Amos

11The words of Amos, who was among the sheepbreeders from Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, the king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, the king of Israel, two years to the face of the earthquake.

2And he said,

“Yahweh roars from Zion,

and from Jerusalem he gives his voice,

and the pastures of the shepherds mourn,

and the head of Carmel dries up.”

3Thus says Yahweh,

“For three transgressions of Damascus,

and for four, I will not turn it back,

because of their threshing the Gilead

with the threshing sledges of iron.

4And I will send a fire into the house of Hazael,

and it will devour the citadels of Ben Hadad.

5And I will break the bar of Damascus,

and I will cut off the seated {one} from the Valley of Aven

and the one grasping the scepter from Beth Eden,

and the people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,”

says Yahweh.

6Thus says Yahweh,

“For three transgressions of Gaza,

and for four, I will not turn it back,

because of their taking into exile a complete exile,

to hand {them} over to Edom.

7And I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza,

and it will devour her citadels.

8And I will cut off the seated {one} from Ashdod,

and the one grasping the scepter from Ashkelon,

and I will turn back my hand against Ekron,

and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,”

says my Lord Yahweh.

9Thus says Yahweh,

“For three transgressions of Tyre,

and for four, I will not turn it back,

because of their handing over a complete exile to Edom,

and they did not remember the covenant of brothers.

10And I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre,

and it will devour her citadels.”

11Thus says Yahweh,

“For three transgressions of Edom,

and for four, I will not turn it back,

because of his pursuing his brother with the sword,

and he destroyed his compassions,

and his nose tore perpetually,

and his fury, he kept it continually.

12And I will send a fire on Teman,

and it will devour the citadels of Bozrah.”

13Thus says Yahweh,

“For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon,

and for four, I will not turn it back,

because of their ripping open the pregnant women of the Gilead,

in order to enlarge their border.

14And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah,

and it will devour her citadels,

with a shout in the day of battle,

with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind.

15And their king will go into the exile,

he and his officials together,”

says Yahweh.

21Thus says Yahweh,

“For three transgressions of Moab,

and for four, I will not turn it back,

because of his burning the bones of the king of Edom

to lime.

2And I will send a fire into Moab,

and it will devour the citadels of Kerioth,

and Moab will die in an uproar,

with a war cry, with the sound of the shofar.

3And I will cut off the judge from her midst,

and all of her officials I will kill with him,”

says Yahweh.

4Thus says Yahweh,

“For three transgressions of Judah,

and for four, I will not turn it back,

because of their rejecting the law of Yahweh,

and they did not keep his statutes,

and their lies led them astray,

which their fathers walked after them.

5And I will send a fire into Judah,

and it will devour the citadels of Jerusalem.”

6Thus says Yahweh,

“For three transgressions of Israel,

and for four, I will not turn it back,

because of their selling the righteous for silver,

and the needy in exchange for a pair of sandals,

7the ones trampling on the head of the poor to the dust of the earth,

and they turn aside the way of the afflicted,

and a man and his father go to the girl,

in order to profane the name of my holiness.

8And on garments taken in pledge they stretch out beside every altar,

and the wine of the fined {ones} they drink in the house of their God.

9But I, I destroyed the Amorite from their faces,

who like the height of cedars {was} his height,

and he {was} strong as the oaks,

and I destroyed his fruit from above

and his roots from beneath.

10And I, I brought you up from the land of Egypt,

and I led you in the wilderness forty years,

to possess the land of the Amorite.

11And I raised up from your sons as prophets,

and from your young men as Nazirites.

Is it not even so, sons of Israel?”—the declaration of Yahweh.

12“But you made the Nazirites drink wine,

and on the prophets you commanded, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy!’

13Behold, I am pressing down in your place,

just as the cart presses down, the one that is full of sheaves for it.

14And retreat will perish from the swift,

and the strong will not strengthen his power,

and the mighty will not save his life,

15and the one grasping the bow will not stand,

and the swift on his feet will not save {himself},

and the one riding the horse will not save his life.

16And the strong of his heart among the mighty,

naked he will flee in that day”—the declaration of Yahweh.

31Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against all of the family that I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,

2“Only you have I known

from all of the families of the ground.

Therefore I will visit upon you

all of your iniquities.

3Will two walk together,

unless they have agreed?

4Will a lion roar in the forest

when there is no prey for him?

Will a young lion give his voice from his den,

unless he has caught {something}?

5Will a bird fall into a snare {on} the ground

when there is no trap for it?

Will a snare spring up from the ground,

when capturing, it will not capture?

6Or a shofar is blown in a city,

and the people do not tremble?

Or disaster happens in a city,

and Yahweh has not done {it}?

7For the Lord Yahweh will not do a thing

unless he has revealed his secret counsel to his servants the prophets.

