Amos 6; Amos 7; Amos 8; Amos 9

1 How terrible it will be for you that have such an easy life in Zion and for you that feel safe in Samaria - you great leaders of this great nation Israel, you to whom the people go for help!

2 Go and look at the city of Calneh. Then go on to the great city of Hamath and on down to the Philistine city of Gath. Were they any better than the kingdoms of Judah and Israel? Was their territory larger than yours?

3 You refuse to admit that a day of disaster is coming, but what you do only brings that day closer.

4 How terrible it will be for you that stretch out on your luxurious couches, feasting on veal and lamb!

5 You like to compose songs, as David did, and play them on harps.

6 You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest perfumes, but you do not mourn over the ruin of Israel.

7 So you will be the first to go into exile. Your feasts and banquets will come to an end.

8 The Sovereign Lord Almighty has given this solemn warning: "I hate the pride of the people of Israel; I despise their luxurious mansions. I will give their capital city and everything in it to the enemy."

9 If there are ten men left in a family, they will die.

10 The dead man's relative, the one in charge of the funeral, will take the body out of the house. The relative will call to whoever is still left in the house, "Is anyone else there with you?" The person will answer, "No!" Then the relative will say, "Be quiet! We must be careful not even to mention the Lord's name."

11 When the Lord gives the command, houses large and small will be smashed to pieces.

12 Do horses gallop on rocks? Does anyone plow the sea with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison, and right into wrong.

13 You brag about capturing the town of Lodebar. You boast, "We were strong enough to take Karnaim."

14 The Lord God Almighty himself says, "People of Israel, I am going to send a foreign army to occupy your country. It will oppress you from Hamath Pass in the north to the Brook of the Arabah in the south."

1 I had a vision from the Sovereign Lord. In it I saw him create a swarm of locusts just after the king's share of the hay had been cut and the grass was starting to grow again.

2 In my vision I saw the locusts eat up every green thing in the land, and then I said, "Sovereign Lord, forgive your people! How can they survive? They are so small and weak!"

3 The Lord changed his mind and said, "What you saw will not take place."

4 I had another vision from the Sovereign Lord. In it I saw him preparing to punish his people with fire. The fire burned up the great ocean under the earth and started to burn up the land.

5 Then I said, "Stop, O Sovereign Lord! How can your people survive? They are so small and weak!"

6 The Lord changed his mind again and said, "This will not take place either."

7 I had another vision from the Lord. In it I saw him standing beside a wall that had been built with the use of a plumb line, and there was a plumb line in his hand.

8 He asked me, "Amos, what do you see?" "A plumb line," I answered. Then he said, "I am using it to show that my people are like a wall that is out of line. I will not change my mind again about punishing them.

9 The places where Isaac's descendants worship will be destroyed. The holy places of Israel will be left in ruins. I will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to an end."

10 Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, then sent a report to King Jeroboam of Israel: "Amos is plotting against you among the people. His speeches will destroy the country.

11 This is what he says: "Jeroboam will die in battle, and the people of Israel will be taken away from their land into exile.' "

12 Amaziah then said to Amos, "That's enough, prophet! Go on back to Judah and do your preaching there. Let [them ]pay you for it.

13 Don't prophesy here at Bethel any more. This is the king's place of worship, the national temple."

14 Amos answered, "I am not the kind of prophet who prophesies for pay. I am a herdsman, and I take care of fig trees.

15 But the Lord took me from my work as a shepherd and ordered me to come and prophesy to his people Israel.

16 So now listen to what the Lord says. You tell me to stop prophesying, to stop raving against the people of Israel.

17 And so, Amaziah, the Lord says to you, "Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your children will be killed in war. Your land will be divided up and given to others, and you yourself will die in a heathen country. And the people of Israel will certainly be taken away from their own land into exile.' "

1 I had another vision from the Sovereign Lord. In it I saw a basket of fruit.

2 The Lord asked, "Amos, what do you see?" "A basket of fruit," I answered. The Lord said to me, "The end has come for my people Israel. I will not change my mind again about punishing them.

3 On that day the songs in the palace will become cries of mourning. There will be dead bodies everywhere. They will be cast out in silence."

4 Listen to this, you that trample on the needy and try to destroy the poor of the country.

5 You say to yourselves, "We can hardly wait for the holy days to be over so that we can sell our grain. When will the Sabbath end, so that we can start selling again? Then we can overcharge, use false measures, and fix the scales to cheat our customers.

6 We can sell worthless wheat at a high price. We'll find someone poor who can't pay his debts, not even the price of a pair of sandals, and we'll buy him as a slave."

7 The Lord, the God of Israel, has sworn, "I will never forget their evil deeds.

8 And so the earth will quake, and everyone in the land will be in distress. The whole country will be shaken; it will rise and fall like the Nile River.

9 The time is coming when I will make the sun go down at noon and the earth grow dark in daytime. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

10 I will turn your festivals into funerals and change your glad songs into cries of grief. I will make you shave your heads and wear sackcloth, and you will be like parents mourning for their only child. That day will be bitter to the end.

11 "The time is coming when I will send famine on the land. People will be hungry, but not for bread; they will be thirsty, but not for water. They will hunger and thirst for a message from the Lord. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

12 People will wander from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean and then on around from the north to the east. They will look everywhere for a message from the Lord, but they will not find it.

13 On that day even healthy young men and women will collapse from thirst.

14 Those who swear by the idols of Samaria, who say, "By the god of Dan' or "By the god of Beersheba' - those people will fall and not rise again."

1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar. He gave the command: "Strike the tops of the Temple columns so hard that the foundation will shake. Break them off and let them fall on the heads of the people. I will kill the rest of the people in war. No one will get away; not one will escape.

2 Even if they dig their way down to the world of the dead, I will catch them. Even if they climb up to heaven, I will bring them down.

3 If they hide on the top of Mount Carmel, I will search for them and catch them. If they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, I will command the sea monster to bite them.

4 If they are taken away into captivity by their enemies, I will order them to be put to death. I am determined to destroy them, not to help them."

5 The Sovereign Lord Almighty touches the earth, and it quakes; all who live there mourn. The whole world rises and falls like the Nile River.

6 The Lord builds his home in the heavens, and over the earth he puts the dome of the sky. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the earth. His name is the Lord!

7 The Lord says, "People of Israel, I think as much of the people of Ethiopia as I do of you. I brought the Philistines from Crete and the Syrians from Kir, just as I brought you from Egypt.

8 I, the Sovereign Lord, am watching this sinful kingdom of Israel, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will not destroy all the descendants of Jacob.

9 "I will give the command and shake the people of Israel like grain in a sieve. I will shake them among the nations to remove all who are worthless.

10 The sinners among my people will be killed in war - all those who say, "God will not let any harm come near us.' "

11 The Lord says, "A day is coming when I will restore the kingdom of David, which is like a house fallen into ruins. I will repair its walls and restore it. I will rebuild it and make it as it was long ago.

12 And so the people of Israel will conquer what is left of the land of Edom and all the nations that were once mine," says the Lord, who will cause this to happen.

13 "The days are coming," says the Lord, "when grain will grow faster than it can be harvested, and grapes will grow faster than the wine can be made. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with it.

14 I will bring my people back to their land. They will rebuild their ruined cities and live there; they will plant vineyards and drink the wine; they will plant gardens and eat what they grow.

15 I will plant my people on the land I gave them, and they will not be pulled up again." The Lord your God has spoken.