Amos 2

The Message

2 ^1-3God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Moab
    —make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She violated the corpse of Edom’s king,
    burning it to cinders.
For that, I’m burning down Moab,
    burning down the forts of Kerioth.
Moab will die in the shouting,
    go out in the blare of war trumpets.
I’ll remove the king from the center
    and kill all his princes with him.”
        God’s Decree.

^4-5God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Judah
    —make that four—I’m not putting up with them any longer.
They rejected God’s revelation,
    refused to keep my commands.
But they swallowed the same old lies
    that got their ancestors onto dead-end roads.
For that, I’m burning down Judah,
    burning down all the forts of Jerusalem.”

Destroyed from the Roots Up

^6-8God’s Message:

“Because of the three great sins of Israel
    —make that four—I’m not putting up with them any longer.
They buy and sell upstanding people.
    People for them are only things—ways of making money.
They’d sell a poor man for a pair of shoes.
    They’d sell their own grandmother!
They grind the penniless into the dirt,
    shove the luckless into the ditch.
Everyone and his brother sleeps with the ‘sacred whore’—
    a sacrilege against my Holy Name.
Stuff they’ve extorted from the poor
    is piled up at the shrine of their god,
While they sit around drinking wine
    they’ve conned from their victims.

^9-11“In contrast, I was always on your side.
    I destroyed the Amorites who confronted you,
Amorites with the stature of great cedars,
    tough as thick oaks.
I destroyed them from the top branches down.
    I destroyed them from the roots up.
And yes, I’m the One who delivered you from Egypt,
    led you safely through the wilderness for forty years
And then handed you the country of the Amorites
    like a piece of cake on a platter.
I raised up some of your young men to be prophets,
    set aside your best youth for training in holiness.
Isn’t this so, Israel?”
    God’s Decree.

^12-13“But you made the youth-in-training break training,
    and you told the young prophets, ‘Don’t prophesy!’
You’re too much for me.
    I’m hard-pressed—to the breaking point.
I’m like a wagon piled high and overloaded,
    creaking and groaning.

^14-16“When I go into action, what will you do?
    There’s no place to run no matter how fast you run.
The strength of the strong won’t count.
    Fighters won’t make it.
Skilled archers won’t make it.
    Fast runners won’t make it.
Chariot drivers won’t make it.
    Even the bravest of all your warriors
Won’t make it.
    He’ll run off for dear life, stripped naked.”
        God’s Decree.

Amos 2

Holman Christian Standard Bible

2 The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Moab^(A)
for three crimes, even four,
because he burned the bones
of the king of Edom to lime.^(B)
²Therefore, I will send fire against Moab,
and it will consume the citadels of Kerioth.^(C)
Moab will die with a tumult,^(D)
with shouting and the sound of the ram’s horn.
³I will cut off the judge^(E) from the land
and kill all its officials^(F) with him.
The Lord has spoken.

Judgment on Judah

⁴The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Judah^(G)
for three crimes, even four,
because they have rejected the instruction of the Lord^(H)
and have not kept His statutes.^(I)
The lies^(J) that their ancestors followed^(K)
have led them astray.
⁵Therefore, I will send fire^(L) against Judah,
and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.

Judgment on Israel

⁶The Lord says:

I will not relent from punishing Israel^(M)
for three crimes, even four,
because they sell a righteous person for silver
and a needy person for a pair of sandals.^(N)
⁷They trample the heads of the poor^(O)
on the dust of the ground
and block the path of the needy.^(P)
A man and his father have sexual relations
with the same girl,^(Q)
profaning My holy name.^(R)
⁸They stretch out beside every altar^(S)
on garments taken as collateral,^(T)
and in the house of their God,
they drink wine obtained through fines.^(U)

⁹Yet I destroyed the Amorite^(V) as Israel advanced;
his height^(W) was like the cedars,
and he was as sturdy as the oaks;
I destroyed his fruit^(X) above and his roots beneath.
¹⁰And I brought you from the land of Egypt^(Y)
and led you 40 years in the wilderness^(Z)
in order to possess the land of the Amorite.^(AA)
¹¹I raised up some of your sons as prophets^(AB)
and some of your young men as Nazirites.^(AC)
Is this not the case, Israelites?
This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹²But you made the Nazirites drink wine
and commanded the prophets,
“Do not prophesy.”^(AD)
¹³Look, I am about to crush^[a] you in your place^(AE)
as a wagon full of sheaves crushes grain.
¹⁴Escape will fail the swift,^(AF)
the strong one will not prevail by his strength,^(AG)
and the brave will not save his life.
¹⁵The archer will not stand his ground,^(AH)
the one who is swift of foot
will not save himself,
and the one riding a horse will not save his life.^(AI)
¹⁶Even the most courageous of the warriors
will flee naked on that day^(AJ)—
this is the Lord’s declaration.

Footnotes

Amos 2:13 Or hinder; Hb obscure

The Message (MSG)

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Amos 2 The Message