Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;[a] because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. 2 So I will send a fire on Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet; 3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its officials with him, says the Lord.
Judgment on Judah
4 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;[b] because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes, but they have been led astray by the same lies after which their ancestors walked. 5 So I will send a fire on Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.
Judgment on Israel
6 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;[c] because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— 7 they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way; father and son go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; 8 they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed.
9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of cedars, and who was as strong as oaks; I destroyed his fruit above, and his roots beneath. 10 Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 11 And I raised up some of your children to be prophets and some of your youths to be nazirites.[d] Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel? says the Lord.
12 But you made the nazirites[e] drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, “You shall not prophesy.”
13 So, I will press you down in your place, just as a cart presses down when it is full of sheaves.[f] 14 Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain their strength, nor shall the mighty save their lives; 15 those who handle the bow shall not stand, and those who are swift of foot shall not save themselves, nor shall those who ride horses save their lives; 16 and those who are stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, says the Lord.
Footnotes
a. Amos 2:1 Heb cause it to return
b. Amos 2:4 Heb cause it to return
c. Amos 2:6 Heb cause it to return
d. Amos 2:11 That is, those separated or those consecrated
e. Amos 2:12 That is, those separated or those consecrated
f. Amos 2:13 Meaning of Heb uncertain
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.