Amos ( Book 30 )
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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, 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 Benhadad.
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.
Amos 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
Kirioth: 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.
Amos 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.
Amos 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.
Amos 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 Beersheba:
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.
Amos 6
1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of
Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of
Israel came!
2 Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the
great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be 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 out of the
midst of the stall;
5 That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves
instruments of musick, like David;
6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief
ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive,
and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.
8 The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I
abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I
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 shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring
out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the
sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No.
Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the
name of the LORD.
11 For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house
with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
12 Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye
have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into
hemlock:
13 Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to
us horns by our own strength?
14 But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel,
saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the
entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.
Amos 7
1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed
grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth;
and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.
2 And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the
grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee:
by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.
4 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD
called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat
up a part.
5 Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob
arise? for he is small.
6 The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord
GOD.
7 Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the LORD stood upon a wall made by a
plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.
8 And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? 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 again pass by them any more:
9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of
Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise 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
surely be led away captive out of their own land.
12 Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the
land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
13 But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's
chapel, and it is the king's court.
14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was
I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore
fruit:
15 And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto
me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.
16 Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy
not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.
17 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the
city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy
land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land:
and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.
Amos 8
1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed 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. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of
Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the
Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall
cast them forth with silence.
4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of
the land to fail,
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 by deceit?
6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of
shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely 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 rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast
out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will
cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth 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 of an
only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine
in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of
hearing the words of the LORD:
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the
east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and
shall not find it.
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan,
liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and
never rise up again.
Amos 9
1 I saw the LORD standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel
of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all
of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that
fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall
not be delivered.
2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though
they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:
3 And though they hide themselves in 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, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall
bite them:
4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence 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 GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall
melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up
wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
6 It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his
troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and
poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.
7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of
Israel? saith the LORD. 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 GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I
will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not
utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.
9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all
nations, like as corn is sifted 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, which say, The
evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen,
and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and
I will build it as in the days of old:
12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen,
which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.
13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake
the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the
mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they
shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant
vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens,
and eat the fruit of them.
15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be
pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD
thy God.