Amos 1
1 The words of 'Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he foresaw concerning Israel in the days of 'Uzziyah the king of Judah, and in the days of Jerobo'am the son of Joash the king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
Here is the message that was given to Amos, a shepherd from Tekoa in Judah. This is what he saw concerning Israel when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam, son of Jehoash, was king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
2 And he said, The Lord will cry aloud out of Zion, and from Jerusalem will he send forth his voice; and then shall mourn the pastures of the shepherds, and then shall dry up the top of Carmel.
And he said, The Lord roars from Zion, he shouts from Jerusalem. The shepherds' pastures wither, the top of Mount Carmel dries up.
3 Thus hath said the Lord, For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, will I not turn away their punishment; because they have threshed [the inhabitants of] Gil'ad with threshing instruments of iron;
This is what the Lord says: The people of Damascus have repeatedly sinned and so I will not hesitate to punish them, for they beat the people of Gilead with sharp iron threshing tools.
4 And I will send a fire into the house of Chazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.
So I will send fire down on the house of Hazael and burn up Ben-Hadad's fortresses.
5 And I will break the bars of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the valley of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of 'Eden: and the people of Syria shall be exiled unto Kir, saith the Lord.
I will smash the gates of Damascus, I will cut down those who live in the Valley of Aven, and the ruler from Beth Eden. The people of Aram will be deported as prisoners to the land of Kir, says the Lord.
6 Thus hath said the Lord, For three transgressions of Gazzah, and for four, will I not turn away their punishment; because they carried away exiles in full numbers, to deliver them up to Edom;
This is what the Lord says: The people of Gaza have repeatedly sinned and so I will not hesitate to punish them, for they sent into exile whole communities, handing them over to Edom.
7 And I will send a fire against the wall of Gazzah, which shall devour her palaces;
So I will send down fire on the walls of Gaza and burn up its fortresses.
8 And I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn my hand against 'Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord Eternal.
I will cut down those who live in Ashdod and the ruler of Ashkelon. I will turn to punish Ekron and the Philistines who remain will die, says the Lord God.
9 Thus hath said the Lord, For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, will I not turn away their punishment; because they delivered up the exiles in full numbers to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant;
This is what the Lord says: The people of Tyre have repeatedly sinned and so I will not hesitate to punish them, for they exiled whole communities, handing them over to Edom, and did not keep their agreement to help each other as members of the same family.
10 And I will send a fire against the walls of Tyre, which shall devour her palaces.
So I will send down fire on the walls of Tyre and burn up its fortresses.
11 Thus hath said the Lord, For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, will I not turn away their punishment; because he pursued with the sword his brother, and disregarded his mercy, and his anger tore in pieces continually, and he kept his wrath for ever:
This is what the Lord says: The people of Edom have repeatedly sinned and so I will not hesitate to punish them, for they hunted down the Israelites to whom they were related, killing them with swords. They attacked without mercy, tearing the Israelites to pieces in an angry rage that never stopped.
12 And I will send out a fire against Theman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.
So I will send down fire on Teman, and I will burn up the fortresses of Bozrah.
13 Thus hath said the Lord, For three transgressions of the children of 'Ammon, and for four, will I not turn away their punishment; because they have ripped up the pregnant women of Gil'ad, in order to enlarge their own territory;
This is what the Lord says: The people of Ammon have repeatedly sinned and so I will not hesitate to punish them, because they ripped open pregnant women in Gilead as part of their war to enlarge their territory.
14 And I will kindle a fire within the walls of Rabbah, which shall devour her palaces, with shouting on the day of battle, with a storm on the day of the tempest;
I will set fire to the walls of Rabbah and burn up its fortresses. There will be shouts on the day of battle which will whirl with rage like a windstorm.
15 And their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together, saith the Lord.
Their king will be sent into exile together with his princes, says the Lord.
