THE BOOK OF AMOS
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 said 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-ha'dad.
5 I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the
inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holds
the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria
shall go into captivity unto Kir, said the LORD.
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 holds the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn
mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the
Philistines shall perish, said the Lord GOD.
9 Thus said 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 said 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 said 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, said the LORD.
AMOS 2
1 Thus said 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, said the LORD.
4 Thus said 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 said 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 you children of Israel? said the LORD.
12 But you 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 handles the bow;
and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself:
neither shall he that rides the horse deliver himself.
16 And he that is courageous among the mighty
shall flee away naked in that day, said the LORD.
AMOS 3
1 Hear this word that the LORD has 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 has 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 has not done it?
7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing,
but he reveals his secret unto his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD
has 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, said the LORD,
who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.
11 Therefore thus said the Lord GOD;
An adversary there shall be even round about the land;
and he shall bring down your strength from you,
and your palaces shall be spoiled.
12 Thus said the LORD; As the shepherd takes
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 you, and testify in the house of Jacob,
said 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, said the LORD.
AMOS 4
1 Hear this word, you cows 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 has 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 you shall go out at the breaches, every cow at
that which is before her; and you shall cast them
into the palace, said 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 likes you, O you children of Israel, said 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 you not returned unto me, said the LORD.
7 And also I have withheld 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 you not returned
unto me, said 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 you not returned unto me,
said 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 you not
returned unto me, said the LORD .
11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew
Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a firebrand
plucked out of the burning: yet have you not returned
unto me, said the LORD.
12 Therefore thus will I do unto you, O Israel:
and because I will do this unto you, prepare
to meet your God, O Israel.
13 For, lo, he that forms the mountains, and creates the wind,
and declares unto man what is his thought, that makes
the morning darkness, and treads upon the high places
of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.
AMOS 5
1 Hear you 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 said 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 said the LORD unto the house of Israel,
Seek you me, and you 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 you 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 You who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off
righteousness in the earth,
8 Seek him that makes the seven stars and Orion,
and turns the shadow of death into the morning,
and makes the day dark with night: that calls for the waters
of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth:
The LORD is his name:
9 That strengthens the spoiled against the strong, so that
the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
10 They hate him that rebukes in the gate, and they abhor
him that speaks uprightly.
11
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 you may live:
and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you,
as you 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,
said 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 suc
h as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing:
for I will pass through you, said 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 you 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 you away from me the noise of your songs;
for I will not hear the melody of your viols.
25 Have you offered unto me sacrifices and offerings
in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
24 But let judgment run down as waters, and
righteousness as a mighty stream.
25 Have you offered unto me sacrifices and offerings
in the wilderness
forty years, O house of Israel?
26 But you have borne the tabernacle of your
Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god,
which you made to yourselves.
27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity
beyond Damascus, said 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 you unto Calneh, and see;
and from thence go you 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 You 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 music,
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 has sworn by himself,
said 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.
12 Shall horses run upon the rock?
will one plow there with oxen?
for you have turned judgment into gall,
and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
13 You 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, said the LORD the God of hosts;
and they shall afflict you from the entering in of
Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.
7 Thus has the Lord GOD showed 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 you: by whom shall
Jacob arise? for he is small.
3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, said the LORD.
4 Thus has the Lord GOD showed 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 you:
by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
6 The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be,
said the Lord GOD.
7 Thus he showed 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 you?
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 has conspired
against you in the midst of the house of Israel: the land
is not able to bear all his words.
11 For thus Amos said, 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 you seer, go
, flee you 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 you the word of the LORD:
You sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop
not your word against the house of Isaac.
17 Therefore thus said the LORD; Your wife
shall be an harlot in the city, and your sons
and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
and your land shall be divided by line; and you shall die
in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into
captivity forth of his land.
AMOS 8
1 Thus has the Lord GOD showed unto me:
and behold a basket of summer fruit.
2 And he said, Amos, what seest you?
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, said the Lord GOD: there shall be
many dead bodies in every place; they shall
cast them forth with silence.
4 Hear this, O you 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 has 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 dwells 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,
said 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, said 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, Your god, O Dan, lives; and,
The manner of Beersheba lives; even they shall fall,
and never rise up again.
9 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 flees of them shall not
flee away, and he that escapes 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 touches
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 builds his stories in the heaven,
and has founded his troop in the earth;
he that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours
them out upon the face of the earth:
The LORD is his name.
7 Are you not as children of the Ethiopians
unto me, O children of Israel? said 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, said 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,
said the LORD that does this.
13 Behold, the days come, said the LORD, that
the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
and the treader of grapes him that sows 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,
said the LORD your God.
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