8The lion has roared;

who will not fear?

The Lord Yahweh has spoken;

who will not prophesy?

9Cause {people} to hear on the citadels in Ashdod,

and on the citadels in the land of Egypt,

and say, ‘Be gathered on the mountains of Samaria,

and see the great uproars in her midst,

and the oppressed within her.’

10And they do not know to do right”—the declaration of Yahweh—

“those storing up violence and destruction in their citadels.”

11Therefore, thus says the Lord Yahweh,

“An adversary—and around the land!

And he will bring down from you your strength,

and your citadels will be plundered.”

12Thus says Yahweh:

“As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion

two legs or a piece of an ear,

thus will the sons of Israel be rescued, the ones dwelling in Samaria,

with a side of a bed and with a cover of a couch.

13Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob”—the declaration of the Lord Yahweh, the God of Armies—

14“for in the day of my visiting the transgressions of Israel upon him,

I will also visit upon the altars of Bethel,

and the horns of the altar will be cut off,

and they will fall to the ground.

15And I will strike the winter house with the summer house,

and the houses of ivory will perish,

and great houses will come to an end”—the declaration of Yahweh.

41Listen to this word, cows of Bashan,

who are in the mountain of Samaria,

the ones oppressing the poor,

the ones crushing the needy,

the ones saying to their masters,

“Bring, and let us drink.”

2The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness

that, behold, the days are coming upon you

when he will lift you up with hooks,

and the last of you with hooks of fishery.

3And {through} the breaches you will go out, a woman in front of her,

and you will throw {yourselves} out toward Harmon

—the declaration of Yahweh.

4Go to Bethel and transgress,

to Gilgal and multiply to transgress,

and bring your sacrifices in the morning,

your tithes every three days.

5And make a thank offering smoke from what is leavened,

and call out freewill offerings; make {people} hear!

For thus you have loved, sons of Israel

—the declaration of the Lord Yahweh.

6And even I, I gave to you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,

and lack of bread in all your places,

yet you did not return as far as me

—the declaration of Yahweh.

7And also I, I withheld from you the rain

with still three months to the harvest.

And I made it rain on one city,

and on one city I did not make it rain;

one portion was rained on,

and a portion which it did not rain on it dried up.

8And two–three cities staggered to one city to drink water,

but they were not satisfied,

yet you did not return as far as me

—the declaration of Yahweh.

9I struck you with blight and with mildew;

the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees

the locust devoured,

yet you did not return as far as me

—the declaration of Yahweh.

10I sent among you a plague in the way of Egypt;

I killed your young men with the sword, along with the captivity of your horses,

and I made the stench of your camp come up, and into your nostrils,

yet you did not return as far as me

—the declaration of Yahweh.

11I overthrew among you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

and you were like a firebrand snatched from a burning,

yet you did not return as far as me

—the declaration of Yahweh.

12Therefore, thus I will do to you, Israel;

for the reason that I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, Israel!

13For behold, the {one} forming the mountains and creating the wind,

and declaring to man what {is} his thought,

making dawn darkness,

and treading on the high places of the earth—

Yahweh, God of Armies, {is} his name.

51Hear this word that I am lifting up over you,

a lamentation, house of Israel:

2She has fallen; she will not repeat to rise,

the virgin Israel.

She is forsaken on her land;

there is no one raising her up.

3For thus says the Lord Yahweh,

“The city going out a thousand will leave a hundred remaining,

and the one going out a hundred will leave ten remaining

for the house of Israel.”

4For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel,

“Seek me and live,

5and do not seek Bethel,

and do not go to Gilgal,

and do not cross over to Beersheba;

for Gilgal, going into exile, will go into exile,

and Bethel will become iniquity.”

6Seek Yahweh and live,

lest he break out like fire {in} the house of Joseph,

and it consumes, and there is no extinguisher for Bethel,

7the {ones} turning justice into wormwood,

and they cast righteousness to the ground!

8The maker of the Pleiades and Orion,

turning deep darkness into morning;

he darkens day into night;

calling for the waters of the sea,

he pours them out on the face of the earth—

Yahweh is his name—

9the one making destruction flash against the strong,

and destruction comes against the fortress.

10They hate the reprover in the gate,

and they abhor the one speaking blamelessly.

11Therefore, because of your trampling on the poor

and you take a tax of grain from him:

you have built houses of hewn stone,

but you will not dwell in them;

you have planted vineyards of desire,

but you will not drink their wine.

12For I know your transgressions {are} many,

and your sins {are} mighty—

oppressors of the righteous, takers of a bribe,

and they turn aside the needy in the gate.

13Therefore the prudent will be still in that time,

for it {is} an evil time.

