Amos, chapter 3

People of Israel, I rescued you from Egypt.

Now listen to my judgment against you.

²Of all nations on earth,

you are the only one I have chosen.

That's why I will punish you because of your sinsI.

The Work of a Prophet

³Can two people walk together without agreeing to meet?

⁴Does a lion roar in the forest unless it has caught a victim?

Does it growl in its den unless it is eating?

⁵How can anyone catch a bird without using a net?

Does a trap spring shut unless something is caught?

⁶Isn't the whole city frightened

when the trumpet signals an attack?

Isn't the Lord the one who brings disaster on a city?

⁷Whatever the Lord God plans to do,

he tells his servants, the prophets.

⁸Everyone is terrified when a lion roarsI—

and ordinary people become prophets

when the Lord God speaks.

Samaria Is Doomed

⁹Here is a message for the leaders of Philistia* and Egypt—

tell everyone to come together on the hills of SamariaG.

Let them see the injustice and the lawlessness in that city.

¹⁰The Lord has said that they don't even know how

to do right.

They have become rich from violence and robbery.

¹¹And so the Lord God has sworn

that they will be surrounded.

Enemies will break through their defenses

and steal their treasuresH.

¹²The Lord has promised that only a few from Samaria

will escape with their lives

and with some broken pieces of their beds and couches.*

It will be like when a shepherd rescuesH two leg bones

and part of a sheep's ear from the jaws of a lion.

The Altars at Bethel

¹³The Lord God All-PowerfulI told me to speak this message

against Jacob's descendantsP:

¹⁴When I, the Lord, punish Israel for their sins,

I will destroy the altars at Bethel.

Even the corners of the altar will be left in the dirt.

¹⁵I will tear down winter homes and summer homes.

Houses decorated with ivory and all other mansionsH

will be gone forever.

I, the Lord, have spoken!