The Book of

Amos

1

1 The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen 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. 2 And he said, Jehovah roareth from Zion, and uttereth his voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withereth. 3 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke [ my sentence], because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron. 4 And I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad. 5 And I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Beth-Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith Jehovah. 6 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Gazah, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver [ them] up to Edom. 7 And I will send a fire on the wall of Gazah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof. 8 And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord Jehovah. 9 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant. 10 And I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour the palaces thereof. 11 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity; and his anger did tear continually, and he kept his wrath for ever. 12 And I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. 13 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border. 14 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind. 15 And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith Jehovah.

2

1 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. 2 And I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerijoth; and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, [ and] with the sound of the trumpet. 3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith Jehovah. 4 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they have despised the law of Jehovah, and have not kept his statutes; and their lies have caused them to err, after which their fathers walked. 5 And I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. 6 Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; 7 panting after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turning aside the way of the meek; and a man and his father will go in unto the [ same] maid, to profane my holy name. 8 And they lay [ themselves] down by every altar upon clothes taken in pledge, and they drink [ in] the house of their° 2.8 Elohim God the wine of the condemned. 9 But I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was as the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; but I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. 10 And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, ye children of Israel? saith Jehovah. 12 And ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. 13 Behold, I will press upon you, as a cart presseth that is full of sheaves. 14 And flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver his soul. 15 Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and the swift of foot shall not escape, and he that rideth the horse shall not deliver his soul; 16 and he that is stout-hearted among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith Jehovah.

3

1 Hear this word that Jehovah hath spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, 2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities. 3 Shall two walk together except they be agreed? 4 Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den if he have taken nothing? 5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth when no gin [ is laid] for him? Will the snare spring up from the earth when nothing at all hath been taken? 6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and Jehovah not have done [ it]? 7 But the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. 8 The lion hath roared, — who will not fear? The Lord Jehovah hath spoken, — who can but prophesy? 9 Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great uproar in the midst thereof, and the oppressions that are within her: 10 and they know not to do right, saith Jehovah, who store up violence and plunder in their palaces. 11 Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: An adversary! — even round about the land! And he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be pillaged. 12 Thus saith Jehovah: Like as the shepherd rescueth out of the jaw of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be rescued that sit in Samaria in the corner of a couch, and upon the damask of a bed. 13 Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord Jehovah, the° 3.13 Elohim God of hosts, 14 that in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also punish the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. 15 And I will smite the winter-house with the summer-house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and many houses shall have an end, saith Jehovah.

4

1 Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say to their lords, Bring, and let us drink: 2 the Lord Jehovah hath sworn by his holiness, that behold, days shall come upon you, when he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks; 3 and ye shall go out by the breaches, every one straight before her, and ye shall be cast out to Harmon, saith Jehovah. 4 Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices in the morning, your tithes every three days, 5 and burn a thank-offering with leaven, and proclaim, publish, voluntary offerings: for this pleaseth you, children of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah. 6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet ye have not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. 7 And I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece [ of land] was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. 8 And two, three, cities wandered unto one city, to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. 9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew; the palmer-worm hath devoured the multitude of your gardens, and your vineyards, and your fig-trees and your olive-trees: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. 10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, taking away captive your horses; and I made the stench of your camps to come up, even into your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. 11 I have overthrown among you, like° 4.11 ElohimGod’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah. 12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy ° 4.12 Elohim God, O Israel. 13 For behold, he who formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, who maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, — Jehovah, the° 4.13 Elohim God of hosts, is his name.

5

1 Hear this word, a lamentation, which I take up against you, O house of Israel. 2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more arise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up. 3 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, for the house of Israel. 4 For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and ye shall live. 5 And seek not Bethel, neither go to Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought. 6 Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour [ it], and there be none to quench [ it] in Bethel. 7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth, 8 [seek him] that made the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: Jehovah is his name. 9 He causeth destruction to break forth suddenly upon the strong, and bringeth destruction upon the fortress. 10 They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. 11 Forasmuch, therefore, as ye trample upon the poor, and take from him presents of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, and ye shall not drink the wine of them. 12 For I know how manifold are your transgressions and your sins mighty: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside [ the right of] the needy in the gate. 13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in this time; for it is an evil time. 14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the° 5.14 Elohim God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye say. 15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that Jehovah, the° 5.15 Elohim God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. 16 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the° 5.16 Elohim God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all broadways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing. 17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah. 18 Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! To what end is the day of Jehovah for you? It shall be darkness and not light: 19 as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? 21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will not smell [ a sweet odour] in your solemn assemblies. 22 For if ye offer up unto me burnt-offerings and your oblations, I will not accept [ them]; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fatted beasts. 23 Take away from me the noise of thy songs, and I will not hear the melody of thy lutes; 24 but let judgment roll down as waters, and righteousness as an ever-flowing stream. 25 Did ye bring unto me sacrifices and oblations in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of your Moloch, and Chiun your images, the star of your° 5.26 Elohim god, which ye had made to yourselves; 27 and I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith Jehovah, whose name is the° 5.27 Elohim God of hosts.

