1The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2He said:
“Yahweh will roar from Zion,
and utter his voice from Jerusalem;
and the pastures of the shepherds will mourn,
and the top of Carmel will wither.”
3Yahweh says:
“For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron;
4but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael,
and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.
5I will break the bar of Damascus,
and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven,
and him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden;
and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir,”
says Yahweh.
6Yahweh says:
“For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
because they carried away captive the whole community,
to deliver them up to Edom;
7but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza,
and it will devour its palaces.
8I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod,
and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;
and I will turn my hand against Ekron;
and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,”
says the Lord Yahweh.
9Yahweh says:
“For three transgressions of Tyre, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
because they delivered up the whole community to Edom,
and didn’t remember the brotherly covenant;
10but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre,
and it will devour its palaces.”
11Yahweh says:
“For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
because he pursued his brother with the sword
and cast off all pity,
and his anger raged continually,
and he kept his wrath forever;
12but I will send a fire on Teman,
and it will devour the palaces of Bozrah.”
13Yahweh says:
“For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead,
that they may enlarge their border.
14But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah,
and it will devour its palaces,
with shouting in the day of battle,
with a storm in the day of the whirlwind;
15and their king will go into captivity,
he and his princes together,”
says Yahweh.
1:1 Tekoa, five miles southeast of Bethlehem, has a commanding view of the region and was the home to: "Ira the son of Ikkesh" one of David's mighty men (2 Sam 23:26; 1 Ch 11:28; 27:9); the "wise woman of Tekoa" who tried to bring reconciliation between David and Absalom (2 Sam 14:2); certain Tekoites who repaired part of the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 3:5); and most famously, Amos the eighth century prophet, herdsmen (Amos 1:1) and dresser of sycamore-fig trees (Amos 7:14). Jerome says that Amos was buried in Tekoa as well (Commentary on Jeremiah, VI, 1). In the Greek version of Joshua 15:59, Tekoa is mentioned as part of Judah. Tekoa had been fortified by Rehoboam (2 Ch 11:6; Josephus, Antiquites, 8, ix, 1), and in the wilderness of Tekoa (2 Ch 20:20) Jehoshaphat took counsel there before advancing into the wilderness of Judea to confront the Ammonites and Moabites. Jeremiah warned Judah to flee south, away from the enemy advancing from the north (Jer. 6:1), which played upon the sound tikehu Tekoa, "blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal in Beth-haccherim." The name Tekoa may allude to taaqa' "to strike" – stakes that were pounded into the ground for shepherd’s tents. Jonathan Maccabeus and his brother Simon fled from the vengeance of the Greek Bacchides "into the wilderness of Tekoe" and encamped by the water of the pool Asphar" (1 Macc 9:33), possibly a connection with Tekoa's father named Ashhur (1 Chr 2:24, 4:5). In the sixth century, a monastery called Laura Nova was founded at Tekoa by Saba, probably because Amos was believed to be buried there. Today the site called Khirbet Tequ'a is in ruins, having been built over in part by the modern town and is vandalized thoroughly.