither.
3Thus said the LORD:
For three transgressions of Damascus,
For four, I will not revoke it:b
Because they threshed Gilead
With threshing boards of iron.
4I will send downc fire upon the palace of Hazael,
And it shall devour the fortresses of Ben-hadad.d
5I will break the gate bars of Damascus,
And wipe out the inhabitants from the Vale of Aven
And the sceptered ruler of Beth-eden;
And the people of Aram shall be exiled to Kir
— said the LORD.
6Thus said the LORD:
For three transgressions of Gaza,
For four, I will not revoke it:
Because they exilede an entire population,
Which they delivered to Edom.f
7I will send down fire upon the wall of Gaza,
And it shall devour its fortresses;
8And I will wipe out the inhabitants of Ashdod
And the sceptered ruler of Ashkelon;
And I will turn My hand against Ekron,
And the Philistines shall perish to the last man
—said the Lord GOD.
9Thus said the LORD:
For three transgressions of Tyre,
For four, I will not revoke it:
Because they handed over
An entire population to Edom,g
Ignoring the covenant of brotherhood.h
10I will send down fire upon the wall of Tyre,
And it shall devour its fortresses.
11Thus said the LORD:
For three transgressions of Edom,
For four, I will not revoke it:
Because he pursued his brother with the sword
And repressed all pity,
Because his anger raged unceasing
And his fury stormedi unchecked.
12I will send down fire upon Teman,
And it shall devour the fortresses of Bozrah.
13Thus said the LORD:
For three transgressions of the Ammonites,
For four, I will not revoke it:
Because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead
In order to enlarge their own territory.
14I will set fire to the wall of Rabbah,
And it shall devour its fortresses,
Amid shouting on a day of battle,
On a day of violent tempest.
15Their king and his officers shall go
Into exile together
—said the LORD.
2
Thus said the LORD:
For three transgressions of Moab,
For four, I will not revoke it:
Because he burned the bones
Of the king of Edom to lime.
2I will send down fire upon Moab,
And it shall devour the fortresses of Kerioth.
And Moab shall die in tumult,
Amid shouting and the blare of horns;
3I will wipe out the ruler from within her
And slay all her officials along with him
—said the LORD.
4Thus said the LORD:
For three transgressions of Judah,
For four, I will not revoke it:
Because they have spurned the Teaching of the LORD
And have not observed His laws;
They are beguiled by the delusions
After which their fathers walked.
5I will send down fire upon Judah,
And it shall devour the fortresses of Jerusalem.
6Thus said the LORD:
For three transgressions of Israel,
For four, I will not revoke it:
Because they have sold for silver
Those whose cause was just,
And the needy for a pair of sandals.
7[Ah,] you a-who trample the heads of the poor
Into the dust of the ground,
And make the humble walk a twisted course!-a
Father and son go to the same girl,
And thereby profane My holy name.
8They recline by every altar
On garments taken in pledge,
And drink in the House of their God
Wine bought with fines they imposed.
9Yet I
Destroyed the Amorite before them,
Whose stature was like the cedar’s
And who was stout as the oak,
Destroying his boughs above
And his trunk below!
10And I
Brought you up from the land of Egypt
And led you through the wilderness forty years,
To possess the land of the Amorite!
11And I raised up prophets from among your sons
And nazirites from among your young men.
Is that not so, O people of Israel?
—says the LORD.
12But you made the nazirites drink wine
And ordered the prophets not to prophesy.
13b-Ah, I will slow your movements
As a wagon is slowed
When it is full of cut grain.-b
14Flight shall fail the swift,
The strong shall find no strength,
And the warrior shall not save his life.
15The bowman shall not hold his ground,
And the fleet-footed shall not escape,
Nor the horseman save his life.
16Even the most stouthearted warrior
Shall run away unarmedc that day
— declares the LORD.
3
Hear this word, O people of Israel,
That the LORD has spoken concerning you,
Concerning the whole family that I brought up from the land of Egypt:
2You alone have I singled out
Of all the families of the earth—
That is why I will call you to account
For all your iniquities.
3Can two walk together
Without having met?
4Does a lion roar in the forest
When he has no prey?
Does a great beast let out a cry from its den
Without having made a capture?
5Does a bird drop on the ground—in a trap—
With no snare there?
Does a trap spring up from the ground
Unless it has caught something?
6When a ram’s horn is sounded in a town,
Do the people not take alarm?
Can misfortune come to a town
If the LORD has not caused it?
7Indeed, my Lord GOD does nothing
Without having revealed His purpose
To His servants the prophets.
8A lion has roared,
Who can but fear?
My Lord GOD has spoken,
Who can but prophesy?
9Proclaim in the fortresses of Ashdoda
And in the fortresses of the land of Egypt!
Say:
Gather on the hillb of Samaria
And witness the great outrages within her
And the oppression in her midst.
10They are incapable of doing right
—declares the LORD;
They store up lawlessness and rapine
In their fortresses.
11Assuredly,
Thus said my Lord GOD:
An enemy, all about the land!
He shall strip you of your splendor,
And your fortresses shall be plundered.
12Thus said the LORD:
As a shepherd rescues from the lion’s jaws
Two shank bones or the tip of an ear,
So shall the Israelites escape
Who dwell in Samaria—
With the legc of a bed or the headc of a couch.
13Hear [this], and warn the House of Jacob
—says my Lord GOD, the God of Hosts—
14That when I punish Israel for its transgressions,
I will wreak judgment on the altard of Bethel,
And the horns of the altar shall be cut off
And shall fall to the ground.
15I will wreck the winter palace
Together with the summer palace;
The ivory palaces shall be demolished,
And the great houses shall be destroyed
— declares the LORD.
4
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan
On the hill of Samaria—
Who defraud the poor,
Who rob the needy;
Who say to youra husbands,
“Bring, and let’s carouse!”
2My Lord GOD swears by His holiness:
Behold, days are coming upon you
b-When you will be carried off in baskets,
And, to the last one, in fish baskets,
3And taken out [of the city]—
Each one through a breach straight ahead—
And flung on the refuse heap-b
— declares the LORD.
4Come to Bethel and transgress;
To Gilgal, and transgress even more:
Present your sacrifices the next morning
And your tithes on the third day;
5And burn a thank offering of leavened bread;c
And proclaim freewill offerings loudly.
For you love that sort of thing, O Israelites
—declares my Lord GOD.
6I, on My part, have given you
Cleanness of teeth in all your towns,
And lack of food in all your settlements.
Yet you did not turn back to Me
— declares the LORD.
7I therefore withheld the rain from you
Three months before harvesttime:
I would make it rain on one town
And not
