1:1  THE WORDS of Amos, who was among the herdsmen {and} sheep masters of Tekoa, which he saw [in divine revelation] concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

1:2  And he said, The Lord roars out of Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem; then the pastures of the shepherds mourn and the top of [Mount] Carmel dries up.

1:3  Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Damascus [the capital of Syria] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it {or} revoke My word concerning it, because they have threshed Gilead [east of the Jordan River] with iron sledges.

1:4  So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction] upon the house of Hazael [who killed and succeeded King Ben-hadad] which shall devour the palaces {and} strongholds of Ben-hadad.

1:5  I will break also the bar [of the gate] of Damascus and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven {or} On, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria [conquered by the Assyrians] shall go into exile to Kir, says the Lord.

1:6  Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Gaza [a city in Philistia] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it {or} revoke My word concerning it, because [as slave traders] they carried away captive the whole [Jewish] population [of defenseless Judean border villages, of which none was spared, none left behind] and delivered them up to Edom [for the slave trade].

1:7  So I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza which shall devour its strongholds.

1:8  And I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turn My hand against Ekron; and the rest of the Philistines [in Gath and the towns dependent on these four Philistine cities] shall perish, says the Lord God.

1:9  Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Tyre and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it {or} revoke My word concerning it, because they [as middlemen] delivered up a whole [Jewish] population to Edom and did not [seriously] remember their brotherly covenant.

1:10  So I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre which shall devour its strongholds.

1:11  Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Edom [descendants of Esau] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it {or} revoke My word concerning it, because he pursued his brother Jacob (Israel) with the sword, corrupting his compassions {and} casting off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually and his wrath he kept {and} heeded forever.

1:12  So I will send a fire upon Teman which shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah [in Edom].

1:13  Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of the children of Ammon [descendants of Lot] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it {or} revoke My word concerning it, because [the Ammonites] have ripped up women with child in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.

1:14  So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah [in Ammon] and it shall devour the strongholds of it, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;

1:15  And their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together, says the Lord.