Vayeshev

This translation was taken from the JPS Tanakh.

Amos 2:6 – 3:8

Chapter 2

For three transgressions of Israel,
For four, I will not revoke it:
Because they have sold for silver
Those whose cause was just,
And the needy for a pair of sandals.
⁷ [Ah,] you who trample the heads of the poor
Into the dust of the ground
And make the humble walk a twisted course!
Father and son go to the same girl,
And thereby profane My holy name.
⁸ They recline by every altar
On garments taken in pledge,
And drink in the House of their God
Wine bought with fines they imposed.
⁹ Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them.
Whose stature was like the cedar’s
And who was stout as the oak,
Destroying his boughs above
And his trunk below!
¹⁰ And I brought you up from the land of Egypt
And led you through the wilderness forty years,
To posses the land of the Amorite!
¹¹ And I raised up prophets from among your sons
And nazirites from among your young men.
Is that not so, O people of Israel?

— says the Lord.

¹² But you made the nazirites drink wine
And ordered the prophets not to prophesy.
¹³ Ah, I will slow your movements
As a wagon is slowed
When it is full of cut grain.
¹⁴ Flight shall fail the swift,
The strong shall find no strength,
And the warrior shall not save his life.
¹⁵ The bowman shall not hold his ground,
And the fleet-footed shall not escape,
Nor horseman save his life.
¹⁶ Even the most stouthearted warrior
Shall run away unarmed that day

— declares the Lord.

Chapter 3
¹ Hear this word, O people of Israel,
That the Lord has spoken concerning you,
Concerning the whole family that I brought up from the land of Egypt:
² You alone have I singled out
Of all the families of the earth — 
That is why I will call you to account
For all your iniquities.

³ Can two walk together
Without having met?
⁴ Does a Lion roar in the forest
When he has no prey?
Does a great beast let out a cry from its den
Without having made a capture?
⁵ Does a bird drop on the ground — in a trap — 
With no snare there?
Does a trap spring up from the ground
Unless it has caught something?
⁶ When a ram’s horn is sounded in a town,
Do the people not take alarm?
Can misfortune come to a town
If the Lord has not caused it?
⁷ Indeed, my Lord God does nothing
Without having revealed His purpose
To His servants the prophets.
⁸ A lion has roared,
Who can but fear?
My Lord God has spoken,
Who can but prophesy?

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
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