14Seek good, and not evil,

so that you may live;

and thus may Yahweh, God of Armies, be with you,

just as you have said.

15Hate evil, and love good,

and establish justice in the gate;

perhaps Yahweh, God of Armies, will be gracious

to the remnant of Joseph.

16Therefore thus says Yahweh, God of Armies, the Lord,

“In all plazas {there will be} wailing,

and in all streets they will say, ‘Alas! Alas!’

And they will call the farmer to mourning,

and wailing to those knowing a lament.

17And in all the vineyards {there will be} wailing,

for I will pass through your midst,” says Yahweh.

18Woe to the ones desiring the day of Yahweh!

What {is} this to you, the day of Yahweh?

It {is} darkness and not light.

19As when a man flees from the face of the lion,

and the bear meets him;

or goes into the house and rests his hand on the wall,

and the snake bites him.

20{Is} not the day of Yahweh darkness, and not light?

Even gloom, with no brightness in it?

21“I hate, I reject your feasts,

and I will not smell in your assemblies.

22For if you offer up to me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,

I will not accept {them};

and the peace offering of your fattened animals,

I will not look at.

23Remove from me the noise of your songs;

and the music of your harps I will not hear.

24But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

25Did you bring near to me sacrifices and a grain offering

in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?

26But you carried Sikkuth your king,

and Kiyyun your images, the star of your gods,

which you made for yourselves.

27So I will exile you from farther than Damascus,”

says Yahweh, God of Armies {is} his name.

61Woe to the ones at ease in Zion,

and {to} the ones trusting in the mountain of Samaria,

designated {ones} of the first of the nations

—and to them the house of Israel comes!

2Cross over to Calneh and see,

and go from there to Hamath Rabbah,

and go down to Gath of the Philistines.

{Are} they better than these kingdoms?

Or {is} their border greater than your border?

3—the ones putting far off the evil day,

but you bring near a seat of violence;

4—the ones lying on beds of ivory,

and sprawling on their couches,

and eating young rams from the flock,

and calves from the midst of the stall;

5—the ones improvising on the mouth of the harp;

like David they devised for themselves instruments of song;

6—the ones drinking from bowls of wine,

and they anoint {themselves} with the first of oils,

but they are not grieved over the breaking of Joseph.

7Therefore, now they will go into exile at the head of the exiles,

and the revelry of the sprawling ones will depart.

8The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his soul—the declaration of Yahweh, the God of Armies—

“I am abhorring the pride of Jacob,

and his citadels I hate,

and I will give over a city and its fullness.”

9And it will happen, if ten men remain in one house, then they will die. 10And his kinsman and the one burning him will lift him up to bring out the bones from the house, and he will say to the one who {is} in the innermost parts of the house, “Is there yet {anyone} with you?” and he will say, “None.” Then he will say, “Hush! For not to make mention of the name of Yahweh.”

11For, behold, Yahweh is commanding,

and he will strike the great house into fragments,

and the small house into fissures.

12Do horses run on the cliff?

Or does one plow {it} with oxen?

For you have turned justice into poisonweed,

and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood;

13—the ones rejoicing over Lo Debar,

the ones saying, “Have we not by our strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?”

14“For behold me raising up against you, house of Israel”—the declaration of Yahweh, the God of Armies—

“a nation, and they will oppress you,

from Lebo Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.”

71Thus the Lord Yahweh made me see, and behold, {he} was forming a locust swarm at the beginning of the coming up of the latter growth. And behold, the latter growth {was} after the mowings of the king. 2And it happened, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, “Lord Yahweh, please forgive! How will Jacob stand? For he {is} small.” 3Yahweh relented concerning this. “It will not be,” said Yahweh.

4Thus the Lord Yahweh made me see, and behold, the Lord Yahweh was calling to contend by fire. And it devoured the great deep and was devouring the portion. 5And I said, “Lord Yahweh, please cease! How will Jacob stand? For he {is} small.” 6Yahweh relented concerning this. “This also will not be,” said the Lord Yahweh.

7Thus he made me see, and behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall of a plumb line, and in his hand {was} a plumb line. 8And Yahweh said to me, “What are you seeing, Amos?” And I said, “A plumb line.” And the Lord said,

“Behold me placing a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel.

I will not again repeat to pass over him.

9And the high places of Isaac will be deserted,

and the sanctuaries of Israel will be desolate,

and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

10Then 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 contain all of his words. 11For thus Amos says, ‘By the sword Jeroboam will die, and Israel, going into exile, will go into exile from upon his ground.’”

12And Amaziah said to Amos, “Seer, go, flee for yourself to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and there you shall prophesy. 13But {at} Bethel you shall not repeat to prophesy again, for it {is} a sanctuary of the king, and it {is} a house of a kingdom.”

