\NormalFont\ShortTitle{Amos}

{\MT Amos


\par }\ChapOne{1}{\PP \VerseOne{1}The words of 'Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he foresaw concerning Israel in the days of 'Uzziyah the king of Judah, and in the days of Jerobo'am the son of Joash the king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

\VS{2}And he said, The Lord will cry aloud out of Zion, and from Jerusalem will he send forth his voice; and then shall mourn the pastures of the shepherds, and then shall dry up the top of Carmel.

\VS{3}Thus hath said the Lord, For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, will I not turn away their punishment; because they have threshed [the inhabitants of] Gil'ad with threshing instruments of iron;

\VS{4}And I will send a fire into the house of Chazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

\VS{5}And I will break the bars of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the valley of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of 'Eden: and the people of Syria shall be exiled unto Kir, saith the Lord.

\VS{6}Thus hath said the Lord, For three transgressions of Gazzah, and for four, will I not turn away their punishment; because they carried away exiles in full numbers, to deliver them up to Edom;

\VS{7}And I will send a fire against the wall of Gazzah, which shall devour her palaces;

\VS{8}And I will cut off the inhabitants 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 Eternal.

\VS{9}Thus hath said the Lord, For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, will I not turn away their punishment; because they delivered up the exiles in full numbers to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant;

\VS{10}And I will send a fire against the walls of Tyre, which shall devour her palaces.

\VS{11}Thus hath said the Lord, For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, will I not turn away their punishment; because he pursued with the sword his brother, and disregarded his mercy, and his anger tore in pieces continually, and he kept his wrath for ever:

\VS{12}And I will send out a fire against Theman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.

\VS{13}Thus hath said the Lord, For three transgressions of the children of 'Ammon, and for four, will I not turn away their punishment; because they have ripped up the pregnant women of Gil'ad, in order to enlarge their own territory;

\VS{14}And I will kindle a fire within the walls of Rabbah, which shall devour her palaces, with shouting on the day of battle, with a storm on the day of the tempest;

\VS{15}And their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together, saith the Lord.



\par }\Chap{2}{\PP \VerseOne{1}Thus hath said the Lord, For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, will I not turn away their punishment; because he burnt the bones of the king of Edom into lime;

\VS{2}And I will send a fire against Moab, which shall devour the palaces of Keriyoth: and Moab shall die in the tumult, in the shouting, amidst the sound of the cornet;

\VS{3}And I will cut off the judges from her midst, and all her princes will I slay, with him, saith the Lord.

\VS{4}Thus hath said the Lord, For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, will I not turn away their punishment; because they have despised the law of the Lord, and did not keep his statutes, and their lying idols caused them to err, after which their fathers had walked;

\VS{5}And I will send out a fire against Judah, which shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

\VS{6}Thus hath said the Lord, For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, will I not turn away their punishment; because they sold for silver the righteous, and the needy for a pair of shoes;

\VS{7}That are eager after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same young woman, in order to profane my holy name.

\VS{8}And upon pledged garments they stretch themselves out by every altar, and the wine of the condemned do they drink in the house of their gods.

\VS{9}Yet have I destroyed the Emorite from before them, whose height was like the height of cedars, and who was strong as the oaks; but I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

\VS{10}And it was I who have brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to take possession of the land of the Emorite.

\VS{11}And I have raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for nazarites: is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the Lord.

\VS{12}But ye have given the nazarites wine to drink; and concerning the prophets have ye commanded, saying, Ye shall not prophesy.

\VS{13}Behold, I press down [the ground] under you, as the wagon presseth [it] down that is full of sheaves.

\VS{14}And refuge shall vanish from the swift, and the strong shall not make use of his force, neither shall the mighty man escape with his life.

\VS{15}And he that handleth the bow shall not be able to stand; and he that is swift of foot shall not escape: neither shall he that rideth the horse escape with his life.

\VS{16}And he that is most courageous hearted among the mighty shall flee away naked on that day, saith the Lord.



\par }\Chap{3}{\PP \VerseOne{1}Hear this word which the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O children of Israel, concerning the whole family which I have brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,

\VS{2}Only you have I loved out of all the families of the earth: therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities.

\VS{3}Will two walk together, except they had agreed [to do so]?

\VS{4}Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion send forth his voice out of his den, unless he have caught something?

\VS{5}Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, when there is no gin for him? is ever a snare taken up from the ground, when it hath caught nothing at all?

\VS{6}Shall a cornet be blown in a city, and the people not become afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord have not done it?

\VS{7}For the Lord Eternal will do nothing, unless he have revealed his secret unto his servants the prophets.

