Amos 3

Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

1  a Hear this word that the  Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:

2  b “You only have I known
of all the families of the earth;
c therefore I will punish you
for all your iniquities.
 3  “Do two walk together,
unless they have agreed to meet?
 4 Does a lion roar in the forest,
when he has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out from his den,
if he has taken nothing?
 5 Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth,
when there is no trap for it?
Does a snare spring up from the ground,
when it has taken nothing?
 6  d Is a trumpet blown in a city,
and the people are not afraid?
e Does disaster come to a city,
unless the  Lord has done it?
 7  “For the Lord  God does nothing
f without revealing his secret
to his servants the prophets.
 8 The lion has roared;
who will not fear?
g The Lord  God has spoken;
who can but prophesy?”
 9  Proclaim to the strongholds in h Ashdod
and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt,
and say, “Assemble yourselves on i the mountains of Samaria,
and see the great tumults within her,
and j the oppressed in her midst.”
 10 “They do not know how to do right,” declares the  Lord,
k “those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.”

11 Therefore thus says the Lord  God:

l “An adversary shall surround the land
and bring down ▼
▼ Hebrew  An adversary, one who surrounds the land—he shall bring down
 your defenses from you,
and n your strongholds shall be plundered.”

12 Thus says the  Lord: o “As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear p so shall the people of Israel q who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part ▼
▼ The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
 of a bed.

13  “Hear, s and testify against the house of Jacob,”
declares the Lord  God, t the God of hosts,
 14 “that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions,
u I will punish the altars of Bethel,
and v the horns of the altar shall be cut off
and fall to the ground.
 15  w I will strike x the winter house along with y the summer house,
and z the houses of ivory shall perish,
and the great houses ▼
▼ Or  and many houses
 shall come to an end,”

declares the  Lord.
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