Amos 2

1 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.

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 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.

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

I will kill the ruler, all his nobles I will slay with him, says the Lord.

4 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.

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

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

6 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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?

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 But you made the Nazirites sin by drinking wine, and you told the prophets, “Don't tell us what God says.”

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

13 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.

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

14 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.

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

15 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.

the archer will not stand firm, the swift of foot will not escape, the horseman will not save his life.

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

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