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.

The Lord says: For Moab’s three crimes – no, four! – I will not rescind my judgment. They have burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom,

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:

to desecrate the dead. So I will send a fire into Moab. It will devour the palaces of Kirioth, with a war-cry, with the sound of trumpets.

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 kill the ruler, all his nobles I will slay 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.

The Lord says: For Judah’s three crimes – no, four! – I will not rescind my judgment. They have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his statutes. Instead their false gods their ancestors followed, have led them astray.

5 And I will send a fire into Juda, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem.

So I will send a fire on Judah. It will devour the palaces 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.

The Lord says: For Israel’s three crimes – no, four! – I will not rescind my judgment. They sell the righteous for money, the needy for a pair of shoes.

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 on the head of the poor, push the humble out of the way. Father and son go to the same temple girl, and so profane my holy name.

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.

They stretch themselves on garments taken in pledges beside every altar, and they drink the wine of those who have been fined in the house of their God.

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.

It was I who destroyed the Amorites for your sake, whose height was like that of the cedars, as strong as oaks. I destroyed their fruit from above and their roots from below.

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 up from the land of Egypt, led you forty years in the wilderness, brought you here to possess the land of the Amorites.

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 raised up some of your sons to be prophets some of your youths to be Nazirites. Is not this indeed so, Israelites? says the Lord.

12 And you will present wine to the Nazarites: and command the prophets, saying: Prophesy not.

But you made the Nazirites drink wine and banned the prophets from prophesying.

13 Behold, I will screak under you as a wain screaketh that is laden with hay.

Listen! It is I who will make you groan in your places, as a wagon groans under its load 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.

Then flight will fail the swift, and the strength of the strongest will be useless. The warrior will not 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 firm, the swift of foot will not escape, the horseman will not save his life.

16 And the stout of heart among the valiant shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord.

The bravest of warriors will flee away naked in that day, says the Lord.