The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV, page 421
Which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.”
13Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of vthe people of Ammon, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they ripped open the women with child in Gilead,
That they might enlarge their territory.
14But I will kindle a fire in the wall of wRabbah,
And it shall devour its palaces,
x Amid shouting in the day of battle,
And a tempest in the day of the whirlwind.
15y Their king shall go into captivity,
He and his princes together,”
Says the LORD.
Amos 2
Judgment on Israel
1Thus says the LORD:
a“For three transgressions of Moab, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because he bburned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.
2But I will send a fire upon Moab,
And it shall devour the palaces of cKerioth;
Moab shall die with tumult,
With shouting and trumpet sound.
3And I will cut off dthe judge from its midst,
And slay all its princes with him,”
Says the LORD.
Judgment on Judah
4Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of eJudah, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
f Because they have despised the law of the LORD,
And have not kept His commandments.
g Their lies lead them astray,
Lies hwhich their fathers followed.
5i But I will send a fire upon Judah,
And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”
Judgment on Israel
6Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of jIsrael, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because kthey sell the righteous for silver,
And the lpoor for a pair of sandals.
7They 1pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor,
And mpervert the way of the humble.
n A man and his father go in to the same girl,
o To defile My holy name.
8They lie down pby every altar on clothes qtaken in pledge,
And drink the wine of 2the condemned in the house of their god.
9“Yet it was I who destroyed the rAmorite before them,
Whose height was like the sheight of the cedars,
And he was as strong as the oaks;
Yet I tdestroyed his fruit above
And his roots beneath.
10Also it was uI who brought you up from the land of Egypt,
And vled you forty years through the wilderness,
To possess the land of the Amorite.
11I raised up some of your sons as wprophets,
And some of your young men as xNazirites.
Is it not so, O you children of Israel?”
Says the LORD.
12“But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink,
And commanded the prophets ysaying,
‘Do not prophesy!’
13“Behold,z I am 3weighed down by you,
As a cart full of sheaves 4is weighed down.
14a Therefore 5flight shall perish from the swift,
The strong shall not strengthen his power,
b Nor shall the mighty 6deliver himself;
15He shall not stand who handles the bow,
The swift of foot shall not 7escape,
Nor shall he who rides a horse deliver himself.
16The most 8courageous men of might
Shall flee naked in that day,”
Says the LORD.
Amos 3
Authority of the Prophet’s Message
1Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:
2“Youa only have I known of all the families of the earth;
b Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
3Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?
4Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey?
Will a young lion 1cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?
5Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth, where there is no 2trap for it?
Will a snare spring up from the earth, if it has caught nothing at all?
6If a 3trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid?
c If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?
7Surely the Lord GOD does nothing,
Unless dHe reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.
8A lion has roared!
Who will not fear?
The Lord GOD has spoken!
e Who can but prophesy?
Punishment of Israel’s Sins
9“Proclaim in the palaces at 4Ashdod,
And in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say:
‘Assemble on the mountains of Samaria;
See great tumults in her midst,
And the 5oppressed within her.
10For they fdo not know to do right,’
Says the LORD,
‘Who store up violence and 6robbery in their palaces.’ ”
11Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
“An adversary shall be all around the land;
He shall sap your strength from you,
And your palaces shall be plundered.”
12Thus says the LORD:
“As a shepherd 7takes from the mouth of a lion
Two legs or a piece of an ear,
So shall the children of Israel be taken out
Who dwell in Samaria—
In the corner of a bed and 8on the edge of a couch!
13Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,”
Says the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,
14“That in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions,
I will also visit destruction on the altars of gBethel;
And the horns of the altar shall be cut off
And fall to the ground.
15I will 9destroy hthe winter house along with ithe summer house;
The jhouses of ivory shall perish,
And the great houses shall have an end,”
Says the LORD.
Amos 4
God’s Punishments Have Not Reformed Israel
1Hear this word, you acows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria,
Who oppress the bpoor,
Who crush the needy,
Who say to 1your husbands, “Bring wine, let us cdrink!”
2d The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness:
“Behold, the days shall come upon you
When He will take you away ewith fishhooks,
And your posterity with fishhooks.
3f You will go out through broken walls,
Each one straight ahead of her,
And you will 2be cast into Harmon,”
Says the LORD.
4“Comeg to Bethel and transgress,
At hGilgal multiply transgression;
i Bring your sacrifices every morning,
j Your tithes every three 3days.
5k Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven,
Proclaim and announce lthe freewill offerings;
For this you love,
You children of Israel!”
Says the Lord GOD.
Israel Did Not Accept Correction
6“Also I gave you 4cleanness of teeth in all your cities.
And lack of bread in all your places;
m Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the LORD.
7“I also withheld rain from you,
When there were still three months to the harvest.
I made it rain on one city,
I withheld rain from another city.
One part was rained upon,
And where it did not rain the part withered.
8So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water,
But they were not satisfied;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the LORD.
9“In blasted you with blight and mildew.
When your gardens increased,
Your vineyards,
Your fig trees,
And your olive trees,
o The locust devoured them;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the LORD.
10“I sent among you a plague pafter the manner of Egypt;
Your young men I killed with a sword,
Along with your captive horses;
I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the LORD.
11“I overthrew some of you,
As God overthrew qSodom and Gomorrah,
And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning;
Yet you have not returned to Me,”
Says the LORD.
12“Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel;
Because I will do this to you,
r Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
13For behold,
He who forms mountains,
And creates the 5wind,
s Who declares to man what 6his thought is,
And makes the morning darkness,
t Who treads the high places of the earth—
u The LORD God of hosts is His name.