6

1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion and that are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the renowned of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come. 2 Pass unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go to Hamath the great; and go down to Gath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border? 3 Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; 4 that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves from the midst of the stall; 5 that chant to the sound of the lute, [ and] invent them instruments of music, like David; 6 that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments; but are not grieved for the breach of Joseph. 7 Therefore shall they now go captive, with the first that go captive, and the revelry of them that stretched themselves shall pass away. 8 The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by himself, saith Jehovah, the° 6.8 Elohim God of hosts, I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his palaces; and I will deliver up the city with all that is therein. 9 And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. 10 And a man’s uncle, and he that should burn him, shall take him up to bring out the bones from the house, and shall say unto him that is in the inner parts of the house, Is there yet [ any] with thee? and he shall say, None. And he will say, Silence! for we may not make mention of Jehovah’s name. 11 For behold, Jehovah commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts. 12 Shall horses run upon the rock? will [men] plough [thereon] with oxen? For ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood, 13 — ye that rejoice in a thing of nought, that say, Have we not taken to us power by our own strength? 14 For behold, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah the° 6.14 Elohim God of hosts, I will raise up against you a nation; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hamath unto the torrent of the Arabah.

7

1 Thus did the Lord Jehovah shew unto me; and behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. 2 And it came to pass, when they had wholly eaten the grass of the land, that I said, O Lord Jehovah, forgive, I beseech thee! How shall Jacob arise? for he is small. 3 Jehovah repented for this: It shall not be, said Jehovah. 4 Thus did the Lord Jehovah shew unto me; and behold, the Lord Jehovah called to contend by fire; and it devoured the great deep, and ate up the inheritance. 5 Then said I, O Lord Jehovah, cease, I beseech thee! How shall Jacob arise? for he is small. 6 Jehovah repented for this: This also shall not be, said the Lord Jehovah. 7 Thus did he shew unto me; and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall [made] by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand. 8 And Jehovah said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumb-line. And the Lord said, Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more. 9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolated, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will arise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. 10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos saith: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall certainly go into captivity out of his land. 12 And Amaziah said unto Amos, [Thou] seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there. 13 But prophesy not again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom. 14 And Amos answered and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. 15 And Jehovah took me as I followed the flock, and Jehovah said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. 16 And now hear thou the word of Jehovah: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and utter not [ words] against the house of Isaac. 17 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided with the line; and thou shalt die in a land that is unclean; and Israel shall certainly go into captivity, out of his land.

8

1 Thus did Jehovah shew unto me; and behold, a basket of summer-fruit. 2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer-fruit. And Jehovah said unto me, The end is come upon my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more. 3 And the songs of the palace shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah. The dead bodies shall be many; in every place they shall be cast forth. Silence! 4 Hear this, ye that pant after the needy, even to cause to fail the poor of the land, 5 saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat? making the ephah small and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances for deceit: 6 that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and that we may sell the refuse of the wheat. 7 Jehovah hath sworn by the glory of Jacob, Certainly I will never forget any of their works. 8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? And it shall wholly rise up like the Nile; and it shall surge and sink down, as the river of Egypt. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the land in the clear day. 10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only [ son], and the end thereof as a bitter day. 11 Behold, days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, when I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah. 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it. 13 In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst; 14 they that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, [ As] thy ° 8.14 Elohim god, O Dan, liveth! and, [ As] the way of Beer-sheba liveth! even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

9

1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar; and he said, Smite the chapiter that the thresholds may shake; and break all of them in pieces, in the head; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not get away by flight, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. 2 Though they dig into Sheol, thence shall my hand take them; and though they climb up to the heavens, thence will I bring them down; 3 and though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there will I command the serpent, and it shall bite them; 4 and though they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. 5 And the Lord Jehovah of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it melteth, and all that dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall wholly rise up like the Nile, and sink down as the river of Egypt. 6 It is he that buildeth his upper chambers in the heavens, and hath founded his vault upon the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: Jehovah is his name. 7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith Jehovah. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth: only that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah. 9 For behold, I command, and I will shake the house of Israel to and fro among all the nations, like as one shaketh [corn] in a sieve; yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, Evil shall not overtake nor befall us. 11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David which is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations upon whom my name is called, saith Jehovah who doeth this. 13 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop new wine, and all the hills shall melt. 14 And I will turn again the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; and they shall make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith Jehovah thy ° 9.15 Elohim God.