Amos Chapters 2 and 3
Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1999 American Bible Society

The use of the shofar -- see chapter 2 verse 2
and chapter 3 verse 6

Judgment on Moab

2 The LORD said:
I will punish Moab for countless crimes,
and I won't change my mind.
They made lime from the bones of the king of Edom.
  ²Now I will send fire to destroy the fortresses of Kerioth.
Battle shouts and trumpet blasts will be heard
as I destroy Moab  ³with its king and leaders.
I, the LORD, have spoken! 

Judgment on Judah

⁴The LORD said:
I will punish Judah for countless crimes,
and I won't change my mind.
They have rejected my teachings and refused to obey me.
They were led astray by the same false gods
their ancestors worshiped.
   ⁵Now I will send fire on Judah
and destroy the fortresses of Jerusalem. 

Judgment on Israel

 
⁶The LORD said:
I will punish Israel for countless crimes,
and I won't change my mind.
They sell honest people for money, and the needy are sold
for the price of sandals.
   ⁷They smear the poor in the dirt
and push aside those who are helpless.

My holy name is dishonored, because fathers and sons
sleep with the same young women.
   ⁸They lie down beside altars
on clothes taken as security for loans.
And they drink wine in my temple,
wine bought with the money they received from fines.

   ⁹Israel, the Amorites were there when you entered Canaan.
They were tall as cedars and strong as oaks.
But I wiped them out
I destroyed their branches and their roots.
  ¹⁰I had rescued you from Egypt,
and for forty years I had led you through the desert.
Then I gave you the land of the Amorites.

   ¹¹I chose some of you to be prophets
and others to be Nazirites.
People of Israel, you know this is true.
I, the LORD, have spoken!
  ¹²But you commanded the prophets
not to speak their message,
and you pressured the Nazirites into drinking wine.

   ¹³And so I will crush you, just as a wagon full of grain
crushes the ground.
  ¹⁴No matter how fast you run, you won't escape.
No matter how strong you are, you will lose your strength
and your life.
   ¹⁵Even if you are an expert with a bow and arrow,
you will retreat.
And you won't get away alive,
not even if you run fast or ride a horse.
   ¹⁶You may be brave and strong, but you will run away,
stripped naked.
I, the LORD, have spoken!

3 People of Israel, I rescued you from Egypt.
Now listen to my judgment against you.
   ²Of all nations on earth,
you are the only one I have chosen.
That's why I will punish you because of your sins. 

The Work of a Prophet

   ³Can two people walk together without agreeing to meet?
   ⁴Does a lion roar in the forest unless it has caught a victim?
Does it growl in its den unless it is eating?
   ⁵How can anyone catch a bird without using a net?
Does a trap spring shut unless something is caught?

   ⁶Isn't the whole city frightened
when the trumpet signals an attack?
Isn't it the LORD who brings disaster on a city?
   ⁷Whatever the LORD God plans to do,
he tells his servants, the prophets.
   ⁸Everyone is terrified when a lion roars
and ordinary people become prophets
when the LORD God speaks. 

Samaria Is Doomed

   ⁹Here is a message for the leaders of Philistia and Egypt
tell everyone to come together on the hills of Samaria.
Let them see the injustice and the lawlessness in that city.
  ¹⁰The LORD has said that they don't even know how
to do right.
They have become rich from violence and robbery.
   ¹¹And so the LORD God has sworn
that they will be surrounded.
Enemies will break through their defenses
and steal their treasures.

   ¹²The LORD has promised that only a few from Samaria
will escape with their lives
and with some broken pieces of their beds and couches.
It will be like when a shepherd rescues two leg bones
and part of a sheep's ear from the jaws of a lion. 

The Altars at Bethel

  ¹³The LORD God All-Powerful told me to speak this message
against Jacob's descendants:
   ¹⁴When I, the LORD, punish Israel for their sins,
I will destroy the altars at Bethel.
Even the corners of the altar will be left in the dirt.
  ¹⁵I will tear down winter homes and summer homes.
Houses decorated with ivory and all other mansions
will be gone forever.
I, the LORD, have spoken! 

Return to the Shofar