Amo 2 | EE | STEP | The LORD says, ‘The people in Moab have done wrong things. Many times, they have done wrong things. So I will send trouble to them. They dug up the bones of a king of Edom. They also burned those bones until they became ashes. That was not good.

‏ Amos 2

A message to the people in Moab

1 The LORD says, ‘The people in Moab have done wrong things. Many times, they have done wrong things. So I will send trouble to them. They dug up the bones of a king of Edom. They also burned those bones until they became ashes. That was not good. 2 So I will send fire to the country called Moab. The fire will destroy the strong buildings in Kerioth town. The people will hear their enemies shout. And they will hear the sounds that their enemies’ trumpets make. And the people will die. 3 I will let the enemies kill the ruler of Moab. And I will let them kill all its leaders too.’ That is what the LORD says.

A message to the people in Judah

4 The LORD says, ‘The people in Judah have done wrong things. Many times, they have done wrong things. So I will send trouble to them. I, the LORD, told to those people the things that they must do. And I wrote those things for them. But they have not done those things. Those people have not listened to what I said to them. They have listened to someone else, who was not saying true things. And so Judah‘s people did wrong things. They lived like their family that lived a long time ago. They lived in the same bad way. 5 So I will send fire to Judah. The fire will completely burn the strong buildings that are in the big city called Jerusalem.’

A message to the people in Israel

6 The LORD says, ‘The people in Israel have done wrong things. Many times, they have done wrong things. So I will send trouble to them. They sold people that did not do wrong things. They sold them for silver. And they sold poor people for only the price of shoes. 7 They are not kind to poor people and they do not help them. A father and his son have sex with the same woman. I told them not to do that, but they do not listen to me. 8 Those men take clothes from poor people, because those poor people have a debt to them. Then they sleep on those poor people’s clothes. And they do that in the special places where they pray. The rich people in Israel do this wrong thing also. Poor people give some money to rich people to pay for their debts. The rich people take the money and then they go to buy alcohol. Then they drink the alcohol at the special places where people pray.’ ^{▼▼2:8 When a poor person gave clothes to a rich person, the poor person was giving a promise. That was what it meant. He was promising to pay money back to the rich person. God had said this to rich people about those poor people’s clothes. ‘Do not keep the clothes at night. Give the clothes back to the poor people for the nights. Then they will not be cold.’}

9 ‘Remember the Amorites. They were big and strong. They were like the tallest and strongest trees. But I removed all of them. 10 I brought you out of the country called Egypt. After that, I guided you for 40 years. I led you through a large dry place where nobody lived. Then I gave to you the country where the people called Amorites lived. 11 I chose some men among you to be prophets. I chose some young men among you to be Nazirites. You Israelites know that it is true’, says the LORD. 12 ‘But you told this to the people that should not drink alcohol (the Nazirites). You told them, “Be like everyone else. Drink alcohol.” And you said to the people that speak my message (the prophets), “Do not speak it.”’ ^{▼▼2:12 Prophets were people who spoke God’s messages.} ^{▼▼2:12 Nazirites were people that had made a special promise. So they lived in a different way from other people. They did not drink alcohol and they did not cut their hair. And they did not touch anything that was dead.}

13 ‘I will hurt you. A wagon that is full of food pushes down on the ground. I will do to you like the wagon does to the ground. 14 You might try to run away. But nobody will get free. The fastest runner will not get free. The strong people will not be strong enough to stop me. The soldiers will not be able to save themselves. 15 Men that shoot arrows will not live. Fast runners will not get free. All soldiers on horses will die. 16 At that time, strong and brave soldiers will run away without clothes on.’ That is what the LORD says.