Amos 5-9

Amos 5

¹Hear this word that I am bearing to you, A lamentation, O house of Israel:

²‘Fallen, not again to rise, hath the virgin of Israel, Left on her land -- she hath no raiser up.'

³For thus said the Lord Jehovah: The city that is going out a thousand, Doth leave an hundred, And that which is going out an hundred, Doth leave ten to the house of Israel.

⁴For thus said Jehovah to the house of Israel: Seek ye Me, and live,

⁵And seek not Beth-El, and Gilgal enter not, And Beer-Sheba pass not through, For Gilgal doth utterly remove, And Beth-El doth become vanity.

⁶Seek ye Jehovah, and live, Lest He prosper as fire against the house of Joseph, And it hath consumed, And there is no quencher for Beth-El.

⁷Ye who are turning to wormwood judgment, And righteousness to the earth have put down,

⁸The maker of Kimah and Kesil, And the turner to morning of death-shade, And day as night He hath made dark, Who is calling to the waters of the sea, And poureth them on the face of the earth, Jehovah is His name;

⁹Who is brightening up the spoiled against the strong, And the spoiled against a fortress cometh.

¹⁰They have hated a reprover in the gate, And a plain speaker they abominate.

¹¹Therefore, because of your trampling on the poor, And the tribute of corn ye take from him, Houses of hewn work ye have built, And ye do not dwell in them, Desirable vineyards ye have planted, And ye do not drink their wine.

¹²For I have known -- many are your transgressions, And mighty your sins, Adversaries of the righteous, taking ransoms, And the needy in the gate ye turned aside.

¹³Therefore is the wise at that time silent, For an evil time it is.

¹⁴Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live, And it is so; Jehovah, God of Hosts, is with you, as ye said.

¹⁵Hate evil, and love good, And set up judgment in the gate, It may be Jehovah, God of Hosts, doth pity the remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶Therefore, thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, the Lord, In all broad places is lamentation, And in all out-places they say, ‘Alas, alas,' And called the husbandman to mourning, And to lamentation the skilful of wailing.

¹⁷And in all vineyards is lamentation, For I pass into thy midst, said Jehovah.

¹⁸Ho, ye who are desiring the day of Jehovah, Why is this to you -- the day of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light,

¹⁹As when one fleeth from the face of the lion, And the bear hath met him, And he hath come in to the house, And hath leant his hand on the wall, And the serpent hath bitten him.

²⁰Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light, Even thick darkness that hath no brightness?

²¹I have hated -- I have loathed your festivals, And I am not refreshed by your restraints.

²²For though ye cause burnt-offerings and your presents to ascend to Me, I am not pleased, And the peace-offering of your fatlings I behold not.

²³Turn aside from Me the noise of thy songs, Yea, the praise of thy psaltery I hear not.

²⁴And roll on as waters doth judgment, And righteousness as a perennial stream.

²⁵Sacrifices and offering did ye bring nigh to Me, In a wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

²⁶And ye bare Succoth your king, and Chiun your images, The star of your god, that ye made for yourselves.

²⁷And I removed you beyond Damascus, Said Jehovah, God of Hosts is His name.

Amos 6

¹Wo to those secure in Zion, And those confident in the mount of Samaria, The marked of the chief of the nations, And come to them have the house of Israel.

²Pass ye over to Calneh and see, And go thence to Hamath the great, And go down to Gath of the Philistines, Are they better than these kingdoms? Greater is their border than your border?

³Who are putting away the day of evil, And ye bring nigh the seat of violence,

⁴Who are lying down on beds of ivory, And are spread out on their couches, And are eating lambs from the flock, And calves from the midst of the stall,

⁵Who are taking part according to the psaltery, Like David they invented for themselves instruments of music;

⁶Who are drinking with bowls of wine, And with chief perfumes anoint themselves, And have not been pained for the breach of Joseph.

⁷Therefore now they remove at the head of the captives, And turned aside is the mourning-feast of stretched-out ones.

