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Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

Hear this word that the L ord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:

You only have I known

of all the families of the earth;

therefore I will punish you

for all your iniquities.

Do two walk together

unless they have made an appointment?

Does a lion roar in the forest,

when it has no prey?

Does a young lion cry out from its den,

if it has caught nothing?

Does a bird fall into a snare on the earth,

when there is no trap for it?

Does a snare spring up from the ground,

when it has taken nothing?

Is a trumpet blown in a city,

and the people are not afraid?

Does disaster befall a city,

unless the L ord has done it?

Surely the Lord G od does nothing,

without revealing his secret

to his servants the prophets.

The lion has roared;

who will not fear?

The Lord G od has spoken;

who can but prophesy?

Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod,

and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt,

and say, “Assemble yourselves on Mount Samaria,

and see what great tumults are within it,

and what oppressions are in its midst.”

They do not know how to do right, says the L ord,

those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.

Therefore thus says the Lord G od:

An adversary shall surround the land,

and strip you of your defense;

and your strongholds shall be plundered.

¹² Thus says the L ord: As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who live in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.

Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob,

says the Lord G od, the God of hosts:

On the day I punish Israel for its transgressions,

I will punish the altars of Bethel,

and the horns of the altar shall be cut off

and fall to the ground.

I will tear down the winter house as well as the summer house;

and the houses of ivory shall perish,

and the great houses shall come to an end,

says the L ord.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, 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.

The Prophet here announces the punishment God would inflict on the Israelites. An enemy, he says, and indeed one around you, etc. Some think צר, tsar, to be a verb in the imperative mood; but this cannot be maintained. But Amos, here declares that an enemy was near the Israelites, who would besiege them on every side. The ungodly are ever wont to seek escapes, and if they see the smallest hole, they think that they can escape. Strange is the presumption of men with regard to God: when they see themselves hemmed in, they are really frightened, yea, they become wholly disheartened; but yet they seek subterfuges on the right hand and on the left, and never submit to God except when constrained. This is the reason why the Prophet now says, that an enemy was near, and indeed around them; as though he said, “You have no reason to think that there is any way of escape open to you; for God has hemmed you in on every side; there is therefore a siege which so confines you, that you in vain hope to escape.” An enemy, he says, is indeed around — around the whole land, who will take away from thee thy strength. Here the Prophet removes from the Israelites their vain confidence; for they could not think of God’s vengeance, while looking on their own power. They indeed thought that they had sufficient protection in their own large number, riches, and arms, as men are wont to set up against God what proceeds from himself, as though creatures could do anything against him, and as though God could not take away, when he pleases, what he has given: and yet such is the blindness of men. Hence the Prophet says, that all the wealth and all the strength in which the Israelites excelled would be useless, inasmuch as an enemy, he says, armed by God, shall take from thee thy strength; and thy palaces shall be plundered.