Amos 2:4-16 ▼

4 Thus says the LORD, |For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not revoke its [punishment], Because they rejected the law of the LORD And have not kept His statutes; Their lies also have led them astray, Those after which their fathers walked.

5 |So I will send fire upon Judah And it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.|

6 Thus says the LORD, |For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke its [punishment], Because they sell the righteous for money And the needy for a pair of sandals.

7 |These who pant after the [very] dust of the earth on the head of the helpless Also turn aside the way of the humble; And a man and his father resort to the same girl In order to profane My holy name.

8 |On garments taken as pledges they stretch out beside every altar, And in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

9 |Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, Though his height [was] like the height of cedars And he [was] strong as the oaks; I even destroyed his fruit above and his root below.

10 |It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, And I led you in the wilderness forty years That you might take possession of the land of the Amorite.

11 |Then I raised up some of your sons to be prophets And some of your young men to be Nazirites. Is this not so, O sons of Israel?| declares the LORD.

12 |But you made the Nazirites drink wine, And you commanded the prophets saying, You shall not prophesy!'

13 |Behold, I am weighted down beneath you As a wagon is weighted down when filled with sheaves.

14 |Flight will perish from the swift, And the stalwart will not strengthen his power, Nor the mighty man save his life.

15 |He who grasps the bow will not stand [his ground], The swift of foot will not escape, Nor will he who rides the horse save his life.

16 |Even the bravest among the warriors will flee naked in that day,| declares the LORD.