Amo 2, Amo 8 | ESV | STEP | Thus says the Lord : For three transgressions of Moab , and for four , I will not revoke the punishment , because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom .

1 Thus says the Lord:

^a“For three transgressions of ^bMoab,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, ^{▼▼Hebrew I will not turn it back; also verses 4, 6}
because ^dhe burned to lime
the bones of the king of Edom.
2 So I will send a fire upon Moab,
and it shall devour the strongholds of ^eKerioth,
and Moab shall die amid uproar,
amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;
3 ^fI will cut off the ruler from its midst,
and will kill ^gall its princes ^{▼▼Or officials} with him,”

says the Lord.

Judgment on Judah

4 Thus says the Lord:

ⁱ“For three transgressions of Judah,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because ^jthey have rejected the law of the Lord,
and have not kept his statutes,
but ^ktheir lies have led them astray,
those after which their fathers walked.
5 So ^lI will send a fire upon Judah,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”

Judgment on Israel

6 Thus says the Lord:

^m“For three transgressions of Israel,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because ⁿthey sell the righteous for ^osilver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals—
7 those who trample the head of the poor ^pinto the dust of the earth
and ^qturn aside the way of the afflicted;
^ra man and his father go in to the same girl,
so that my holy name is profaned;
8 they lay themselves down beside every altar
on garments ^staken in pledge,
and in the house of their God they drink
the wine of those who have been fined.
9 “Yet ^tit was I who destroyed the Amorite before them,
^uwhose height was like the height of the cedars
and who was as strong as the oaks;
^vI destroyed his fruit above
and his roots beneath.
10 ^wAlso it was I who brought you up out of the land of Egypt
^xand led you forty years in the wilderness,
^yto possess the land of the Amorite.
11 And I raised up some of your sons for prophets,
and some of your young men for ^zNazirites.
Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?”

declares the Lord.
12 “But you made the Nazirites ^aadrink wine,
and commanded the prophets,
saying, ^ab‘You shall not prophesy.’
13 “Behold, I will press you down in your place,
as a cart full of sheaves presses down.
14 ^acFlight shall perish from the swift,
^adand the strong shall not retain his strength,
^aenor shall the mighty save his life;
15 he who handles the bow shall not stand,
and he who is ^afswift of foot shall not save himself,
^agnor shall he who rides the horse save his life;
16 and he who is stout of heart among the mighty
shall flee away naked in that day,”

declares the Lord.

Amos 8

The Coming Day of Bitter Mourning

1 ^ahThis is what the Lord God showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, ^ai“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, ^aj“A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,

^ak“The end ^{▼▼The Hebrew words for end and summer fruit sound alike} has come upon my people Israel;
I will never again pass by them.
3 ^amThe songs of the temple ^{▼▼Or palace} ^aoshall become wailings ^{▼▼Or The singing women of the palace shall wail} in that day,”

declares the Lord God.
^aq“So many dead bodies!”
“They are thrown everywhere!”
^ar“Silence!”
4 Hear this, ^asyou who trample on the needy
and bring the poor of the land to an end,
5 saying, “When will ^atthe new moon be over,
that we may sell grain?
And ^authe Sabbath,
that we may offer wheat for sale,
that we may make ^avthe ephah small and the shekel ^{▼▼An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters; a shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams} great
and deal deceitfully with false balances,
6 that we may buy the poor for ^axsilver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and sell the chaff of the wheat?”
7 The Lord has sworn by ^aythe pride of Jacob:
“Surely ^azI will never forget any of their deeds.
8 ^baShall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who dwells in it,
^bband all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about ^bcand sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”
9 “And on that day,” declares the Lord God,
^bd“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 ^beI will turn your feasts into mourning
and all your songs into lamentation;
^bfI will bring sackcloth on every waist
^bgand baldness on every head;
^bhI will make it like the mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
“when ^biI will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
^bjbut of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 ^bkThey shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,
^blbut they shall not find it.
13 ^bm“In that day the lovely virgins and the young men
shall ^bnfaint for thirst.
14 Those who swear by ^bothe Guilt of Samaria,
and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’
and, ‘As ^bpthe Way of ^bqBeersheba lives,’
they shall fall, and never rise again.”