Amos 5
A Lament for Israel
1Hear this word which I atake up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel:
2The virgin of Israel has fallen;
She will rise no more.
She lies forsaken on her land;
There is no one to raise her up.
3For thus says the Lord GOD:
“The city that goes out by a thousand
Shall have a hundred left,
And that which goes out by a hundred
Shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”
A Call to Repentance
4For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel:
b“Seek Me cand live;
5But do not seek dBethel,
Nor enter Gilgal,
Nor pass over to eBeersheba;
For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
And fBethel shall come to nothing.
6g Seek the LORD and live,
Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
And devour it,
With no one to quench it in Bethel—
7You who hturn justice to wormwood,
And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!”
8He made the iPleiades and Orion;
He turns the shadow of death into morning
j And makes the day dark as night;
He kcalls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the face of the earth;
l The LORD is His name.
9He 1rains ruin upon the strong,
So that fury comes upon the fortress.
10m They hate the one who rebukes in the gate,
And they nabhor the one who speaks uprightly.
11o Therefore, because you 2tread down the poor
And take grain 3taxes from him,
Though pyou have built houses of hewn stone,
Yet you shall not dwell in them;
You have planted 4pleasant vineyards,
But you shall not drink wine from them.
12For I qknow your manifold transgressions
And your mighty sins:
r Afflicting the just and taking bribes;
s Diverting the poor from justice at the gate.
13Therefore tthe prudent keep silent at that time,
For it is an evil time.
14Seek good and not evil,
That you may live;
So the LORD God of hosts will be with you,
u As you have spoken.
15v Hate evil, love good;
Establish justice in the gate.
w It may be that the LORD God of hosts
Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
The Day of the LORD
16Therefore the LORD God of hosts, the Lord, says this:
“There shall be wailing in all streets,
And they shall say in all the highways,
‘Alas! Alas!’
They shall call the farmer to mourning,
x And skillful lamenters to wailing.
17In all vineyards there shall be wailing,
For yI will pass through you,”
Says the LORD.
18z Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!
For what good is athe day of the LORD to you?
It will be darkness, and not light.
19It will be bas though a man fled from a lion,
And a bear met him!
Or as though he went into the house,
Leaned his hand on the wall,
And a serpent bit him!
20Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light?
Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?
21“Ic hate, I despise your feast days,
And dI do not savor your sacred assemblies.
22e Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings.
23Take away from Me the noise of your songs,
For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.
24f But let justice run down like water,
And righteousness like a mighty stream.
25“Didg you offer Me sacrifices and offerings
In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26You also carried 5Sikkuth6 hyour king
And Chiun, your idols,
The star of your gods,
Which you made for yourselves.
27Therefore I will send you into captivity ibeyond Damascus,”
Says the LORD, jwhose name is the God of hosts. Five Visions of Amos
Amos 6
Warnings to Zion and Samaria
1Woe ato you who are at bease in Zion,
And ctrust in Mount Samaria,
Notable persons in the dchief nation,
To whom the house of Israel comes!
2e Go over to fCalneh and see;
And from there go to gHamath the great;
Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
h Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory?
3Woe to you who iput far off the day of jdoom,
k Who cause lthe seat of violence to come near;
4Who lie on beds of ivory,
Stretch out on your couches,
Eat lambs from the flock
And calves from the midst of the stall;
5m Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments,
And invent for yourselves nmusical instruments olike David;
6Who pdrink wine from bowls,
And anoint yourselves with the best ointments,
q But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7Therefore they shall now go rcaptive as the first of the captives,
And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.
8s The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself,
The LORD God of hosts says:
“I abhor tthe pride of Jacob,
And hate his palaces;
Therefore I will deliver up the city
And all that is in it.”
9Then it shall come to pass, that if ten men remain in one house, they shall die.
10And when 1a relative of the dead, with one who will burn the bodies, picks up the 2bodies to take them out of the house, he will say to one inside the house, “Are there any more with you?” Then someone will say, “None.” And he will say, u“Hold your tongue! vFor we dare not mention the name of the LORD.”
11For behold, wthe LORD gives a command:
x He will break the great house into bits,
And the little house into pieces.
12Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there with oxen?
Yet yyou have turned justice into gall,
And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,
13You who rejoice over 3Lo Debar,
Who say, “Have we not taken 4Karnaim for ourselves
By our own strength?”
14“But, behold, zI will raise up a nation against you,
O house of Israel,”
Says the LORD God of hosts;
“And they will afflict you from the aentrance of Hamath
To the Valley of the Arabah.”
Amos 7
Vision of the Locusts
1Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the 1beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king’s mowings.
2And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said:
“O Lord GOD, forgive, I pray!
a Oh,2 that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!”
3So bthe LORD relented concerning this.
“It shall not be,” said the LORD.
Vision of the Fire
4Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, the Lord GOD called 3for conflict by fire, and it consumed the great deep and devoured the 4territory.
5Then I said:
“O Lord GOD, cease, I pray!
c Oh, that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!”
6So the LORD relented concerning this.
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.
Vision of the Plumb Line
7Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand.
8And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said:
“Behold, dI am setting a plumb line
In the midst of My people Israel;
e I will not pass by them anymore.
9f The 5high places of Isaac shall be desolate,
And the 6sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste.
g I will rise with the sword against the house of Jeroboam.”
Amaziah’s Complaint
10Then Amaziah the hpriest of iBethel sent to jJeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to 7bear all his words.
