I will break the bar ¹  on the gate of Damascus. I will remove ²  the ruler ³  from Wicked Valley, ⁴  the one who holds the royal scepter from Beth Eden. ⁵  The people of Aram will be deported to Kir.” ⁶  The Lord has spoken!

I brought you up from the land of Egypt; I led you through the wilderness for forty years so you could take the Amorites’ land as your own.

The women singing in the temple ¹  will wail in that day.” The sovereign Lord is speaking. “There will be many corpses littered everywhere! ²  Be quiet!”

We’re eager to trade silver for the poor, ¹  a pair of sandals ²  for the needy! We want to mix in some chaff with the grain!” ³ 

The Lord says this to the family ¹  of Israel: “Seek me ²  so you can live!

He flashes ¹  destruction down upon the strong so that destruction overwhelms ²  the fortified places.)

Certainly the sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

(But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion; he can turn the darkness into morning and daylight ¹  into night. He summons the water of the seas and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name!

“But you made the Nazirites drink wine; ¹  you commanded the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy!’

The Lord decided not to do this. ¹  The sovereign Lord said, “This will not happen either.”

All the sinners among my people will die by the sword – the ones who say, ‘Disaster will not come near, it will not confront us.’

The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ¹  him making locusts just as the crops planted late ²  were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest. ³ )

The Israelites ¹  hate anyone who arbitrates at the city gate; ²  they despise anyone who speaks honestly.

Listen, you Israelites, to this message which the Lord is proclaiming against ¹  you! This message is for the entire clan I brought up ²  from the land of Egypt:

They lie around on beds decorated with ivory, ¹  and sprawl out on their couches. They eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the middle of the pen.

Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls; ¹  you will be thrown out ²  toward Harmon.” ³  The Lord is speaking!

Amaziah the priest of Bethel ¹  sent this message ²  to King Jeroboam of Israel: “Amos is conspiring against you in the very heart of the kingdom of Israel! ³  The land cannot endure all his prophecies. ⁴ 

The Lord confirms this oath ¹  by the arrogance of Jacob: ²  “I swear ³  I will never forget all you have done! ⁴ 

The Israelites ¹  turn justice into bitterness; ²  they throw what is fair and right ³  to the ground. ⁴ 

Hate what is wrong, love what is right! Promote ¹  justice at the city gate! ²  Maybe the Lord, the God who commands armies, will have mercy on ³  those who are left from ⁴  Joseph. ⁵