\VS{8}The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord Eternal hath spoken, who will not prophesy?

\VS{9}Publish at the palaces in Ashdod, and at the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great confusions in her midst, and the oppressions [that are] within her.

\VS{10}For they know not how to act rightly, saith the Lord, who treasure up violence and robbery in their palaces.

\VS{11}Therefore thus hath said the Lord Eternal, The adversary [is there] and surroundeth the land: and he shall bring down from thee thy strength, and thy palaces shall be plundered.

\VS{12}Thus hath said the Lord, As the shepherd snatcheth out of the mouth of the lion [at most] two leg-bones, or a tip of the ear: so shall be delivered the children of Israel that sit in Samaria on the corner of a bed, and on Damascus couches.

\VS{13}Hear ye, and give warning in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord Eternal, the God of hosts.

\VS{14}For on the day when I visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, will I also inflict punishment on the altars of Beth-el: and then shall be hewn off the horns of the altar, and they shall fall to the ground.

\VS{15}And I will smite the winter-house together with the summer-house: and the houses of ivory shall disappear, and the great houses shall be no more, saith the Lord.



\par }\Chap{4}{\PP \VerseOne{1}Hear this word, O ye cows of Bashan, that are on the mount of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their lords, Bring, and let us drink.

\VS{2}Sworn hath the Lord Eternal by his holiness, that, lo, days are coming over you, when men will carry you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.

\VS{3}And through breaches in the wall shall ye go out, every one through that before her: and ye shall cast off your proud greatness, saith the Lord.

\VS{4}Go then to Beth-el, and transgress; to Gilgal, [and] multiply transgression; and bring in the morning your sacrifices, after three days your tithes:

\VS{5}And burn of leaven a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and proclaim and publish freewill-offerings; for so do you love [to do], O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord Eternal.

\VS{6}But, I also had indeed given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: and yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.

\VS{7}And I also had indeed withholden from you the rain, when it was yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and upon another city I caused it not to rain; one piece of land was rained upon, and another piece whereupon it rained not became dried up;

\VS{8}And two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: and yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.

\VS{9}I had smitten you with blasting and mildew; the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees did the caterpillar devour: and yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.

\VS{10}I had sent out against you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men with the sword, together with your captive horses; and I had caused the stench of your camps to ascend even into your nostrils; and yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord.

\VS{11}I had produced an overthrow among you, like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye became like a fire-brand snatched out of the burning: and yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.

\VS{12}Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: because then I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

\VS{13}For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning-dawn [and] darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, — The Lord, the God of hosts, is his name.



\par }\Chap{5}{\PP \VerseOne{1}Hear ye this word which I take up against you, as a lamentation, O house of Israel.

\VS{2}She is fallen, she will not rise again—the virgin of Israel: she is thrown down upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

\VS{3}For thus hath said the Lord Eternal, The city that goeth forth with a thousand shall retain but a hundred, and she that goeth forth with a hundred shall retain but ten, [left] to the house of Israel.

\VS{4}For thus hath said the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye for me, and ye shall live;

\VS{5}But seek not for Beth-el, and into Gilgal enter not, and to Beer-sheba' do not pass over; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Beth-el shall become naught.

\VS{6}Seek for the Lord, and ye shall live: so that he come not suddenly like fire over the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el;

\VS{7}Ye who change justice into wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth!

\VS{8}[But] he maketh the seven stars and Orion, and changeth into morning the shadow of death, and maketh the day dark into night; he it is that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out over the face of the earth: The Lord is his name;

\VS{9}That causeth wasting to prevail against the strong, so that wasting shall come against the fortress.

\VS{10}They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and him that speaketh uprightly they abhor.

\VS{11}Therefore forasmuch as you tread down upon the poor, and ye take from him onerous contributions of corn: if ye have built houses of hewn stone, ye shall not dwell in them; if ye have planted pleasant vineyards, ye shall not drink their wine.

\VS{12}For I know your manifold transgressions and your numerous sins: ye are those that are the adversaries of the just, that take a ransom, and that wrest [the cause of] the needy in the gate.

\VS{13}Therefore will the intelligent keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

\VS{14}Seek for the good, and not the evil, in order that ye may live: and so will the Lord, the God of hosts, be with you, as ye have said.

\VS{15}Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice firmly in the gate: perhaps the Lord the God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

\VS{16}Therefore thus hath said the Eternal, the God of hosts, the Lord, On all public places there is lamentation, and in all the streets they cry, Woe! woe! and they call the husbandman to mourning, and to lamentation those skilled in wailing.

