<p class="poetry">Can horses run on rocky cliffs?p> <p class="poetry">Can one plow the sea with oxen?<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Yet you have turned justice into a poisonous plant,p> <p class="poetry">and the fruit of righteous actions into a bitter plant.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Therefore this is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and your sons and daughters will die violently.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Your land will be given to others<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">and you will die in a foreign<n id="4" /> land.p> <p class="poetry">Israel will certainly be carried into exile<n id="5" /> away from its land.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">So I will set fire to Rabbah&#8217;s<n id="1" /> city wall;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">fire<n id="3" /> will consume her fortresses.p> <p class="poetry">War cries will be heard on the day of battle;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">a strong gale will blow on the day of the windstorm.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The sovereign <sc>Lordsc> showed me this: I saw<n id="1" /> the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> summoning a shower of fire.<n id="2" /> It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I overthrew some of you the way God<n id="1" /> overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">You were like a burning stick<n id="3" /> snatched from the flames.p> <p class="poetry">Still you did not come back to me.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> is speaking!p>

<p class="bodytext">He said, &#8220;What do you see, Amos?&#8221; I replied, &#8220;A basket of summer fruit.&#8221; Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;The end<n id="1" /> has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions<n id="1" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">make that four!<n id="2" /> &#8211; I will not revoke my decree of judgment.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They sold the innocent<n id="4" /> for silver,p> <p class="poetry">the needy for a pair of sandals.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;Look! I am about to bring<n id="1" /> a nation against you, family<n id="2" /> of Israel.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>, the God who commands armies, is speaking.p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;They will oppress<n id="3" /> you all the way from Lebo-Hamath<n id="4" /> to the Stream of the Arabah.&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

As a matter of fact,<n id="1" /> Amos is saying this: &#8216;Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly be carried into exile<n id="2" /> away from its land.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">They trample<n id="1" /> on the dirt-covered heads of the poor;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">they push the destitute away.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">A man and his father go to the same girl;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">in this way they show disrespect<n id="5" /> for my moral purity.<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">As a result they<n id="1" /> will conquer those left in Edom<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and all the nations subject to my rule.&#8221;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc>, who is about to do this, is speaking!p>

<p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Because Gaza<n id="1" /> has committed three crimes<n id="2" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">make that four!<n id="3" /> &#8211; I will not revoke my decree of judgment.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">They deported a whole community<n id="5" /> and sold them<n id="6" /> to Edom.p>

<p class="poetry">I will turn your festivals into funerals,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and all your songs into funeral dirges.p> <p class="poetry">I will make everyone wear funeral clothes<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and cause every head to be shaved bald.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">Do not seek Bethel!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not visit Gilgal!p> <p class="poetry">Do not journey down<n id="2" /> to Beer Sheba!p> <p class="poetry">For the people of Gilgal<n id="3" /> will certainly be carried into exile;<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">People<n id="1" /> will stagger from sea to sea,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">and from the north around to the east.p> <p class="poetry">They will wander about looking for a revelation from<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc>,p> <p class="poetry">but they will not find any.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I killed your young men with the sword,p> <p class="poetry">along with the horses you had captured.p> <p class="poetry">I made the stench from the corpses<n id="2" /> rise up into your nostrils.p> <p class="poetry">Still you did not come back to me.&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> is speaking!p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The following is a record of what Amos prophesied.<n id="1" /> He<n id="2" /> was one of the herdsmen from Tekoa. These prophecies about Israel were revealed to him<n id="3" /> during the time of<n id="4" /> King Uzziah of Judah and<n id="5" /> King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake.<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and exact a grain tax from them,p> <p class="poetry">you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone,p> <p class="poetry">nor will you drink the wine from the fine<n id="2" /> vineyards you planted.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Because Edom has committed three crimes<n id="1" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">make that four!<n id="2" /> &#8211; I will not revoke my decree of judgment.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">He chased his brother<n id="4" /> with a sword;p> <p class="poetry">he wiped out his allies.<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">In his anger he tore them apart without stopping to rest;<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">in his fury he relentlessly attacked them.<n id="7" />p>

<p class="poetry">You say,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;When will the new moon festival<n id="1" /> be over,<n id="2" /> so we can sell grain?p> <p class="poetry">When will the Sabbath end,<n id="3" /> so we can open up the grain bins?<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">We&#8217;re eager<n id="5" /> to sell less for a higher price,<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales!<n id="7" />p>