Amos 1:1-5

There was a prophet named Amos, a herdsman from the town of Tekoa. Two years before the great earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah, and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel, God revealed these prophetic visions to Amos about Israel. Amos said: “YAHWEH comes roaring out of Zion; from Jerusalem he comes with his thunderous voice. The shepherds’ lush pastures are dried up, and the trees on top of Mount Carmel wither.” Here is the message of YAHWEH: “For the three terrible crimes of the people of Damascus— no, make that four — I will not turn back my wrath. For they have treated the people of Gilead with savage cruelty, running over them with a threshing sledge equipped with iron teeth. So I will send fire down on the dynasty of Hazael to devour the royal palaces defended by Ben-Hadad. I will smash the city gates of Damascus, I will cut down the ruler who sits in the Valley of Wickedness, the one who holds the royal scepter in the Paradise of Pleasure. And the people of Syria will go back to where they came from—to Kir,” declares YAHWEH.