Book of Amos

The Word of the Lord that came to Amos in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. And the Lord said, He roared from Zion, from Jerusalem, and gave His voice to the shepherds, and the pastures withered, and the top of Carmel dried up. And the Lord said, concerning the three sins of Damascus, I will not turn away their four transgressions, because they threshed Gilead with iron sledges. And I will send fire upon the house of Hazael, and it will consume the foundations of the son of Ader. And I will shake the fortresses of Damascus, and I will banish those who dwell in the fields of Aven, until I destroy the peoples of the land of Ken, and they will carry away the good of the people of Syria, says the Lord. Thus says the Lord, concerning the three sins of Gaza, and concerning the four transgressions I will not turn them away, because they carried away the captivity of Solomon, as they would lead them into Edom.

And I will send fire upon the refuse of Gaza, and it will consume its foundations. And I will drive out those who dwell in Azotus, and the peoples of Ashkelon will perish, and I will stretch out my hand against Ekron, and they will perish together with the remaining peoples of the Philistines, those who are left of the house of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: Because of the three sins of Tyre, and because of the four, I will not spare them, for they cut down the cedars of Solomon in Idumea, and they did not remember the covenant of their brothers. And I will send fire upon the refuse of Tyre, and it will consume its foundations. Thus says the Lord: Because of the three sins of Idumea, and because of the four, I will not spare them, for he shut up his brother in a cave, and he bound the womb of the earth, and he burned what he left behind, and he hid it, and he concealed the fugitive from him who would come. And I will send fire upon Teman, and it will consume its foundations. Thus says the Lord: Because of the three sins of the children of Ammon, and because of the four, I will not spare them, for they broke open the stronghold of Gilead, so that their drums might be silent.

And I will send fire upon the refuse of Gaza, and it will consume its foundations in the time of destruction and confusion in the day of slaughter and upheaval, in the day when it is laid waste. And I will drive out their kings and their princes and their priests together, says the Lord. Chapter 2 Thus says the Lord: Because of the three sins of Moab and because of the four transgressions of theirs, for they burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime. And I will send fire upon Moab, and it will consume the foundations of its cities; and Moab will perish by sword and by destruction and by the sound of the horn. And I will bind its princes and all its angels with it, says the Lord. Thus says the Lord: Because of the three sins of the children of Judah and because of the four transgressions of theirs, for they transgressed the law of the Lord and did not keep his commandment, and they denied the deeds of their fathers and their ancestors, and they turned back after them. And I will send fire upon Judah, and it will consume the foundations of Jerusalem.

Thus says the Lord: Because of the three sins of Israel and because of the four transgressions of theirs—for they sold the righteous for silver and condemned the poor for the sake of a shekel—in that they oppress the land and cut off the heads of the poor, and pervert the judgment of the poor, father and son go to one woman as though to defile the name of their god. And they strip off their garments and make a mockery in the sanctuary, and they drink wine and show insolence in the house of their god. And I destroyed the Amorites before them, of old like a flood I destroyed their fruit, their produce, and their roots beneath them. And I brought you out of the land of Egypt and led you into the wilderness for forty years, until I made you inherit the land of the Amorites. And I took from your children for the prophets and from your youths those who are sanctified. Thus says the Lord: The children of Israel say, "You give wine to the saints and you restrain the prophets, and you say to them, 'Prophesy.'

Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will crush you under me as a chariot laden with hay crushes. And the righteous shall not be able to stand, and the wicked shall not be seized by force, and the oppressor shall not be saved, his soul. And the persecutor shall not stand, and the righteous shall not be oppressed, and the one who wrongs shall not bring forth his soul. And the wicked shall not find the heart by force; the one who is naked shall be covered. This she said, says the Lord. Chapter 3 Hear this word which the Lord says to you, the house of Israel, and to all the people who came out of the land of Egypt, while he speaks. I have known you from among all the peoples of the earth; because of this I will be jealous for you because of all your sins. Do they walk together while they are not seen? Do lions roar in a thicket where there is no one to devour? Do lion cubs roar in a forest in a thicket where there is no one to suckle? And does a bird fall to the ground which has been shot? Do arrows miss when there is no one to seize?