⁸Sworn hath the Lord Jehovah by Himself, An affirmation of Jehovah, God of Hosts: I am abominating the excellency of Jacob, And his high places I have hated, And I have delivered up the city and its fulness.

⁹And if there are left ten persons in one house, It hath come to pass -- that they have died.

¹⁰And lifted him up hath his loved one, even his burner, To bring forth the bones from the house, And he said to him who is in the sides of the house, ‘Is there yet with thee?' And he said, ‘None,' then he said, ‘Hush! Save to make mention of the name of Jehovah.'

¹¹For lo, Jehovah is commanding, And He hath smitten the great house with breaches, And the little house with clefts.

¹²Do horses run on a rock? Doth one plough it with oxen? For ye have turned to gall judgment, And the fruit of righteousness to wormwood.

¹³O ye who are rejoicing at nothing, Who are saying, ‘Have we not by our strength taken to ourselves horns?'

¹⁴Surely, lo, I am raising against you a nation, O house of Israel, An affirmation of Jehovah, God of Hosts, And they have oppressed you from the coming in to Hamath, Unto the stream of the desert.

Amos 7

¹Thus hath the Lord Jehovah shewed me, and lo, He is forming locusts at the beginning of the ascending of the latter growth, and lo, the latter growth is after the mowings of the king;

²and it hath come to pass, when it hath finished to consume the herb of the land, that I say: ‘Lord Jehovah, forgive, I pray Thee, How doth Jacob arise -- for he is small?'

³Jehovah hath repented of this, ‘It shall not be,' said Jehovah.

⁴Thus hath the Lord Jehovah shewed me, and lo, the Lord Jehovah is calling to contend by fire, and it consumeth the great deep, yea, it hath consumed the portion, and I say:

⁵‘Lord Jehovah, cease, I pray Thee, How doth Jacob arise -- for he is small?'

⁶Jehovah hath repented of this, ‘It also shall not be,' said the Lord Jehovah.

⁷Thus hath He shewed me, and lo, the Lord is standing by a wall made according to a plumb-line, and in His hand a plumb-line;

⁸and Jehovah saith unto me, ‘What art thou seeing, Amos?' And I say, ‘A plumb-line;' and the Lord saith: ‘Lo, I am setting a plumb-line in the midst of My people Israel, I do not add any more to pass over to it.

⁹And desolated have been high places of Isaac, And sanctuaries of Israel are wasted, And I have risen against the house of Jeroboam with a sword.'

¹⁰And Amaziah priest of Beth-El sendeth unto 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,

¹¹for thus said Amos: By sword die doth Jeroboam, And Israel certainly removeth from off its land.'

¹²And Amaziah saith unto Amos, ‘Seer, go flee for thee unto the land of Judah, and eat there bread, and there thou dost prophesy;

¹³and at Beth-El do not add to prophesy any more, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the royal house.'

¹⁴And Amos answereth and saith unto Amaziah, ‘I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son am I, but a herdsman I am, and a cultivator of sycamores,

¹⁵and Jehovah taketh me from after the flock, and Jehovah saith unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel.

¹⁶And now, hear a word of Jehovah: thou art saying, Do not prophesy against Israel, nor drop any thing against the house of Isaac,

¹⁷therefore thus said Jehovah: Thy wife in the city doth go a-whoring, And thy sons and thy daughters by sword do fall, And thy land by line is apportioned, And thou on an unclean land diest, And Israel certainly removeth from off its land.'

Amos 8

¹Thus hath the Lord Jehovah shewed me, and, lo, a basket of summer-fruit.

²And He saith, ‘What art thou seeing, Amos?' and I say, ‘A basket of summer-fruit.' And Jehovah saith unto me: ‘The end hath come unto My people Israel, I do not add any more to pass over to it.

³And howled have songstresses of a palace in that day, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Many are the carcases, into any place throw -- hush!

