AMOS.
The words of Amos which came to him at Akkarim of The- koue, which came to him in vision concerning Jerusalem in the days of Ozias king of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joas, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. And he said,
2 From Sion the Lord hath spoken with majesty, and from Jerusalem he uttered his voice, and the pastures of the shep-
3 herds mourned, and the top of Carmel withered. And the Lord said,
For the three transgressions of Damascus, and for four shall I not be averse from it ?
Because with iron saws they sawed asunder the pregnant
4- wives of the men of Galaad; therefore I will send a fire into
the house of Azael, and it shall devour the foundations of Ben-
5 Ader. And I will break the bars of Damascus, and utterly destroy the inhabitants out of the plain of On, and I will cut off a tribe from the men of Charran, and the chosen people of Syria shall be made captives, saith the Lord.
6 Thus saith the Lord, For the three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, shall I not be averse from them ? Because they captivated the captives of the Salamonites, to deliver them
7 up to Idumea ; therefore I will send a fire against the walls
8 of Gaza, and it shall devour the foundations thereof. And 1 will utterly destroy inhabitants out of Azotus, and a tribe shall be taken away from Ascalon ; and I will lay my hand on Ak- karon, and the remnant of the Philistines shall be destroyed saith the Lord. .
9 Thus saith the Lord, For the three transgressions of Tyre, and for four shall I not be averse from it ? Because they delivered up the captives of the Salamonites to Idumea,
10 and did not remember the covenant of brothers; therefore I will send a fire against the walls of Tyre, and it shall devour the foundation thereof.
11 Thus saith the Lord, For the three transgressions of Idumea, and for four shall I not be averse from it? Because \ they pursued their brother with a sword, and violated a mother on the ground : he indeed to evidence his intention seized by force ; he kept up his horror and his onset till he accom-
12 plished his purpose; therefore I will send a fire against Thai- man, and it shall consume the foundation of its walls.
13 Thus saith the Lord, For the three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four shall I not be averse from them? Because they ripped up the pregnant wives of the Galaadites,
14 that they might enlarge their own borders; therefore against the walls of Rabbath I will kindle a fire, which shall consume its foundations, with a shout in the day of battle ; and it shall
15 be shaken in the day of its destruction; and its kings shall go into captivity, and their priests, and their chiefs together, saith the Lord.
- Thus saith the Lord, For the three transgressions o: Moab, and for four shall I not be averse from him. ? Be-
2 cause he burned into lime the bones of the king of Idumea; therefore I will send a fire into Moab, and it shall devour the foundations of her cities, and Moab shall die of weakness:
3 with shouting and with the clangour of trumpets, I will cut off her judge, and slay all her chiefs with him, saith the Lord.
4 Thus saith the Lord, For the three transgressions of the children of Juda, and for four, shall I not be averse from him? Because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and have been led astray by their vanities which they made, which their fathers had fd-
5 lowed; therefore I will send a fire against Juda, and it shall devour the foundations of Jerusalem.
6 Thus saith the Lord, For the three transgressions of Israel and for four, shall I not be averse from him ? Because they sold a righteous one for silver and a needy one for a pair of
7 sandals; and dashed their sandals against the heads of the poor; and turned aside the way of the meek; and a son and a father
8 went in unto the same handmaid. That they might profane the name of their God, having bound their garments with cords of
. rushes, they pitched their tents near the altar, and drank, in
9 the house of their God, wine got by extortion. As for me, I
removed from before them the Amorite whose stature was like that of a cedar. Though he was strong as an oak, I withered TO his fruit above and his roots underneath. I indeed brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you about in the wilderness forty years, that you might inherit the land of the
11 Amorites. And I took some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for a state of sanctification. Are not these things so, O children of Israel? Saith the Lord.
12 But you caused my sanctified ones to drink wine; and charged
13 the prophets, saying, “You shall not prophesy:” Therefore behold I will roll under you, as a cart rolleth which is loaded
14 with sheaves, so that flight shall perish from the swift runner; and the strong will not be master of his strength; and the war-
15 rior shall not save his life. And the bowman shall not stand, nor shall the swift of foot escape; even the horseman shall
16 not save his life. The mighty will not know how to act with their forces: the naked shall, in that day, pursue, saith the Lord.
III. (p) Hear this word which the Lord hath spoken against you, O house of Israel!
(J) Yes, against every tribe which I brought out of the land of Egypt, saying, Of all the tribes of the earth, I acknowledge none but you. Therefore I will punish you for all your sins.
(p) Will two walk together continually unless they agree?
