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.
Amos - 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.
Amos - 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.
Amos - 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.
Amos - 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.
Amos - Chapter 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 Hamath unto the
river of the wilderness.
Amos - Chapter 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 - Chapter 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 Beer-sheba liveth;
even they shall fall, and never rise up again.
Amos - Chapter 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.