\VS{17}And in all vineyards there is lamentation; for I will pass through thy midst, saith the Lord.

\VS{18}Woe unto you that long for the day of the Lord! for what do you wish the day of the Lord? it is [one of] darkness, and not of light.

\VS{19}As if a man were to flee from a lion, and a bear should meet him; and he enter into the house, and lean his hand against the wall, and a serpent should bite him.

\VS{20}Behold the day of the Lord is [one of] darkness, and not of light; yea, it is obscure, and hath no brightness.

\VS{21}I hate, I despise your feast-days, and I will not smell [the sacrifices] on your festive assemblies.

\VS{22}For though ye should offer me burnt-offerings and your meat-offerings, I will not accept them in favor: and the peace-offerings of your fatted cattle will I not look at.

\VS{23}Remove thou from around me the noise of thy songs: and the playing of thy psalteries I will not hear.

\VS{24}But let justice roll along like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

\VS{25}Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and meat-offerings in the wilderness [during] forty years, O house of Israel?

\VS{26}Bear then the canopy of your chief idol, and the figure of your images, the star of your god, which ye have made for yourselves.

\VS{27}And I will cause you to go into exile far beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, The God of hosts is his name.



\par }\Chap{6}{\PP \VerseOne{1}Woe to those that are free from care in Zion, and that are in safety on the mount of Samaria, who are named the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!

\VS{2}Pass ye over unto Calneh, and see; and go from there to Chamath-rabbah; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: whether they be better than these kingdoms? or whether their territory be greater than your territory?

\VS{3}[Ye] that deem far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

\VS{4}That lie upon beds of ivory, and are stretched out upon their couches, and eat lambs out of the flock, and calves out of the midst of the stall;

\VS{5}That chant to the sound of the psaltery, and like David's do they imagine their instrument of music to be;

\VS{6}That drink out of wine-bowls, and anoint themselves with the costliest of ointments; but who feel no pain for the wound of Joseph.

\VS{7}Therefore now shall they go into exile at the head of exiles, and the noisy banquet of those that were stretched out shall pass away.

\VS{8}The Lord Eternal hath sworn by his own existence, saith the Lord the God of hosts, I abhor the pride of Jacob, and his palaces do I hate: therefore will I surrender up [to the enemy] the city with all that filleth it.

\VS{9}And it shall come to pass, that if there remain ten men in one house, they shall die.

\VS{10}And should a man's uncle or relative carry him forth, to bring out the bones out of the house, and say unto him that is in the recesses of the house, Is there yet any one with thee? he will say, There is no one left. Then will he say, Be silent; for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord.

\VS{11}For, behold, the Lord commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.

\VS{12}Do horses ever run upon the rock? or will one plough there with oxen? that ye have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood;

\VS{13}Ye who rejoice for a thing of naught, who say, Have we not through our own strength procured ourselves horns?

\VS{14}For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the Lord the God of hosts, and they shall oppress you from the entrance of Chamath unto the brook of the wilderness.



\par }\Chap{7}{\PP \VerseOne{1}Thus did the Lord Eternal show unto me: and, behold, he was forming locusts in the beginning of the sprouting up of the latter groweth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings [was over].

\VS{2}And it came to pass, when they had made an end of eating up the herbs of the earth, that I said, O Lord Eternal, forgive, I beseech thee: how should Jacob be able to endure, since he is so small!

\VS{3}The Lord bethought himself of this: It shall not be, said the Lord.

\VS{4}Thus did the Lord Eternal show unto me: and, behold, the Lord Eternal called forth the punishment by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and consumed the ploughed field.

\VS{5}Then said I, O Lord Eternal, forbear, I beseech thee: how should Jacob be able to endure, since he is so small!

\VS{6}The Lord bethought himself of this: Also this shall not be, said the Lord Eternal.

\VS{7}Thus he showed unto me: and, behold, the Lord was standing upon a wall [made] by a plumbline, and in his hand was a plumbline.

\VS{8}And the Lord said unto me, What dost thou see, 'Amos? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel; I will not farther indulge them any more.

\VS{9}And the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid in ruins: and I will rise up against the house of Jerobo'am with the sword.

\VS{10}Then sent Amazyah, the priest of Beth-el, to Jerobo'am the 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.

\VS{11}For thus hath 'Amos said, By the sword shall Jerobo'am die, and Israel shall surely be led away into exile out of their own land.

\VS{12}And Amazyah said unto 'Amos, Seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and eat there [thy] bread, and there prophesy;

\VS{13}But at Beth-el prophesy not farther any more; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal residence.