... the horns shall be sounded in the land, and the peoples shall not be silent. Evil shall come into the land of the Lord, and there is no one who acts. For there is none who acts for the Lord, none who obeys and none who heeds the words of his servants the prophets. The lion roars, and who does not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who does not tremble? Send word to the horsemen of Persia, to the horsemen of Egypt, and say to them: Gather together on Mount Samaria, and see many wonders in its midst, and the marvels that are within it. And she does not know what will come before her, says the Lord, for those who have stored up iniquity and bitterness among their horsemen. And truly this is like: O Lord God, the city that you have surrounded, your land will be shaken, and your strength will be taken from you, and your horsemen will be thrown into confusion. Because of this, it is like the Lord says: As the fisherman casts forth from the mouth of the lion two young of the flock, or the head of the same, so the children of Israel shall go forth, and those who dwell in Samaria, the peoples of Damascus.

Hear, O priests, and behold, I shall hear for the house of Jacob, says the Lord God who rules over all. For on that day when I avenged the sin of Israel and avenged the altars of Bethel, the horn of the altar shall be broken and shall fall to the ground. And I shall destroy them and kill them, the house of counsel and the house of the pilgrim, and the houses of the horn of the flute shall be demolished, and other houses shall be built with strength, says the Lord. Chapter 4 Hear this word of the calves of Bashan within the mountains of Mārī, those who mock the poor and oppress the wretched, who devour their masters, saying, "Give us to drink." The Lord swore by his saint: Now the time shall come, says the Lord, and I shall strip you with the wealth of the field, and those who are with you shall announce to you with brightness and shadows. And they shall bring out your nakedness, and you shall quarrel among yourselves, and they shall cast you down into the mountain of Remmon, says the Lord God.

I have entered you, Bethel, and I have corrupted you in Gilgal; I have multiplied your sin, and from the time you came forth, your sacrifice in the morning and in the evening, your tithes. And I have read the Law to you in the mouth, and I have named it “the faithful”; they have ruled, those whom the children of Israel loved, says the Lord God. And I shall give you to destroy your teeth with all your jaws, and the abundance of food with all your jaws, and the abundance of food with all your journeys, and you have not come to me, says the Lord God. And I have withheld from you rain before three years of drought, and I have poured it into the city of Laḥatti and into the city of Lāseʾtse; but in one part of its face it pours, and in the wilderness where it does not pour, it dries up. And two cities and a third shall be gathered into one city; it shall drink water and not be satisfied; and like this you have not come to me, says the Lord God. And I have punished you with the ax and with the adze, and I have broken your vineyards and your wine, and I have swallowed your oil and your olives; and like this you have not come to me, says the Lord God.

And I sent death upon you on the road to Egypt, and I killed your fornicators with spears, and I taught your horses, and I brought fire upon your figs, and I scourged you. And by this, when you sought refuge with me, says the Lord. I have also overturned you as I overturned Sodom and Gomorrah, and I have made you like a firebrand that they have taken out of the furnace. And by this, when you sought refuge with me, says the Lord. Because of this, I have forgotten you, O Israel, says the Lord, for I have forgotten you, and you have become as one who calls upon the name of your God, O Israel. For I am the one who strengthens the thunder and creates the wind and announces to man concerning the Messiah who will be born in the morning and will ascend into the ark of the earth. The Lord God, who rules over all, is his name. Chapter 5 Hear the word of the Lord: I have brought a lamentation upon the house of Israel, and it has fallen and will not rise again.

Virgin Israel, shame and sin in her land, and sin that raises her up. For thus says the Lord: A city from within which they go forth, they will survive, and from which they go out, they will survive, for the house of Israel. For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: I have hidden you and preserved you. And do not hide yourselves in Bethel, and do not go to Gilgal, and do not ascend to the pit of the covenant, for Gilgal has been uprooted, it was uprooted, and Bethel has become as if it had never existed. Hide yourselves for the Lord and be preserved, so that the fire of the house of Joseph does not burn and consume you, and they sin, those who destroy for them the name of the house of Israel. The Lord who performs judgment in heaven and establishes righteousness on earth. He who does all and reconciles, and turns light toward the path of the south, and darkens the day like night, who dries up the water of the sea and pours it out upon the face of the earth—the Lord, all this he rules, his name.

