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Chapter 6
Woe to the Complacent
1Woe to you who are complacent in Zion,
and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
you notable men of the foremost nation,
to whom the people of Israel come!
2Go to Calneh and look at it;
go from there to great Hamath,
and then go down to Gath in Philistia.
Are they better off than your two kingdoms?
Is their land larger than yours?
3You put off the evil day
and bring near a reign of terror.
4You lie on beds inlaid with ivory
and lounge on your couches.
You dine on choice lambs
and fattened calves.
5You strum away on your harps like David
and improvise on musical instruments.
6You drink wine by the bowlful
and use the finest lotions,
but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
7Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile;
your feasting and lounging will end.
The LORD Abhors the Pride of Israel
8The Sovereign LORD has sworn by himself—the LORD God Almighty declares:
“I abhor the pride of Jacob
and detest his fortresses;
I will deliver up the city
and everything in it.”
9If ten men are left in one house, they too will die.
10And if a relative who is to burn the bodies comes to carry them out of the house and asks anyone still hiding there, “Is anyone with you?” and he says, “No,” then he will say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the LORD.”
11For the LORD has given the command,
and he will smash the great house into pieces
and the small house into bits.
12Do horses run on the rocky crags?
Does one plow there with oxen?
But you have turned justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness—
13you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo DebarLo Debar means nothing.
and say, “Did we not take KarnaimKarnaim means horns; horn here symbolizes strength. by our own strength?”
14For the LORD God Almighty declares,
“I will stir up a nation against you, O house of Israel,
that will oppress you all the way
from LeboOr from the entrance to Hamath to the valley of the Arabah.”
Chapter 7
Locusts, Fire and a Plumb Line
1This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king's share had been harvested and just as the second crop was coming up.
2When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, “Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”
3So the LORD relented.
“This will not happen,” the LORD said.
4This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land.
5Then I cried out, “Sovereign LORD, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”
6So the LORD relented.
“This will not happen either,” the Sovereign LORD said.
7This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand.
8And the LORD asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”
“A plumb line,” I replied.
Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
9“The high places of Isaac will be destroyed
and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined;
with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.”
Amos and Amaziah
10Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words.
11For this is what Amos is saying:
“‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,
and Israel will surely go into exile,
away from their native land.’”
12Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.
13Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”
14Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.
15But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
16Now then, hear the word of the LORD. You say,
“‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and stop preaching against the house of Isaac.’
17“Therefore this is what the LORD says:
“‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.
Your land will be measured and divided up,
and you yourself will die in a paganHebrew an unclean country.
And Israel will certainly go into exile,
away from their native land.’”
Chapter 8
A Basket of Ripe Fruit
1This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.
2“What do you see, Amos?” he asked.
“A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered.
Then the LORD said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
3“In that day,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing.Or “the temple singers will wail Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!”
4Hear this, you who trample the needy
and do away with the poor of the land,
5saying,
“When will the New Moon be over
that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
that we may market wheat?”—
skimping the measure,
boosting the price
and cheating with dishonest scales,
6buying the poor with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
7The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.
8“Will not the land tremble for this,
and all who live in it mourn?
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
it will be stirred up and then sink
like the river of Egypt.
9“In that day,” declares the Sovereign LORD,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10I will turn your religious feasts into mourning
and all your singing into weeping.
I will make all of you wear sackcloth
and shave your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.
11“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD,
“when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
12Men will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the LORD,
but they will not find it.
13“In that day
“the lovely young women and strong young men
will faint because of thirst.
14They who swear by the shameOr by Ashima; or by the idol of Samaria,
or say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’
or, ‘As surely as the godOr power of Beersheba lives’—
they will fall,
never to rise again.”

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