Amos 2

1 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Moab, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath burnt the bones of the king of Edom even to ashes.

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 And I will seed a fire into Moab, and it shall devour the houses of Carioth: and Moab shall die with a noise, with the sound of the 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 cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all his princes with him, saith the Lord.

I will cut down their king and all their princes with him, says the Lord.

4 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Juda, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath cast away the law of the Lord, and hath not kept his commandments: for their idols have caused them to err, after which their fathers have walked.

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 into Juda, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem.

So I will send down fire on Judah, and I will burn up the fortresses of Jerusalem.

6 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Israel, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath sold the just man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of shoes.

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 They bruise the heads of the poor upon the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the humble: and the son and his father have gone to the same young woman, to profane my holy name.

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 they sat down upon garments laid to pledge by every altar: and drank the wine of the condemned 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 Yet I cast out the Amorrhite before their face: whose height was like the height of cedars, and who was strong as an oak: and I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots 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 It is I that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and I led you forty years through the wilderness, that you might possess the land of the Amorrhite.

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 raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not so, O ye children of Israel, saith 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 And you will present wine to the Nazarites: and command 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 Behold, I will screak under you as a wain screaketh that is laden with hay.

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 swift, and the valiant shall not possess his strength, neither shall the strong 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 he that holdeth the bow shall not stand, and the swift of foot shall not escape, neither shall the rider of the horse 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 stout of heart among the valiant shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord.

On that day even the bravest of the mighty warriors will run away naked, says the Lord.