... which raises up punishment for the strong, and a multitude brings forth for the strong of the righteous. The innocent hate those who reprove them, and they have rejected the word of truth. For they have stoned the heads of the poor; your sins are alive among them, and your crimes have destroyed the good, and you have been cleansed, and you do not dwell among them, and you plant a vine of desire, and you do not drink your wine. For I have seen many of your sins, your great transgressions; you cover the righteous, and you raise up a house, and you plant the poor within the innocent. Because of this, the wise one laments this city, for I am one of its inhabitants. I have hidden the good, and I have cried out that you may be, that the Lord may be with you, who rules over all, as you say to him. We have hated evil and loved good, and we have brought judgment within the gates, that the Lord God who rules over all may forgive you, the cursed Joseph. Because of this, thus says the Lord who rules over all, within every empty ship and upon every road of the wicked, and the farmer weeps, and those who mourn are bitter.

They weep in all the roads, for I have passed through the midst of you, says the Lord. Woe to those who cast down the feast of the Lord. Why is it for you the feast of the Lord? It is darkness, that one, and not light. As when a man who pierces from a wound and finds a bear, and enters into a house, and claps with his hands in the air, and kills a serpent of the earth. Likewise, darkness is that day of the Lord, and not light; and a tomb is that one, and there is no salvation. I have hated and abhorred your lords, and they do not smell the fragrance of your offerings. I have rejected your offerings and your oblations to me; they are not pleasing to me for you, and I do not regard your offering of salvation for you. I have turned away my ear from your supplication, and I do not hear the melody of your harps. And justice flows like water, and judgment like a torrent in the desert. Have you not brought to me offerings and oblations for thirty years in the house of Bethel? says the Lord.

And I lifted up your book, Moloch, and the star of your god, whose name is Rephan, which you made in their likeness. And I removed you far from the sanctuary, says the Lord of Hosts, that one worships his name. Chapter 6 Woe to those who despise Zion and to those who trust in Mount Samaria; the angels of the nations have cursed them. They are the house of Israel. All of you have gone astray and have entered into the valley of Emertrba and descended into Gehenna, which is prepared for those who endure all these kings, because the multitude of their land is their judgment. Those who await an evil day and those who approach and profane the Sabbaths falsely. Those who have drunk in the streets from the horn of the elephant and who sleep in their beds, those who cut the throat from the evil and the slaughter of the ox from the midst of the fields and the fruit. Those who blow the trumpet and gather together with the voice of the gazelle, and it seems to them that it does not pass away, and they do not know that it makes them forget.

Those who drink white wine and anoint themselves with myrrh before me, and I do not pity them, nor anything at all, by the rod of Joseph. Because of this, they are called, now, their elders are before, and the horsemen of Ephraim, the charioteers, are destroyed. For the oath of the Lord of Hosts, by himself, while we have devoured, I have made him a stranger to the loss of Jacob, and I have hated his journeys, and I have destroyed his cities together with those who dwell within them. And if any remain within the house, they die and those who remain are left. And the men of their house take them up, they bury them, and they bring out their bones from the house, and he says to the steward of the house, Is there anything that remains with you? And he says, No, and he says to him, Bury them, so that they do not call upon the name of the Lord of Hosts. For now, the Lord of Hosts commands and strikes the great house with humiliation and the small house with purity. Will they spread a bed in a corner and will they be merciful from women? For you have dissolved the opening in the belly and have embittered the fruit of righteousness.

Those who rejoice in the lie, those who say, “Is it not by our strength, by the sword of our offering?” Because of this rain, I shall lift up the peoples against you, O house of Israel, those who mock you and do not cause you to enter; you shall be called “Where?” until the river of the west. Chapter 7 As the Lord showed me, and behold, a locust comes at dawn and devours all the grass of the earth and destroys. And I said, “O Lord, O my Lord, who will lift up Jacob, for he is a small one?” And the Lord repented because of this, and this also shall not come, said the Lord. As the Lord showed me, and behold, the Lord summoned fire by his word, and a great flame devoured, and it devoured their portions. And I said, “I weep, O Lord, who lifted up Jacob, for he is a small one?” And the Lord repented because of this, and this also shall not come, said the Lord. As the Lord showed me, and behold, a man stands holding a measure of a cubit, and in his hand a diamond.

And He said to me, the Lord, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A swarm of locusts.” And He said to me, the Lord, “Behold, I shall send a swarm of locusts into the midst of my people Israel, and they shall not cease until they have consumed them.” And they shall devastate the fields of the fig tree, and they shall destroy the goods of Israel, and I shall rise up in judgment against the house of Jeroboam. And to Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, “His command shall be executed against you, Amos, in the midst of the house of Israel, in the land of Nio, the birthplace of his mother, for all that he prophesies.” And Amos said to you, “The plagues shall die, Jeroboam and Israel, and they shall be scattered from their houses.” And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go, flee to the land of Judah, and dwell there, and prophesy there.” “And do not prophesy any more in Bethel, for it is the sanctuary of kings, and it is the house of the kingdom.” And Amos answered Amaziah and said to him, “I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet, but rather a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore figs.