4 Will a lion roar from his forest when he hath no prey? Will a young lion utter a continued roar from his den unless he be
5 tearing something? Will a bird fall on the ground unless he be shot? Will a gin on the ground be loosened, unless some-
6 thing be caught? Shall a trumpet sound in a city and the people not be alarmed? Can there be in a city a calamity which the
7 Lord hath not inflicted? Seeing the Lord will not do any thing
8 without giving warning to his servants; shall a lion roar and none be struck with dread? Hath the Lord spoken and will
9 none prophesy? Make proclamation in the provinces of Assyria, and in the regions of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see many wonderful things in the midst thereof, and the cruel oppression which is in it.
10 Now did she not know things which will be before her? Saith the Vol. in. 3 c
Lord. They are treasuring up injustice and misery in their
11 countries. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, ” Tyre is all around. Thy land shall be wasted.” He will break thy power
12 and thy regions shall be ravaged. Thus saith the Lord, “As when a shepherd snatcheth from the mouth of a lion two legs or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be snatched, who dwell in Samaria over against that tribe and in Damas
cus.”
13 Hear ye priests, and testify to the house of Israel, saith the
14 Lord Almighty, That on the day when I punish Israel for his impieties, I will execute vengeance also on the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar shall be cut oft” and fall to the ground.
151 will confound and smite the turretted house over the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish; and many other houses shall perish with them, saith the Lord.
- Hear this word, ye heifers of Basanitis, ye who are on the mountain of Samaria; who tyrannise over the distressed and trample the needy, who say to your masters, Bring and let us
2 drink. The Lord sweareth by his Holies, that lo! days are com- ing upon you when fiery pestilent men will seize you with
3 arms; and throw them with you into boiling kettles: and you shall be dragged out naked over against one another, and
4 cast out naked on the mountain Rom man, saith the Lord. You have gone to Baithel and committed transgression, to Galgala and multiplied transgressions, and have offered your sacrifices
5 every morning, and your tythes every three days; for having publicly read a law they proclaimed thanksgivings. Proclaim them, because in such things the children of Israel delight,
6 saith the Lord. But as for me, I will give you gnashing of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places.
7 When you returned not to me, saith the Lord, I withheld from you die rain three months before harvest; with an intent to rain on one city and on another city not to rain. One part was to be watered, and the part on which I did not rain, to be
8 dried up; so that two or three cities should crowd to one chy for drink and not be satisfied.
9 And when you turned not to me, saith the Lord, I smote you with blasting and mildew: you multiplied your gardens;
the caterpillar devoured your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive orchards.
10 When even for this you turned not to me, saith the Lord, I sent death among you by the way of Egypt, and slew your young men with the sword and gave up your horses to capture:
11 and by your rage I involved your camps in fire. And when even for this you turned not to me, saith the Lord, I overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorra; and you became like a brand plucked out of fire.
12 Now as even for this you have not turned to me, saith the Lord, therefore in this manner will I deal with thee, Israel. But because I will deal thus with thee, prepare, O Israel, to in-
13 voke thy God: for behold here am I, who give strength to thunder—Who create wind, and proclaim for men his anointed one—who make the morning dawn and thick darkness, and who walk on the high places of the earth, whose name is the Lord God, Omnipotent.
- (p) Hear this word of the Lord—a song of woe which I
2 take up respecting youi The house of Israel is fallen. Shall it never more rise again? The virgin of Israel is prostrate on the ground. Is there none to raise her up? For this cause thus saith
3 the Lord, Lord, of the city from which a thousand marched, there shall be left a hundred; and of the city, from which a hundred marched, ten shall be left to the house of Israel.
4 Wherefore, thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel, Seek me and you shall live. But seek not Baithel, nor go to Galgal,
5 nor pass on to the Well of Oath: because Galgal shall surely go into captivity, and Baithel shall be as if it had never existed. Seek the Lord and live, that the house of Joseph may not blaze like a fire, and devour him: and the house of Israel have none
7 to quench it. He is the exalter of judgment and hath establish-
8 ed righteousness for the earth. He is the maker and the former of all things. He turneth darkness into day, and darkeneth the day into night. He calleth to him the \vatcr of the sea, and
9 poureth it out on the face of the earth. His name is the Lord. He setteth destruction against strength and bringeth misery on bulwarks.
10 (J) They hated a” reprover in the gates and held in abhor-
11 rence a holy word; therefore because they have beaten the
poor with their fists, though you had received from them choice gifts; you have built houses of hewn stone; but in them you shall not dwell; you have planted lovely vineyards, but you shall not drink the wine thereof.
12 (p) Because I know your manifold impieties and your sins are mighty—you trample down the righteous, take pledg-
13 es and turn aside the poor in the gates; therefore the prudent will at that time be silent because it is the time of wicked men.
