Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, December 22nd, 2024
the Fourth Week of Advent
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Amos 2

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Judgment on Moab

1 The Lord said:

I will punish Moab
for countless crimes,
    and I won't change my mind.
They made lime from the bones[a]
    of the king of Edom.
2 Now I will send fire to destroy
    the fortresses of Kerioth.[b]
Battle shouts and trumpet blasts
will be heard
as I destroy Moab
3     with its king and leaders.
I, the Lord, have spoken!

Judgment on Judah

4 The Lord said:

I will punish Judah
for countless crimes,
    and I won't change my mind.
They have rejected my teachings
    and refused to obey me.
They were led astray
by the same false gods
    their ancestors worshiped.
5 Now I will send fire on Judah
and destroy the fortresses
    of Jerusalem.

Judgment on Israel

6 The Lord said:

I will punish Israel
for countless crimes,
    and I won't change my mind.
They sell honest people for money,
and the needy are sold
    for the price of sandals.
7 They smear the poor in the dirt
and push aside
    those who are helpless.

My holy name is dishonored,
because fathers and sons
sleep
    with the same young women.
8 They lie down beside altars
on clothes taken
    as security for loans.
And they drink wine in my temple,
wine bought with the money
    they received from fines.

9 Israel, the Amorites[c] were there
    when you entered Canaan.
They were tall as cedars
    and strong as oaks.
But I wiped them out—
I destroyed their branches
    and their roots.
10 I had rescued you from Egypt,
and for forty years I had led you
    through the desert.
Then I gave you the land
    of the Amorites.

11 I chose some of you
to be prophets
    and others to be Nazirites.[d]
People of Israel,
you know this is true.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!
12 But you commanded the prophets
    not to speak their message,
and you pressured the Nazirites
    into drinking wine.

13 And so I will crush you,
just as a wagon full of grain
    crushes the ground.[e]
14 No matter how fast you run,
    you won't escape.
No matter how strong you are,
you will lose your strength
    and your life.
15 Even if you are an expert
with a bow and arrow,
    you will retreat.
And you won't get away alive,
not even if you run fast
    or ride a horse.
16 You may be brave and strong,
but you will run away,
    stripped naked.
I, the Lord, have spoken!

 
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