1 The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen 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 says 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 who holds the scepter from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir, says the LORD.
6 Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they took away captive all the captives, 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 who holds the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turn my hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord GOD.
9 Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up all the captives to Edom, and did not remember the brotherly covenant:
10 But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, which shall devour the palaces thereof.
11 Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his anger for ever:
12 But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.
13 Thus says 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, says the LORD.
1 Thus says 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, says the LORD.
4 Thus says 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 which their fathers have walked:
5 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
6 Thus says 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 Who covet 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 to the same maid, to profane my holy name:
8 And they lay themselves down upon clothes given as a pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.
9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was as 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 some of your sons as prophets, and some of your young men as Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O you children of Israel? says the LORD.
12 But you gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
13 Behold, I am burdened under you, as a cart is burdened that is full of sheaves.
14 Therefore flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not gather his strength, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:
15 Neither shall he stand who handles the bow; and he who is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he who rides the horse deliver himself.
16 And he who is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, says the LORD.
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, unless they are in agreement?
4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has taken nothing?
5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no trap 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, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD has spoken, who can but prophesy?
9 Announce 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, says the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.
11 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; There shall be an adversary even round about the land; and he shall bring down your strength from you, and your palaces shall be plundered.
12 Thus says 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 who 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, says 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 strike the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, says the LORD.
1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who 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 through the broken places, every cow at that which is before her; and you shall throw them into the palace, says 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 announce the free offerings: for this pleases you, O you children of Israel, says the Lord GOD.
6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places: yet have you not returned to me, says 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 place was rained upon, and the place upon which it did not rain withered.
8 So two or three cities wandered to one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have you not returned to me, says the LORD.
9 I have stricken you with blight and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the creeping worm devoured them: yet have you not returned to me, says 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 to your nostrils: yet have you not returned to me, says the LORD.
11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire: yet have you not returned to me, says the LORD.
12 Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel: and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel.
13 For, lo, he who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.
1 Hear 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 says the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave a hundred, and that which went forth by a hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
4 For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, Seek me, and you shall live:
5 But do not seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and do not pass over to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
6 Seek the LORD, and you shall live, so that he does not 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 cease to do righteousness in the earth,
8 Seek him who makes the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night: who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
9 Who strengthens the oppressed against the strong, so that the oppressed shall come against the fortress.
10 They hate him who rebukes in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks uprightly.
11 Seeing therefore that your trampling is upon the poor, and you take from him loads of wheat: you have built houses of cut stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine from 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 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 justice in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, says thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the farmer to mourning, and those that are skilful at lamentation to wailing.
17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through you, says the LORD.
18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! to what purpose is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light,
19 As if a man fled 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 be pleased with your solemn assemblies.
22 Though you offer me burnt offerings and your food offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments.
24 But let justice flow down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
25 Have you offered to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 But you have carried the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.
27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.
1 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, who are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
2 Pass over to Calneh, and see; and from there go to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms? or their land larger than your land?
3 You who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
4 Who lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs from the flock, and the calves from the midst of the stall;
5 Who chant to the sound of the stringed instrument, and invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;
6 Who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first who go captive, and the banquet of those who stretched themselves out shall be removed.
8 The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, says the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellence of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is in it.
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 up his body, and he who burns him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say to him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with you? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold your tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.
11 For, behold, the LORD commands, and he will strike the great house with broken places, and the little house with cracks.
12 Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for you have turned justice into bitterness, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
13 You who rejoice in nothingness, who say, Have we not taken to ourselves dominion by our own strength?
14 But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, says the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the river of the wilderness.
1 Thus has the Lord GOD shown me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the springing 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 plead with you: by whom shall Jacob rise up again? for he is small.
3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, says the LORD.
4 Thus has the Lord GOD shown me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called for fire to dispute with them, and it devoured the great deep, and ate up a part of them.
5 Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I plead with you: by whom shall Jacob rise up again? for he is small.
6 The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, says the Lord GOD.
7 Thus he showed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
8 And the LORD said to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A plumb line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumb line 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 says, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.
12 Also Amaziah said to Amos, O you seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
13 But do not prophesy 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 a herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit:
15 And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.
16 Now therefore hear the word of the LORD: You say, Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not let your word fall against the house of Isaac.
17 Therefore thus says the LORD; Your wife shall be a 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 out of his land.
1 Thus has the Lord GOD shown me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
2 And he said, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD to me, The end has 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, says the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall throw them out in silence.
4 Hear this, you who 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 grain? 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 worthless part of the wheat?
7 The LORD has sworn by the excellence of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn who dwells in it? and all of it shall rise up like 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, says 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 are coming, says 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 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Your god, O Dan, lives; and, The way of Beer-sheba lives; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.
1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Strike the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and wound them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he of them who flees shall not flee away, and he of them who escapes shall not be delivered.
2 Though they dig into hell, from there shall my hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, from there will I bring them down:
3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
5 And the Lord GOD of hosts is he who touches the land, and it shall melt, and all who dwell in it shall mourn: and all of it shall rise up like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
6 It is he who builds his upper chambers in the heavens, and has established his multitude in the earth; he who 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 like children of the Ethiopians to me, O children of Israel? says the LORD. Have I not 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 the face of the earth; except that I will not completely destroy the house of Jacob, says the LORD.
9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as grain 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, who say, The evil shall not overtake nor come upon us.
11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the broken places 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, who are called by my name, says the LORD who does this.
13 Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; and the mountains shall drop down sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
14 And I will bring back 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 uprooted out of their land which I have given them, says the LORD your God.