Amos 3

Witnesses Summoned Against Israel

¹Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the Lord has spoken against you—against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt:

²“You only have I chosen

of all the families of the earth;

therefore I will punish you

for all your sins.”

³Do two walk together

unless they have agreed to do so?

⁴Does a lion roar in the thicket

when it has no prey?

Does it growl in its den

when it has caught nothing?

⁵Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground

when no bait is there?

Does a trap spring up from the ground

if it has not caught anything?

⁶When a trumpet sounds in a city,

do not the people tremble?

When disaster comes to a city,

has not the Lord caused it?

⁷Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing

without revealing his plan

to his servants the prophets.

⁸The lion has roared—

who will not fear?

The Sovereign Lord has spoken—

who can but prophesy?

⁹Proclaim to the fortresses of Ashdod

and to the fortresses of Egypt:

“Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria;

see the great unrest within her

and the oppression among her people.”

¹⁰“They do not know how to do right,” declares the Lord,

“who store up in their fortresses

what they have plundered and looted.”

¹¹Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“An enemy will overrun your land,

pull down your strongholds

and plunder your fortresses.”

¹²This is what the Lord says:

“As a shepherd rescues from the lion’s mouth

only two leg bones or a piece of an ear,

so will the Israelites living in Samaria be rescued,

with only the head of a bed

and a piece of fabric from a couch.”

¹³“Hear this and testify against the descendants of Jacob,” declares the Lord, the Lord God Almighty.

¹⁴“On the day I punish Israel for her sins,

I will destroy the altars of Bethel;

the horns of the altar will be cut off

and fall to the ground.

¹⁵I will tear down the winter house

along with the summer house;

the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed

and the mansions will be demolished,”

declares the Lord.