\VS{14}Then answered 'Amos, and said to Amazyah, I am no prophet, nor am I a prophet's son; but I am a herdman, and a gatherer of wild figs;

\VS{15}But the Lord hath taken me away from behind the flocks, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

\VS{16}And now hear thou the word of the Lord, Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and preach not against the house of Isaac.

\VS{17}Therefore thus hath said the Lord, Thy wife will play the harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided out by the line; and thou shalt die in an unclean land; and Israel shall surely be led forth into exile out of their land.



\par }\Chap{8}{\PP \VerseOne{1}Thus did the Lord Eternal show unto me: and, behold, there was a basket of summer fruit.

\VS{2}And he said, What dost thou see, 'Amos? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come for my people Israel: I will not farther indulge them any more.

\VS{3}And the songs of the temple shall become a wailing on that day, saith the Lord Eternal: many shall be the dead bodies; in every place shall men throw them down, [saying,] Be silent.

\VS{4}Hear this, O ye that are greedy to swallow the needy, and to ruin the poor of the land,

\VS{5}Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell provision? and the sabbath, that we may open the corn-warehouses, making the ephah small, and increasing the shekel, and cheating with deceitful balances?

\VS{6}That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and even sell the refuse of the corn?

\VS{7}Sworn hath the Lord by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will not forget to eternity all their works.

\VS{8}Shall because of this the land not tremble, and mourn every one that dwelleth therein? and shall it not rise up like a stream wholly, and roll onward and sink again like the stream of Egypt?

\VS{9}And it shall come to pass on that day, saith the Lord Eternal, that I will cause the sun to set at noon, and I will bring darkness over the earth on a bright day;

\VS{10}And I will change your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentations; and I will bring upon all loins sackcloth, and upon every head baldness; and I will cause [the land] to mourn as one doth for an only son, and its end to be as a day of bitter [complaint].

\VS{11}Behold, days are coming, saith the Lord Eternal, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for water, but to hear the words of the Lord:

\VS{12}And they will wander about from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they will roam about to seek the word of the Lord; but they shall not find it.

\VS{13}On that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst;

\VS{14}Those that swear by the guilt of Samaria, and say, As thy god liveth, O Dan; and, As liveth the worshipped idol of Beer-sheba',—yea, they shall fall, and never rise up again.



\par }\Chap{9}{\PP \VerseOne{1}I saw the Lord standing upon the altar; and he said, Smite the capital, that the sills may quake; and break them in pieces over the head of all of them; and their posterity will I slay with the sword: there shall not flee away from them one that fleeth, and there shall not escape from them one that is saved.

\VS{2}Though they were to creep down into the nether world, thence would my hand fetch them; and though they were to climb up to the heavens, thence would I bring them down;

\VS{3}And though they were to hide themselves on the top of Carmel, thence would I search and take them out; and though they were to conceal themselves from before my eyes in the bottom of the sea, thence would I command the serpent, that he should bite them;

\VS{4}And though they were to go into captivity before their enemies, thence would I command the sword, that it should slay them: and I will set my eye upon them for evil, and not for good.

\VS{5}And the Lord Eternal of hosts it is that toucheth the earth, and she melteth away, and all that dwell thereon shall mourn; and she riseth up like a stream wholly; and she sinketh like the stream of Egypt;

\VS{6}That buildeth in the heavens his steps, and hath founded his vault over the earth; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out over the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.

\VS{7}Are ye not like the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord: have I not brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

\VS{8}Behold, the eyes of the Lord Eternal are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; save only that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.

\VS{9}For, lo, I will give the command, and I will shake about among all the nations the house of Israel, as one shaketh things in a sieve, while not the least piece falleth down upon the earth.

\VS{10}By the sword shall die all the sinners of my people, who say, The evil will not come near [us], nor hasten along for our sake.

\VS{11}On that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David which is fallen; and I will close up its breaches; and its ruins will I raise up, and I will rebuild it as in days of old:

\VS{12}In order that they may take possession of the remnant of Edom, and of all the nations, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doth this.

\VS{13}Behold, days are coming, saith the Lord, when the ploughman shall come close up to the harvester, and the treader of the grapes to the one that scattereth the seed: and the mountains shall drop with sweet new wine, and all the hills shall melt away.

\VS{14}And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the wasted cities, and dwell therein; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink their wine; and they shall lay out gardens, and eat their fruit.

\VS{15}And I will plant them upon their own soil, and they shall not be pulled up any more out of their land which I have given unto them, saith the Lord thy God.


\par }