Amos 3

¹Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel—against the entire family I rescued from Egypt:

²“From among all the families on the earth,

I have been intimate with you alone.

That is why I must punish you

for all your sins.”

Witnesses against Guilty Israel

³Can two people walk together

without agreeing on the direction?

⁴Does a lion ever roar in a thicket

without first finding a victim?

Does a young lion growl in its den

without first catching its prey?

⁵Does a bird ever get caught in a trap

that has no bait?

Does a trap spring shut

when there’s nothing to catch?

⁶When the ram’s horn blows a warning,

shouldn’t the people be alarmed?

Does disaster come to a city

unless the Lord has planned it?

⁷Indeed, the Sovereign Lord never does anything

until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets.

⁸The lion has roared—

so who isn’t frightened?

The Sovereign Lord has spoken—

so who can refuse to proclaim his message?

⁹Announce this to the leaders of Philistia^a

and to the great ones of Egypt:

“Take your seats now on the hills around Samaria,

and witness the chaos and oppression in Israel.”

¹⁰“My people have forgotten how to do right,”

says the Lord.

“Their fortresses are filled with wealth

taken by theft and violence.

¹¹Therefore,” says the Sovereign Lord,

“an enemy is coming!

He will surround them and shatter their defenses.

Then he will plunder all their fortresses.”

¹²This is what the Lord says:

“A shepherd who tries to rescue a sheep from a lion’s mouth

will recover only two legs or a piece of an ear.

So it will be for the Israelites in Samaria lying on luxurious beds,

and for the people of Damascus reclining on couches.^b

¹³“Now listen to this, and announce it throughout all Israel,^c” says the Lord, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.

¹⁴“On the very day I punish Israel for its sins,

I will destroy the pagan altars at Bethel.

The horns of the altar will be cut off

and fall to the ground.

¹⁵And I will destroy the beautiful homes of the wealthy—

their winter mansions and their summer houses, too—

all their palaces filled with ivory,”

says the Lord.