Amos (Let Justice Roll) (Amos 1:1–9:15)

Lyrics · Amos

Amos (Let Justice Roll)

Amos 1:1–9:15

LISTEN HERE

Lyrics

Now playing

Amos (Let Justice Roll)

Amos 1:1-9:15

Lyrics and song details

0:000:00

Volume

Playing next

Lyrics and song details

About this song

This song belongs to the Amos collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book: Amos
Collection: Amos
Musical styles: Cinematic Rock

The Book of Amos is a cry against hollow religion and crooked power. From the fields, a shepherd rises, and the Lord speaks through him. I came up from the She-Fold From the dust of Tekoa's land No palace robe upon me Just a word I could not stand I heard the lion roaring I felt the mountains shake The Lord called out from Zion And the sleepers had to wake For the poor were sold for silver For the needy for a pair of shoes Songs were rising in the temple While the truth was being used Let justice roll like waters Let righteousness run free More than incense, more than altars This is what the Lord would see I will not bring him flattery I will not hide the stain Let justice roll like waters Till the land is clean again You lie on beds of ivory You feast and never grieve You drink your wine in comfort while the crushed can hardly breathe I saw the plumb line falling, held against the nation wall And every crooked measure showed a kingdom set to fall I was not raised a prophet, I was not a prophet, son But the Lord took me from tending and said, speak what must be done Let justice roll like waters Let righteousness run free More than incense, more than altars This is what the Lord would see I will not bring Him flattery I will not hide the stain Let justice roll like waters Till the land is clean again I saw the basket ripen Summer fruit beneath the sky I heard the silence coming When the songs and laughter die Yet beyond the shaking judgment Past the ruin and the flame There is mercy for the remnant There is healing in His name He will raise the fallen shelter He will build the breach again What was broken shall be planted What was torn shall stand again The hills will drip with sweetness And the vineyards all will grow After warning, after weeping There is still a river home Let justice roll like waters Let righteousness run free Strip away our hollow worship Till our hearts and truth agree He is holy, He is patient But He will not bless our shame Let justice roll like waters Till the land is clean again From the fields I bore the message From the Lord who sees it all And the lion still is roaring For the proud and for the small

Lyrics transcribed from this recording. Word-for-word review is pending.

Named in this songZion

About the passage

Amos 1: A roar that crosses national borders

A roar from Zion opens the Book of Amos before any nation has been named, and its effects already reach shepherd country and Carmel. The chapter then turns outward through Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, and Ammon. Each oracle keeps the same accumulating rhythm while changing the offense under examination: Gilead treated like a threshing floor, whole captive populations delivered away, covenant obligations forgotten, brotherhood answered with relentless wrath, and pregnant women killed for the sake of a larger border. The repetition refuses to make any one people’s suffering disposable. Palaces, walls, rulers, and territorial gains all look solid until the accusation reaches them. Israel is still waiting outside the direct address, but the chapter has already established a dangerous principle: the LORD’s judgment crosses the borders that human power uses to organize responsibility.

Study Amos 1 in depth

Amos 2: The accusation arrives at Israel's own door

The circle tightens. Moab is judged for violence against the dead, Judah receives the same repeated formula for despising the LORD’s law, and then the chapter settles on Israel with far more detail. The righteous and poor can be priced in silver and shoes, pledged garments become furniture beside altars, and religious comfort is built from condemned people’s losses. Against that conduct, the LORD recalls what Israel did not create for itself: the defeat of the Amorite, deliverance from Egypt, wilderness guidance, prophets, and Nazarites. Those gifts were answered by making Nazarites drink and ordering prophets not to speak. The final verses strip away every familiar military advantage. Speed, strength, bows, horses, and courage are all named and denied their usual result. Privilege and preparedness offer no exception to the accusation.

Study Amos 2 in depth

Amos 3: Known by God, and therefore answerable

The chapter takes Israel’s special relation with the LORD and turns the expected conclusion inside out. “You only have I known” does not lead to immunity but to “therefore I will punish you.” A chain of questions then explains Amos’s own speech: effects have causes, danger produces alarm, and once the LORD has spoken, the prophet cannot simply choose silence. Foreign palaces are summoned to inspect Samaria, where violence and robbery have been stored like treasure. The promised rescue is deliberately meager, like two legs or a piece of an ear pulled from a lion’s mouth, not a restored flock walking home. The close joins Bethel’s altars to winter houses, summer houses, ivory houses, and great houses. Worship and luxury occupy the same sentence because neither structure can stand outside the transgressions being examined.

Study Amos 3 in depth