14And Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I {am} not a prophet, and I {am} not a son of a prophet, for I {am} a herdsman, and a tender of sycamore figs. 15But Yahweh took me from after the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16And now, hear the word of Yahweh. You are saying, ‘You shall not prophesy against Israel, and you shall not drip against the house of Isaac.’ 17Therefore, thus says Yahweh,

‘Your wife will prostitute herself in the city,

and your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword,

and your ground will be divided by the measuring line,

and you, you will die on unclean ground,

and Israel, going into exile, will go into exile from upon his ground.’”

81Thus the Lord Yahweh made me see, and behold, a basket of summer fruit! 2And he said, “What are you seeing, Amos?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” And Yahweh said to me,

“The end has come to my people Israel;

I will not repeat again to pass over him.

3And the songs of the temple will wail in that day”—the declaration of the Lord Yahweh—

“many {are} the corpses;

in every place one has thrown {them}. Hush!”

4Hear this, the ones trampling the needy

and to cause the afflicted of the land to cease,

5saying, “When will the new moon pass, that we may sell grain,

and the Sabbath, that we may open wheat,

to make the ephah small and to make the shekel great,

and to pervert balances of deceit,

6to buy the poor with silver

and the needy in exchange for a pair of sandals,

and the refuse of grain we will sell?”

7Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob,

“If I ever forget all of their deeds.

8Will not the land tremble over this,

and everyone dwelling in it mourn?

And all of it will rise like the Nile,

and be cast up and sunk, like the Nile of Egypt.

9And it will happen in that day”—the declaration of the Lord Yahweh—

“that I will make the sun set at noon,

and I will darken the land in a day of light.

10And I will turn your feasts into mourning

and all of your songs into a lament.

And I will bring up sackcloth on all loins,

and baldness on every head.

And I will make it like the mourning for an only child,

and its end like a bitter day.

11Behold, days are coming”—the declaration of the Lord Yahweh—

“when I will send a famine in the land,

not a famine for bread, and not a thirst for water,

but rather to hear the words of Yahweh.

12And they will stagger from sea to sea,

and from the north and to the sunrise;

they will rove about to seek the word of Yahweh,

but they will not find it.

13In that day, the beautiful virgins will faint,

and the young men, from thirst—

14the ones swearing by the guilt of Samaria,

and they say, ‘By the life of your god, Dan!’

and, ‘By the life of the way of Beersheba!’—

and they will fall, and they will not rise again.”

91I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said,

“Strike the capital so that the thresholds shake,

and cut them off on the head of all of them,

and their end I will kill with the sword.

A fleeing one will not flee for them,

and a fugitive will not escape for them.

2If they dig into Sheol,

from there my hand will take them.

And if they go up to the heavens,

from there I will bring them down.

3And if they hide themselves in the head of Carmel,

from there I will search out and take them.

And if they are hidden from before my eyes in the floor of the sea,

from there I will command the serpent and it will bite them.

4And if they go in captivity to the face of their enemies,

from there I will command the sword and it will kill them.

And I will set my eye on them for evil

and not for good.”

5And the Lord Yahweh of Armies,

the one touching the earth and it melts,

and all of the dwellers in it mourn,

and all of it goes up like the Nile,

and it sinks like the Nile of Egypt;

6the one building his stairs in the heavens,

and his vault, over the earth he founded it,

the one calling to the waters of the sea,

and he pours them out upon the face of the earth—

Yahweh {is} his name.

7“Are you not like the sons of the Cushites to me, sons of Israel?”—the declaration of Yahweh—

“Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt,

and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?

8Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom,

and I will destroy it from upon the face of the ground.

Nevertheless, destroying, I will not destroy the house of Jacob”—the declaration of Yahweh.

9“For behold, I am commanding,

and I will shake the house of Israel among all of the nations,

just as it is shaken in the sieve,

and a pebble will not fall to the earth.

10By the sword all of the sinners of my people will die,

the ones saying, ‘The evil will not approach or reach as far as us.’

11In that day, I will raise up the fallen booth of David,

and I will wall up their breaches,

and I will raise up his ruins,

and I will build it as {in} the days of antiquity,

12so that they may possess the remnant of Edom

and all of the nations whom my name is called over them”—

the declaration of Yahweh, the one doing this.

13“Behold, days are coming”—the declaration of Yahweh—

“and the plower will approach the reaper,

and the treader of grapes to the sower of the seed,

and the mountains will drip sweet wine,

and all of the hills will melt.

14And I will restore the restoration of my people Israel,

and they will build desolated cities and dwell {there},

and they will plant vineyards and drink their wine,

and they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

15And I will plant them upon their ground,

and they will not be uprooted again from upon their ground

that I gave to them,” says Yahweh your God.