14 Seek good and not evil that you may live, and so the Lord
15 God Almighty will be with you. As you have said, We have hated evil and loved good; therefore re-establish judgment in the sjates, that the Lord God Almighty may have compassion
16 on the remnant of Joseph. For this purpose, saith the Lord, the God Almighty, in all the streets let there be wailing, and, in all the highways let them say, Alas! Alas! Let the husbandman be called to lamentation and mourning, and to them who are
17 skilled in the song of woe. And in all the ways let there be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of thee, said the
18 Lord. Alas for them who desire tHe day of the Lord! Why should you desire the day of the Lord, when it is darkness and
19 not light? As if a man would flee from the face of a lion and a bear met him, or, as if one would leap into a house and lean-
20 ing his hand on the wall a serpent bit him. Is not this day of the Lord darkness and not light—even thick darkness, in which there is not a ray of light?
21 (J) I have hated, I have rejected your festivals, and I will
22 not smell your sacrifices at your solemn assemblies. Therefore though you offer me whole burnt offerings, I will not accept your sacrifices nor regard your sumptuous peace offerings.
23 Take from me the noise of thy songs, and let me not hear the
24 melody of musical instruments; but let judgment roll down
25 like water, and righteousness like an impassable torrent. Did you, O house of Israel, offer to me burnt offerings and sacrifices, forty years in the wilderness? You have indeed taken up
26 the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Raiphan—those types of them which you have made for yourselves. Therefore I will remove you beyond Damascus; saith the Lord, the God whose name is the Almighty.
- Alas for them who despise Sion and have put their trust
in the mount of Samaria. They have gathered as a vintage the governments of nations and gone in. O house of Israel, Go ye all over [to Chalane] and see, and thence pass on to Ematraba and thence go down to Gath of the Philistines, to the strongest of all those kingdoms of theirs. Are their borders larger than yours, who are coming to an evil day, who are drawing near and on the point of touching false sabbaths? Some of you are sleeping on beds of ivory and lolling at ease on their couches, and eating kids from the flocks, and from the herds calves fed with milk: some are dwelling on the sound of musical instruments; as if they thought it fixed and not fleeting. Some are drinking filtered wine and anointing themselves “with most precious ointment and have no feeling
1 for the affliction of Joseph. Now for this cause, from being a a government of mighties they shall be captives, and the
t neighing of horses shall be taken away from Ephraim. For the Lord hath sworn by himself, As I abhor all this haughtiness of Jacob and have hated all his regions, therefore I will
) destroy cities with all their inhabitants. And it shall come to
) pass that if ten head men be left in one family, they shall die and the residue shall be left and their domestics shall succeed them. And when they are pressed to bring their bones out of the house, one will say to them who are over the family, Are there any more yet with thee? And when one will say, There
L is no more : then will one say, Forbear to mention the name of the Lord on this account; for behold the Lord command- eth, and he will smite the great house with breaches and the
2 small house with fractures. Can horses pursue among rocks? Will they refrain from whinnying at females ? Because you have turned judgment into fury, and the fruit of righteousness
3 into bitterness, some rejoicing in a thing of naught, and others i saying, “Have we notby ourownstrengthtakenhorns?”Therefore, behold I will raise up against you, O house of Israel, a nation, saith the Lord of hosts, who shall afflict you that you may not enter the bay of Aimath, nor approach the brook at the settings of the sun.
- (p) So the Lord God pointed out to,me, and lo! an eastern swarm of- locusts was coming and behold a brouchus locust, one Gog, was their king; and when they had completely devoured the grass of the land, I said, O Lord, Lord, be appeased. Who shall raise up Jacob? Because be is very
2 small, relent, O Lord at this.
3 This therefore shall not be, saith the Lord.
4 So the Lord pointed out to me, and lo! the Lord had called for the punishment by fire and it was devouring the
5 great abyss and consuming the portion of the Lord, whereupon I said, Cease, O Lord, I beseech thee. Who shall raise
6 up Jacob? Because he is very small, relent, O Lord, at this. This then shall not be, saith the Lord.
7 So the Lord pointed out to me; and lo ! he was standing on a wall of adamant and in his hand was an adamant. And the Lord said to me, What dost thou see, Amos? And when I
8 said, An Adamant; the Lord said to me, Behold I interpose an adamant in the midst of my people Israel that I may no more
9 permit them to transgress. Ridiculous altars shall indeed be utterly destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with a sword.
10 Then Amasias the priest of Baithel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos is raising insurrections against thee in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all
11 his words. For thus Amos saith, “Jeroboam shall die by the sword; and Israel shall be carried away captive from his land.”
