Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: The Lord pronounces judgement on the nations, and then turns His focuses to judging His people.
Amos, a sheep breeder, in the days of Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam of Israel concerning Jerusalem, two years before the earthquake, says, "The Lord roars from Zion... and the shepherds... mourn." He says the people of Syria will go captive. The remnant of the Philistines will perish. The Lord will punish Tyre because they did not remember "the covenant of brotherhood." Edom will be punished for pursuing his brother with the sword. The Lord will judge Amon for ripping open the women with child in Gilead to enlarge their territory.
The Lord will judge Moab for burning the bones of the king of Edom, and he will die with tumult. The Lord will punish Judah for despises the Lord's law and breaking His commandments. The Lord says their lies have led them astray, and a fire will devour the palaces of Jerusalem. Israel will be punished for selling the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals. A man and his father have the same woman, which is not right. The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt and raised up some as prophets and some as Nazirites, but they gave them wine to drink and commanded the prophets not to prophesy. So the Lord is weighed down by them, and the mighty will not be able to deliver himself, nor the swift of foot escape. Even the most courageous man will flee naked in that day.
The Lord tells the children of Israel He will punish them for all their iniquities. "Can two walk together unless they are agreed?" He says, "The Lord does nothing unless He reveals it to His servants, the prophets." He also says, "The Lord God has spoken. Who can but prophesy?" Samaria stores up violence and robbery in their palaces, so an adversary will be all around the land and take their strength and plunder their palaces. Those who dwell there will be taken out. When Israel is punished, destruction will come on the altars of Bethel.
Those in Samaria who oppress the poor and crush the needy will be taken away. Israel has not returned to the Lord, though He withheld rain and bread from them. He also destroyed their crops and sent them a plague. Therefore, the Lord tells them, Prepare to meet your God, oh Israel." The Lord God of Hosts is the one who declares to man what His thoughts are, and He treads the high places of the earth.
The Lord laments that the virgin of Israel has fallen and will rise no more, and there is no one to raise her up. The Lord says to Israel, "Seek Me, and live." Otherwise, He will break out like fire and devour with no one to quench it. Because the people oppress the poor, they will build houses but not dwell in them and plant vineyards but not drink of them. He tells them to seek good and not evil so they may live and God may be with them. Amos tells them to hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate, and maybe the Lord will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. The Lord says there will be wailing in all the streets, and they will call the professional lamenters, because the Lord will pass through them. He says, "Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord, for what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion and a bear met him. Or as though he... leaned against a wall and a serpent bit him." He says the day of the Lord is darkness and not light. The Lord hates Israel's sacrifices and offerings, their songs and feasts. He tells them to "let justice run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream." He asks if they sacrificed to him 40 years in the wilderness, or if they carried their idols. He will send them into captivity.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
We must agree with God and His word if we want to walk with Him and be blessed.
Where is the fear of the Lord in our day?