And He took me away, the Lord, from the midst of the sheep, and He said to me, “Prophesy against my people Israel.” And now, hear the word of the Lord: “You shall not prophesy against the house of Israel, and you shall not trouble the house of Jacob.” Concerning this, as the Lord says, “Your wife will be widowed in the city of Wadaqiq, and your children will fall by the sword, and they will measure your land with a rope, and you will die in a barren land, and they will expel Israel from his land.” Chapter 8 As this, the Lord showed me, and behold, a basket of figs. The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A basket of figs.” And the Lord said to me, “When the multitude and the abundance of my people Israel arrive, I will not yet give them to eat again.” And they will wail in their streets, for this is what the Lord says, “Because of the multitude of their destruction, they will be scattered, and in all the ways they will be dispersed and will be gathered together.

Hear this, you who oppress the poor in the morning and mock the wretched upon the earth. You who say, "When will the moon steal? We will fill our measures and our Sabbaths, and we will break our balances, and we will make a false measure, and we will add iniquity to iniquity." And we will stone the poor with a stone, and we will condemn the wretched, saying, "Where are our asses? And our oxen? In the works of our field." The Lord has sworn by the remembrance of Jacob that He will not forget your deception in all your deeds. The earth will be shaken by this, and all who dwell within it will lament, and blood will flow like a river, and it will fill like the river of Egypt. And this will be, says the Lord God: The sun will set at midday, and darkness will be upon the earth in the daytime. And I will send a plague upon your feasts, and all your festivals and your fasts will become mourning for you; the wisdom of the wise will be confounded, and I will put a rod of iron upon the head of each of you; I will send upon you a plague like a beloved plague, and those with him will be as a day of sickness.

Because now the day is coming, says the Lord of Hosts, and I will send a famine into the land—not a famine of grain, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. The water of the sea will be dried up, and they will flee from its depths until morning, seeking the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. This is what I have said: it will destroy the virgins of the sanctuary, and the righteous will be destroyed by thirst. Those who mock the gospel of Samaria, saying, "The life of the god of Dan and the life of the god of Beersheba," and they will not be moved from there. Chapter 9 I saw the Lord of Hosts standing upon the altar, and he said to me, "Strike the altar of the idol; they will break the censers and cut off their heads. As for those who remain, I will kill them with the weapons of the wailing women, which are more bitter than those of the valley, and there is no mercy for them, for I am he." If they descend into the valley, I will heal them; if they ascend into the sky, I will pursue them from there.

And if they hide on the summit of Mount Carmel, I will starve them out and bring them forth. And if they sink into the depths of the sea, before my eyes I will send a whale, and it will swallow them. And if they flee from before my face, I will send a sword, and it will kill them. And I will put out their eyes with my hand, and not with a good one. And the Lord God rules over all; he stirs up the whole earth and makes it tremble like a river of blood, and it descends like the river of Egypt. He who builds in the sky, his command is heard on earth; he who commands the water of the sea and pours it upon the face of the earth—the Lord God, his name rules all. Are not the children of Ethiopia dead before me, the children of Israel? says the Lord. Are not Israel, whom I brought out of Egypt, Melolf, from Coptos, and also Syria, from Geb? Now the eyes of the Lord are upon the kingdom of sinners, and hair from the face of the earth. And only for Gomorrah, not for what I destroyed, the house of Israel, says the Lord.

For now I will command and sow the house of Israel among all the nations, as one sows millet and lentils—and a lentil does not fall upon the earth. And my sinful people who say, “It will not reach us, and evil will not find us” shall die by the spears. This I say: I will rebuild the house of David, which has fallen, and I will raise it up, and I will cast down the altar of the high places like the days of old. As those who remain seek after a staff, and all the nations because a name was named upon them, says the Lord who did this. Now the days shall come, says the Lord, and he will join the bow with the arrow, and he will uproot the forest from the mountains, and he will make the meadows flourish. And if my people Israel go out and build cities of Masānnā, and dwell, and plant, and press wine, and drink, and sleep, and plant gardens of wheat, and eat its fruit— And I will plant them in their land, and there is none who will drive them out of their land which I have given them, says the Lord God who rules over all.