1 The words of Amos,
who was among the herdman 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, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice
from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn,
and the top of Carmel shall wither.
3 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus,
and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because
they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:
4 But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall
devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.
5 I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant
from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from
the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity
unto Kir, saith the LORD.
6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and
for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because
they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them
up to Edom:
7 But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which 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 mine hand
against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,
saith the Lord GOD.
9 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and
for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because
they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered
not the brotherly covenant:
10 But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall
devour the palaces thereof.
11 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and
for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because
he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all
pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath
for ever:
12 But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the
palaces of Bozrah.
13 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the children
of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment
thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of
Gilead, that they might enlarge their border:
14 But 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 the LORD.
Chapter 2
1 Thus saith the
LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will
not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the
bones of the king of Edom into lime:
2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the
palaces of Kerioth: 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 the LORD.
4 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and
for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because
they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his
commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which
their fathers have walked:
5 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the
palaces of Jerusalem.
6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and
for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because
they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair
of shoes;
7 That pant 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 maid, to profane my holy name:
8 And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by
every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the
house of their god.
9 Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was
like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks;
yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
10 Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you
forty years through 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, O ye children of Israel?
saith the LORD.
12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the
prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that
is full of sheaves.
14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the
strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty
deliver himself:
15 Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that
is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he
that rideth the horse deliver himself.
16 And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away
naked in that day, saith the LORD.
Chapter 3
1 Hear this word
that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel,
against the whole family which I brought up from the land of
Egypt, saying,
2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore
I will punish you for all your iniquities.
3 Can 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, where no gin is
for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have
taken nothing at all?
6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be
afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not
done it?
7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his
secret unto his servants the prophets.
8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD 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 tumults in the midst thereof,
and the oppressed in the midst thereof.
10 For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store
up violence and robbery in their palaces.
11 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An adversary there shall
be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength
from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.
12 Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth
of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children
of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of
a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.
13 Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord
GOD, the God of hosts,
14 That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of
Israel upon him I will also visit 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 the great houses shall
have an end, saith the LORD.
Chapter 4
1 Hear this word,
ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which
oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their
masters, Bring, and let us drink.
2 The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days
shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks,
and your posterity with fishhooks.
3 And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which
is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith
the LORD.
4 Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression;
and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after
three years:
5 And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim
and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children
of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned
unto me, saith the LORD.
7 And also I 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
was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water;
but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me,
saith the LORD.
9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens
and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased,
the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto
me, saith the LORD.
10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of
Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have
taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps
to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto
me, saith the LORD.
11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning:
yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because
I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the
wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh
the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the
earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.
Chapter 5
1 Hear ye this word
which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of
Israel.
2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she
is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
3 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand
shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred
shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
4 For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye
me, and ye shall live:
5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to
Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel
shall come to nought.
6 Seek the LORD, 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 leave off righteousness
in the earth,
8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars 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: The LORD is his name:
9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that
the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him
that speaketh uprightly.
11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and
ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn
stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant
vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.
12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins:
they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside
the poor in the gate from their right.
13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for
it is an evil time.
14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD,
the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment
in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious
unto the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus;
Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the
highways, 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
thee, saith the LORD.
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end
is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
19 As if a man did flee 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 the LORD be darkness, and not light?
even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in
your solemn assemblies.
22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings,
I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings
of your fat beasts.
23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will
not hear the melody of thy viols.
24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as
a mighty stream.
25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness
forty years, O house of Israel?
26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun
your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,
saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts. |