Amos

Thus said GOD:For three transgressions of Moab,For four, I will not revoke the decree:athe decree See note at 1.3. Because he burned the bonesOf the king of Edom to lime.

I will send down fire upon Moab,And it shall devour the fortresses of Kerioth.And Moab shall die in tumult,Amid shouting and the blare of horns;

I will wipe out the ruler from within herAnd slay all her officials along with him—said GOD.

Thus said GOD:For three transgressions of Judah,For four, I will not revoke the decree:bthe decree See note at 1.3. Because they have spurned the Teaching of GOD And have not observed divine laws;They are beguiled by the delusionsAfter which their ancestors walked.

I will send down fire upon Judah,And it shall devour the fortresses of Jerusalem.

Thus said GOD:For three transgressions of Israel,For four, I will not revoke the decree:cthe decree See note at 1.3. Because they have sold for silverThose whose cause was just,And the needy for a pair of sandals.

[Ah,] you who trample the heads of the poorInto the dust of the ground,And make the humble walk a twisted course!dwho trample the heads of the poor / Into the dust of the ground, / And make the humble walk a twisted course! Understanding shoʼaphim as equivalent to shaphim. Emendation yields: “Who crush on the ground / The heads of the poor, / And push off the road / The humble of the land”; cf. Job 24.4. Father and son go to the same woman,And thereby profane My holy name.

They recline by every altarOn garments taken in pledge,And drink in the House of their GodWine bought with fines they imposed.

Yet IDestroyed the Amorite before them,Whose stature was like the cedar’sAnd who was stout as the oak,Destroying his boughs aboveAnd his trunk below!

And IBrought you up from the land of EgyptAnd led you through the wilderness forty years,To possess the land of the Amorite!

And I raised up prophets from among your sonsAnd nazirites from among your young men.Is that not so, O people of Israel?—says GOD.

But you made the nazirites drink wineAnd ordered the prophets not to prophesy.

eMeaning of verse uncertain; alternatively: “I will slow your movements / As a threshing sledge (cf. Isa. 28.27–28) is slowed / When clogged by cut grain.” Ah, I will slow your movementsAs a wagon is slowedWhen it is full of cut grain.

Flight shall fail the swift,The strong shall find no strength,And the warrior shall not save his life.

The archer shall not hold his ground,And the fleet-footed shall not escape,Nor the horseman save his life.

Even the most stouthearted warriorShall run away unarmedfunarmed Lit. “naked.” that day—declares GOD.