12 Moreover Amasias said to Amos, Begone, seer. Get thee to
13 the land of Juda and dwell there ; and prophesy there : but against Baithel thou shalt not continue to prophesy; for it is
14 the sanctuary of the king. It is the king’s house. Whereupon Amos answered and said to Amasias, I was not a prophet, nor
15 a son of a prophet. I was only a herdsman and a gatherer of dates; and the Lord took me from the flocks and the Lord said
16 to me, Go and prophesy against my people Israel. Now therefore hear a word of the Lord, Thou sayst, ” Prophesy not against Israel,” and ” Thou shalt not give any disturbance to
17 Israel.” Therefore thus saith the Lord,
” Thy wife shall be a prostitute in the city ; and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword; and thy land shall be measured out with a line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land; and Israel skill be carried captive from his land.”
III. So the Lord, Lord pointed out to me, and lo! a fowler’s
2 basket. And he said, Amos, what dost thou see? And when I said, A fowler’s basket, the Lord said to me, The end is come upon my people Israel. I will no more permit them to trans-
3 gress. In that day indeed the vaulted cielings of this temple shall resound with cries of woe, saith the Lord, Lord. Multitudes are fallen every where, I will bring on silence.
4 (p) Hear this, I beseech you, ye who every morning oppress the needy, and by your tyranny drive the poor from the
5 land, saying, When will the new moon be over that we may buy? And the sabbaths, that we may open store? to make the measure small, and the weight heavy, and to make the
6 balance uneven, that we may purchase the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, when from every kind of
7 product we shall have made gain. The Lord sweareth, in opposition to this arrogance of Jacob, that none of these works
8 of yours shall ever be forgotten. Now for these things shall not the land be troubled and every inhabitant therein mourn? Destruction indeed shall swell like a river, and flow down like
9 the river of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, Lord, That the sun shall set at noon day, and
0 the light on that day shall be darkened on the earth. And I will turn your festivals into mourning, and all your songs into songs of lamentation. And I will bring sackcloth on every loin and baldness on every head, and cause a mourning for him like that for a beloved, and for them with him, like that of a day of sorrow.
1 Behold days are coming, saith the Lord, when I will send a famine against the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst
2 for water; but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. And they shall fluctuate as water from sea to sea, and run to and fro; from north to east seeking the word of the Lord, and shall
3 not find it. In that day the fair virgins and young men shall faint for thirst. They who swear by the atonement of Samaria, and they who say, Thy God, O Dan, liveth : thy God, O Ber- sabee, liveth, shall indeed fall and shall never rise any more.
- I saw the Lord standing on the altar, and he said, Smite the propitiatory and let the porches be shaken, and cut them down on the heads of them all; and those of them who are left I will slay with the sword. Such of them as flee shall not g
2 away; and such of them as escape shall not be saved. Thongi they hide themselves in the mansion of the dead, thence H hand w ill drag them up. And though they climb up to heave:
3 thence I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will there search them out and take them. And should they go down from my sight into the depths of the sea, I will there give orders to the dragon and he
4 bite them. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, I will there command the sword and it shall slay them. I wil indeed keep mine eyes fixed on them for evils and not fot
5 good—even I who am the Lord, the Lord God Almighty wb» touchcth the earth and shaketh it, and all its inhabitants shal mourn, and its destruction shall swell like a river, and flot
6 down like the river of Egypt; who buildeth his stairs up a heaven, and his tribunal on the foundations of the earth; win calleth to him the water of the sea and poureth it out on tb:
7 face of the earth, the Lord Almighty is his name.
Are not you, O Israelites, the same to me as the Ethiopians, saith the Lord. Did I not bring Israel up out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines out of Cappadocia and the SyriansfromBoth-
8 ras? Behold the eyes of the Lord God are against every kingdon of sinners, and I will cut it off from the face of the earth. Bu because I will not utterly destroy the house of Israel, saith th
9 Lord, therefore I order, and I will scatter the house oflsrac among all the nations, as if they were winnowed widi a fan,
10 and not a morsel of it shall fall on this land. By the sword ~ the sinners of my people shall die, who say, These evils shd not come near nor fall upon us.
11 In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David whichhal fallen; I will rebuild those parts of it which have fallen to dc cay, and repair what have been demolished. I will indeed r;
12 build it as in the days of old, that the rest of mankind ras seek [the Lord] even all the nations who are called by nv name, saith the Lord who doth all these things.
13 Behold the days are coming, saith the Lord, Whea tli harvester shall overtake the grape gatherer; and the grape sb begin to ripen at seeding time; and die mountains shall
14 sweet wine; and all the hills shall be planted. And I will brinf
back the captivity of my people Israel; and they shall rebuild the wasted cities and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof; and make gardens and eat 15 the fruits of them. I will indeed plant them in their own land; and they shall no more be rooted up from the land, which I have given them, saith the Lord God Almighty.