Amos 3

You people of Israel, listen to this message that God has spoken against you. He is speaking against all of the descendants of the people whom he brought up out of the land of Egypt. He says this: 2 “From among all of the families of people on the earth, I chose only you to belong to me. That is why I must now punish you for all of the ways that you have sinned.” \* 3 Two people do not travel together unless they have agreed to do that. 4 A lion does not roar in the forest unless it has caught an animal to eat, and a young lion does not growl in its den unless it has caught something. \* 5 A bird does not get caught in a trap on the ground unless someone has set a trap for it, and a trap does not spring up to catch {an animal} if there is nothing to catch. 6 If someone blows {an alarm} on a ram’s horn in a city, the people there become afraid, and if something terrible happens in a city, then God has done it. \* 7 In the same way, the Lord God does not do something unless he has first revealed his plans to his servants the prophets. 8 When a lion roars, everyone is afraid; similarly, when the Lord God speaks, the prophets must proclaim what he says. \* 9 {God says,} “Announce this to the rulers who live in the fortresses in the city of Ashdod and to the rulers who live in the fortresses in the land of Egypt. Say to them, ‘Gather together on the hills around the city of Samaria, and see how the people there are panicking, and how the powerful people are oppressing the other people there.’” 10 God declares, “The people who live in Samaria do not know how to do what is right. They violently rob other people, and they fill their fortresses with the things that they steal.” \*

So this is what the Lord God says {to them}, “An enemy army will come and surround your land. They will tear down your fortifications, and they will carry away the valuable things in your fortresses.”

This is what God says, “When a lion attacks a sheep, sometimes a shepherd can grab from the lion only two legs of the sheep or a piece of its ear. Similarly, only a few of you people of Israel who live in Samaria will survive, along with only a side of a bed or a piece of a couch.” \* 13 The Lord God, the God who commands the armies of angels, declares, “Listen, and warn the descendants of Jacob: 14 Be aware that when I punish the people of Israel for the sins that they have committed, I will also destroy the altars at Bethel. I will cut off the horns that are on {the corners of} the {main} altar, and they will fall to the ground. \* 15 I will tear down the houses where people live in the winter and the houses where they live in the summer. I will destroy the {beautiful} houses that they have decorated with ivory. I will destroy the mansions. This will surely happen, because I, God, have said it.” \*