Amos 3

1Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,

2Out of all the families of the earth, I have known only you; therefore I will visit all your iniquities upon you.

3Do two walk alike unless they have agreed?

4Does a lion roar in the forest without prey for him? Does a young lion give voice from his den unless he catches something?

5Does a bird fall into a trap on the earth when no snare awaits it? Does a trap spring up from the ground without catching anything at all?

6Does a trumpet sound in a city without the people trembling? Does calamity befall a city unless Yahweh has brought it?

7Lord Yahweh does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.

8The lion has roared—who will not fear? Lord Yahweh has spoken—who will not prophesy?

9Proclaim over the palaces at Ashdod and over the palaces in Egypt's land, and say: Assemble on Samaria's mountains and see the great unrest in her midst and the oppressed within her.

10They do not know how to do justice, says Yahweh, who store violence and destruction in their palaces.

11Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh: An adversary surrounds the land; he will bring down your strength from you, and your palaces will be plundered.

12Thus says Yahweh: As a shepherd rescues two legs or a piece of an ear from the lion's mouth, so the sons of Israel will be rescued, those who dwell in Samaria on the corner of a bed and in Damascus on a couch.

13Hear and testify against the house of Jacob, declares the Lord Yahweh, God of Hosts.

14For on the day I punish Israel's rebellions against it, I will punish Bethel's altars too; the altar's horns will be hewn off and collapse to the earth.

15I will strike the winter house against the summer house; ivory houses will perish, and many houses will cease, says Yahweh.