Amos 2

1 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away [his punishment]: because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into 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 a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, [and] 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 of it, and will slay all its 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 transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away [their punishment]: because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies 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 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces 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 transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away [their punishment]: because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor 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 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in to the [same] maid, 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 lay [themselves] down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink 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 destroyed the Amorite before them, whose hight [was] like the hight of the cedars, and he [was] strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed 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 Also I brought you from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

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 even thus, 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 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and 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 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed [that is] full of sheaves.

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 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:

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 Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and [he that is] swift of foot shall not deliver [himself]: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.

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 [he that is] courageous among the mighty 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.