⁴Hear this, ye who are swallowing up the needy, To cause to cease the poor of the land,

⁵Saying, When doth the new moon pass, And we sell ground corn? And the sabbath, and we open out pure corn? To make little the ephah, And to make great the shekel, And to use perversely balances of deceit.

⁶To purchase with money the poor, And the needy for a pair of sandals, Yea, the refuse of the pure corn we sell.

⁷Sworn hath Jehovah by the excellency of Jacob: ‘I forget not for ever any of their works.

⁸For this doth not the land tremble, And mourned hath every dweller in it? And come up as a flood hath all of it. And it hath been cast out, and hath sunk, Like the flood of Egypt.

⁹And it hath come to pass in that day, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, I have caused the sun to go in at noon, And caused darkness on the land in a day of light,

¹⁰And have turned your festivals to mourning, And all your songs to lamentation, And caused sackcloth to come up on all loins, And on every head -- baldness, And made it as a mourning of an only one, And its latter end as a day of bitterness.

¹¹Lo, days are coming, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And I have sent a famine into the land, Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water But of hearing the words of Jehovah.

¹²And they have wandered from sea unto sea, And from north even unto east, They go to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, And they do not find.

¹³In that day faint do the fair virgins, And the young men, with thirst.

¹⁴Those swearing by the guilt of Samaria, And have said, Live doth thy god, O Dan, And, Live doth the way of Beer-Sheba, And they have fallen -- and rise not again!'

Amos 9

¹I have seen the Lord standing by the altar, and He saith: ‘Smite the knob, and the thresholds shake, And cut them off by the head -- all of them, And their posterity with a sword I do slay, Not flee to them doth the fleer, Nor escape to them doth a fugitive.

²If they dig through into sheol, From thence doth My hand take them, And if they go up the heavens, From thence I cause them to come down.

³And if they be hid in the top of Carmel, From thence I search out, and have taken them, And if they be hid from Mine eyes in the bottom of the sea, From thence I command the serpent, And it hath bitten them.

⁴And if they go into captivity before their enemies, From thence I command the sword, And it hath slain them, And I have set Mine eye on them for evil, And not for good.

⁵And it is the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, Who is striking against the land, and it melteth, And mourned have all the inhabitants in it, And come up as a flood hath all of it, And it hath sunk -- like the flood of Egypt.

⁶Who is building in the heavens His upper chambers; As to His troop, Upon earth He hath founded it, Who is calling for the waters of the sea, And poureth them out on the face of the land, Jehovah is His name.

⁷As sons of Cushim are ye not to Me? O sons of Israel -- an affirmation of Jehovah. Israel did I not bring up out of the land of Egypt? And the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?

⁸Lo, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are on the sinful kingdom, And I have destroyed it from off the face of the ground, Only, I destroy not utterly the house of Jacob, An affirmation of Jehovah.

⁹For lo, I am commanding, And I have shaken among all the nations the house of Israel, As one doth shake with a sieve, And there falleth not a grain to the earth.

¹⁰By sword die do all sinners of My people, Who are saying, ‘Not overtake, or go before, For our sakes, doth evil.'

¹¹In that day I raise the tabernacle of David, that is fallen, And I have repaired their breaches, And its ruins I do raise up, And I have built it up as in days of old.

¹²So that they possess the remnant of Edom, And all the nations on whom My name is called, An affirmation of Jehovah -- doer of this.

¹³Lo, days are coming -- an affirmation of Jehovah, And come nigh hath the ploughman to the reaper, And the treader of grapes to the scatterer of seed, And the mountains have dropt juice, And all the hills do melt.

¹⁴And I have turned back to the captivity of My people Israel, And they have built desolate cities, and inhabited, And have planted vineyards, and drunk their wine, And made gardens, and eaten their fruit.

¹⁵And I have planted them on their own ground, And they are not plucked up any more from off their own ground, That I have given to them, said Jehovah thy God!