1 “Woe to those who are oat ease in Zion,
and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria,
the notable men of the first of the nations,
to whom the house of Israel comes!
2 Pass over to Calneh, and see,
and from there go to pHamath the great;
then go down to qGath of the Philistines.
rAre you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory,
3 O syou who put far away the day of disaster
and bring near the seat of violence?
4 “Woe to those who lie on tbeds of ivory
and stretch themselves out on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock
and calves from the midst of the stall,
5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the uharp
and vlike David invent for themselves instruments of music,
6 who wdrink wine in bowls
and anoint themselves with the finest oils,
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!
7 Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into xexile,
and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”
8 The Lord God yhas sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts:
“I abhor the zpride of Jacob
and hate his strongholds,
and I will adeliver up the city and all that is in it.”
9 And if bten men remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And when one’s relative, the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, “Is there still anyone with you?” he shall say, “No”; and he shall say, c“Silence! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”
11 For behold, the Lord commands,
and the dgreat house shall be struck down into fragments,
and the little house into bits.
12 Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there1 with oxen?
But you have turned ejustice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood2—
13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar,3
who say, “Have we not by our own strength
captured Karnaim4 for ourselves?”
14 “For behold, I will raise up against you a nation,
O house of Israel,” declares the Lord, the God of hosts;
“and they shall oppress you ffrom Lebo-hamath
to the Brook of the Arabah.”
1 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, he was forming glocusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,
“O Lord God, please forgive!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
3 The Lord hrelented concerning this:
“It shall not be,” said the Lord.
4 This is what the Lord God showed me: behold, the Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. 5 Then I said,
“O Lord God, please cease!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
6 The Lord relented concerning this:
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.
7 This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a iplumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord said to me, “Amos, jwhat do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“Behold, I am setting a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will never again pass by them;
9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of kJeroboam with the sword.”
10 lThen Amaziah the priest of mBethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos has said,
“‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel must go into nexile
away from his land.’”
12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, 13 but onever again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”
14 Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was5 no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but pI was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. 15 But the Lord took me qfrom following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.
“You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
17 Therefore thus says the Lord:
“‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”
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