< Amos 2 >

1 Thus says the Lord; For three sins of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away from it; because they burnt the bones of the king of Idumea to lime.
This is what the Lord says: The people of Moab have repeatedly sinned and so I will not hesitate to punish them, because they desecrated the bones of the king of Edom by burning them, turning them into lime.
2 But I will send forth a fire on Moab, and it shall devour the foundations of its cities: and Moab shall perish in weakness, with a shout, and with the sound of a trumpet.
So I will send down fire on Moab, and I will burn up the fortresses of Kerioth, and the people of Moab will die in the midst of uproar, battle cries, and the sound of the trumpet.
3 And I will destroy the judge out of her, and kill all her princes with him, says the Lord.
I will cut down their king and all their princes with him, says the Lord.
4 Thus says the Lord; For three sins of the children of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away from him; because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his ordinances, and their vain [idols] which they made, which their fathers followed, caused them to err.
This is what the Lord says: The people of Judah have repeatedly sinned and so I will not hesitate to punish them, because they rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his commands. Their lies have led them astray, the same lies that their forefathers followed.
5 And I will send a fire on Juda, and it shall devour the foundations of Jerusalem.
So I will send down fire on Judah, and I will burn up the fortresses of Jerusalem.
6 Thus says the Lord; for three sins of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away from him; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for sandals,
This is what the Lord says: The people of Israel have repeatedly sinned and so I will not hesitate to punish them, because they sell good people for silver, and poor people for a pair of sandals.
7 wherewith to tread on the dust of the earth, and they have struck upon the heads of the poor, and have perverted the way of the lowly: and a son and his father have gone into the same maid, that they might profane the name of their God.
They trample the heads of the poor into the dust, and push the needy out of the way. A man and his father have sex with the same servant girl so that my holy name is profaned.
8 And binding their clothes with cords they have made them curtains near the altar, and they have drunk wine gained by extortion in the house of their God.
At every altar they stretch themselves out in clothes taken from debtors as collateral, in the temple of their god they drink wine taken from the people they fined.
9 Nevertheless I cut off the Amorite from before them, whose height was as the height of a cedar, and he was strong as an oak; and I dried up his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
Yet it was I was the one who destroyed the Amorites before you, even though they were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks. I destroyed them root and branch.
10 And I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you about in the desert forty years, that you should inherit the land of the Amorites.
It was I who brought you out of the land of Egypt and led you through the desert for forty years so that you could take the Amorites' land.
11 And I took of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for consecration. Are not these things so, you sons of Israel? says the Lord.
I appointed some of your sons to be prophets, and some of your young men to be Nazirites. Isn't this true, people of Israel?
12 But you gave the consecrated ones wine to drink; and you commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
But you made the Nazirites sin by drinking wine, and you told the prophets, “Don't tell us what God says.”
13 Therefore, behold, I roll under you, as a waggon full of straw is rolled.
Now see what I am going to do. I will crush you where you are, as if crushed by a heavy cart loaded down with sheaves of grain.
14 And flight shall perish from the runner, and the strong shall not hold fast his strength, and the warrior shall not save his life:
Not even your fastest runners will escape; strong men will lose their strength. Even the greatest warrior will not be able to save his life.
15 and the archer shall not withstand, and he that is swift of foot shall in no wise escape; and the horseman shall not save his life.
The archer will not stand his ground. The quickest on his feet will not be able to get away, and even those on horseback will not save themselves.
16 And the strong shall find no confidence in power: the naked shall flee away in that day, says the Lord.
On that day even the bravest of the mighty warriors will run away naked, says the Lord.

< Amos 2 >