Amos 1-3 - Nothing Without Revealing

From today's Bible reading:

Amos 1:

The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

(Amos, the shepherd, saw words.)

And he said:

The LORD roars from Zion
and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds mourn,
and the top of Carmel withers.

Thus says the LORD:

For three transgressions of Damascus,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they have threshed Gilead
with threshing sledges of iron.

So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.

Thus says the LORD:

For three transgressions of Gaza,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they carried into exile a whole people
to deliver them up to Edom.

So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza,
and it shall devour her strongholds.

Thus says the LORD:

For three transgressions of Tyre,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they delivered up a whole people to Edom,
and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.

So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre,
and it shall devour her strongholds.

Thus says the LORD:

For three transgressions of Edom,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because he pursued his brother with the sword
and cast off all pity,
and his anger tore perpetually,
and he kept his wrath forever.

So I will send a fire upon Teman,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.

Thus says the LORD:

For three transgressions of the Ammonites,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead,
that they might enlarge their border.

So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah,
and it shall devour her strongholds,
with shouting on the day of battle,
with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;
and their king shall go into exile,
he and his princes together,
says the LORD.

Amos 2:

Thus says the LORD:

For three transgressions of Moab,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because he burned to lime
the bones of the king of Edom.

So I will send a fire upon Moab,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth,
and Moab shall die amid uproar,
amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;
I will cut off the ruler from its midst,
and will kill all its princes with him,
says the LORD.

Thus says the LORD:

For three transgressions of Judah,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they have rejected the law of the LORD,
and have not kept his statutes,
but their lies have led them astray,
those after which their fathers walked.

So I will send a fire upon Judah,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.

Thus says the LORD:

For three transgressions of Israel,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they sell the righteous for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals—
those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth
and turn aside the way of the afflicted;
a man and his father go in to the same girl,
so that my holy name is profaned;
they lay themselves down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge,
and in the house of their God they drink
the wine of those who have been fined.

Amos 3:

Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:

You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

• Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?
• Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey?
• Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing?
• Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it?
• Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing?
• Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid?
• Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?

For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.

The lion has roared; who will not fear?
The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?

Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say,

Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great tumults within her, and the oppressed in her midst.

They do not know how to do right, declares the LORD, those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:

An adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered.

Thus says the LORD:

As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.

Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob, declares the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions, I will punish the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground.

I will strike the winter house along with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end, declares the LORD.