Every post in Amos, in order. Tap a post for the whole conversation, or the book icon for the verses.
Amos. Sheep farmer from Tekoa. This is what I saw about Israel, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel. Two years before the earthquake.
These are the words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders of Tekoa—what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, in the days when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
The LORD roars from Zion. The shepherds' pastures dry up and the top of Carmel withers.
He said: “The LORD roars from Zion and raises His voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the summit of Carmel withers.”
For three sins of Damascus, even four, the LORD won't hold back. Same for Gaza. Tyre. Edom. Ammon. Moab. For what they did in war to the people around them. And for three sins of Judah, even four. They've thrown away the LORD's law.
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron. This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Gaza, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they exiled a whole population, delivering them up to Edom. This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they delivered up a whole congregation of exiles to Edom and broke a covenant of brotherhood. This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled all compassion; his anger raged continually, and his fury flamed incessantly. This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their territory. This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he burned to lime the bones of Edom’s king. This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they reject the Law of the LORD and fail to keep His statutes; they are led astray by the lies in which their fathers walked.
Replying to @amos.tekoa
And for three sins of Israel, even four. They sell honest people for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals. They walk on the heads of the poor like they're dirt and shove the needy out of the way.
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the earth; they push the needy out of their way. A man and his father have relations with the same girl and so profane My holy name.
Do two people walk together without agreeing where they're going? Does a lion roar in the forest with nothing to hunt? The lion has roared. Who isn't afraid? The Lord GOD has spoken. Who can keep quiet?
Can two walk together without agreeing where to go? Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl in his den if he has caught nothing? The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken—who will not prophesy?
Darling, bring us more to drink.
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring us more to drink.”
Replying to @samaria.terrace
Listen, you cows of Bashan up on the hill of Samaria. You crush the poor, you trample the needy, and you tell your husbands to bring you more drinks. The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness: the days are coming when you'll be dragged off with hooks.
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring us more to drink.” The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
What the LORD has been saying, over and over: I left your towns with nothing to eat. And still you didn't come back to me. I held back the rain three months before harvest. And still you didn't come back to me. Blight and mildew, and locusts ate your figs and olives. And still you didn't come back to me. So get ready to meet your God, Israel.
“I afflicted all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD. “I also withheld the rain from you when the harvest was three months away. I sent rain on one city but withheld it from another. One field received rain; another without rain withered. People staggered from city to city for water to drink, but they were not satisfied; yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD. “I struck you with blight and mildew in your growing gardens and vineyards; the locust devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD. “Therefore, that is what I will do to you, O Israel, and since I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
Seek me and live, the LORD says. Not Bethel. Not Gilgal.
For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live! Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba, for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.
You're all longing for the day of the LORD. Why? It'll be darkness, not light. Like a man running from a lion who runs straight into a bear. Gets home, leans his hand on the wall, and a snake bites him.
Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD be for you? It will be darkness and not light. It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.
Brilliant feast at Bethel this week. Offerings, music, harps, everyone singing.
“Go to Bethel and transgress; rebel even more at Gilgal! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days. Offer leavened bread as a thank offering, and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings. For that is what you children of Israel love to do,” declares the Lord GOD. “I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; for your peace offerings of fattened cattle I will have no regard. Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
The LORD says he hates your feasts. Can't stand your gatherings. Keep your offerings. Take the noise of your songs away from him; he won't listen to your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, and doing right like a stream that never runs dry.
Someone at Bethel@bethel.pilgrimBrilliant feast at Bethel this week. Offerings, music, harps, everyone singing.“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; for your peace offerings of fattened cattle I will have no regard. Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Lying on ivory beds. Lounging on your couches, eating lamb and veal, making up songs on the harp like you're David. Wine by the bowlful, the finest oils. And not one of you grieving over the ruin of your own people.
You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall. You improvise songs on the harp like David and invent your own musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and anoint yourselves with the finest oils, but you fail to grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
The Lord GOD showed me locusts, ready to eat every green thing just as the late crop came up. I said, Lord GOD, please forgive. How can Jacob survive? He's so small. And the LORD changed his mind. It won't happen, he said.
This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up. And when the locusts had eaten every green plant in the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?” So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen,” He said.
Replying to @amos.tekoa
Then fire, eating up the deep and the land. I said it again. Please stop. He's so small. And again he said it won't happen.
This is what the Lord GOD showed me: The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?” So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen either,” said the Lord GOD.
Third vision. The Lord standing by a wall that was built true, with a plumb line in his hand. He asked what I could see. A plumb line, I said. He's setting a plumb line among his people Israel, he said. He won't pass them by any more.
This is what He showed me: Behold, the Lord was standing by a wall true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand. “Amos, what do you see?” asked the LORD. “A plumb line,” I replied. “Behold,” said the Lord, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:
Have written to King Jeroboam. Amos is conspiring against you right here in Israel. The country cannot tolerate what he is saying. He claims Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will be taken into exile.
Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words, for this is what Amos has said: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their homeland.’”
Kindly leave, seer. Go home to Judah. Earn your living there and do your prophesying there. Never again at Bethel. This is the king's sanctuary, the temple of the kingdom.
And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah; earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. But never prophesy at Bethel again, because it is the sanctuary of the king and the temple of the kingdom.”
Replying to @priest.of.bethel
I wasn't a prophet. My dad wasn't a prophet. I'm a herdsman and I look after fig trees. The LORD took me from following the flock and told me to go and prophesy to his people Israel.
“I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’
He showed me a basket of summer fruit. Asked me what I saw. A basket of summer fruit. Then he said, the end has come for my people Israel.
This is what the Lord GOD showed me: I saw a basket of summer fruit. “Amos, what do you see?” He asked. “A basket of summer fruit,” I replied. So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”
Is this new moon festival over yet? I've got grain to sell. And when's the Sabbath done so we can get the wheat out?
asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.
Replying to @grain.samaria
And we know what happens after. Smaller measures, higher prices, crooked scales. Buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. Selling the sweepings along with the wheat. The LORD has sworn he'll never forget any of it.
Hear this, you who trample the needy, who do away with the poor of the land, asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales. Let us buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the chaff with the wheat!” The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget any of their deeds.
The days are coming, the Lord GOD says, when I'll send a famine on the land. Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water. A famine of hearing the words of the LORD. People will stagger from sea to sea looking for it and not find it.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east, seeking the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.
But one day the LORD will raise up David's fallen tent. Patch the holes, rebuild it like it used to be.
“In that day I will restore the fallen tent of David. I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,
Replying to @amos.tekoa
The ploughman will catch up with the reaper, the harvest will be so big. The mountains dripping with new wine. His people back in their land, rebuilding their towns, planting vineyards and drinking the wine. Planted in their own land, never uprooted again.
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, with which all the hills will flow. I will restore My people Israel from captivity; they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will firmly plant them in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land that I have given them,” says the LORD your God.