Amos 3 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Listen to this word Yahweh has spoken against you, people of Israel, against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt.

Out of every family on earth, you are the only one I have known. That is why I will settle accounts with you for everything you have twisted.

Do two people walk together unless they have agreed to meet?

Does a lion roar in the forest with nothing caught? Does a young lion growl in his den unless he has taken something?

Does a bird drop onto a trap on the ground with no bait in it? Does a trap spring up from the ground when it has caught nothing at all?

If a ram's horn sounds in a town, do the people not shake? If disaster comes to a town, has Yahweh not done it?

The Master Yahweh does nothing without first opening up his plan to his servants the prophets.

A lion has roared. Who is not afraid? The Master Yahweh has spoken. Who can keep from speaking for him?

Call it out over the strongholds of Ashdod and the strongholds in Egypt. Say: gather on the hills around Samaria and look at the uproar inside her, at the people being crushed in her streets.

They have forgotten how to do what is straight. This is Yahweh speaking. They stack up violence and stolen goods in their strongholds.

So this is what the Master Yahweh says: An enemy will ring the land. He will bring your strength down off you, and your strongholds will be stripped.

This is what Yahweh says: The way a shepherd drags two legs or a scrap of an ear out of the lion's mouth, that is how the people of Israel will be pulled out, the ones sitting in Samaria on the corner of a bed, on a torn-off piece of a fine couch.

Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob. This is the Master Yahweh speaking, the God who commands armies.

On the day I settle accounts with Israel for her crimes, I will settle accounts with the altars of Bethel. The horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.

I will knock down the winter house along with the summer house. The ivory houses will be finished and the great houses swept away. This is Yahweh speaking.