The Lord's Case against Israel
Amos 3, verse 1. O house of Israel, hear this word the Lord has spoken against you, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, Amos 3, verse 2. “Out of all the families of the earth, I have especially known you. Therefore I shall exact vengeance upon you for all your sins. Amos 3, verse 3. If two people walk together, will each one not come to know the other? Amos 3, verse 4. Will a lion roar from his lair in the forest if he has no prey? Will a lion's whelp cry out from his den if he has nothing? Amos 3, verse 5. Will a bird fall to the earth without a fowler? Will a snare be sprung if it has caught nothing? Amos 3, verse 6. If a trumpet is sounded in a city, will not the people be alarmed? If evil should be in a city, has not the Lord brought it? Amos 3, verse 7. For the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals instruction to His servants the prophets. Amos 3, verse 8. A lion shall roar, and who will not fear? The Lord God speaks, and who will not prophesy? Amos 3, verse 9. “Proclaim it in the regions among the Assyrians and to the lands of Egypt, and say, ‘Gather yourself to the mountains of Samaria, and behold the many remarkable things in her midst and the oppression that is within her. Amos 3, verse 10. She does not know the things that will come against her,’ says the Lord, ‘she stores up injustice and misery in her lands.’” Amos 3, verse 11. Therefore thus says the Lord God: “O Tyre, your land round about you shall be made desolate, and your strength shall be sapped from you, and your lands shall be plundered.” Amos 3, verse 12. Thus says the Lord: “As when a shepherd takes two legs or a piece of an ear out of the mouth of a lion, so shall the sons of Israel be taken out who dwell in Samaria in the presence of a foreign people, and in Damascus. Amos 3, verse 13. “Hear, O priests, and testify against the house of Jacob,” says the Lord God Almighty, Amos 3, verse 14. “for in the day I exact vengeance against Israel for their sins, I shall also visit destruction on the altars of Bethel and tear down the horns of the altar, and they will fall to the ground. Amos 3, verse 15. I will demolish and knock down the turreted house upon the summer house, and I shall destroy the ivory houses along with many other houses as well,” says the Lord.