12 Amaziah also said to Amos, “You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there, 13 but don’t prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house!”
14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore figs; 15 and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now therefore listen to the LORD’s word: ‘You say, Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.’ 17 Therefore the LORD says: ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’ ”
8
1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.
2 He said, “Amos, what do you see?”
I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”
Then the LORD said to me,
“The end has come on my people Israel.
I will not again pass by them any more.
3 The songs of the temple will be wailing in that day,” says the Lord GOD.
“The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.
4 Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy,
and cause 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 market wheat,
making the ephah† small, and the shekel‡ large,
and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
6 that we may buy the poor for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’ ”
7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob,
“Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8 Won’t the land tremble for this,
and everyone mourn who dwells in it?
Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River;
and it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt.
9 It will happen 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 I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation;
and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies,
and baldness on every head.
I will make it like the mourning for an only son,
and its end like a bitter day.
11 Behold, the days come,” 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 LORD’s words.
12 They will wander from sea to sea,
and from the north even to the east;
they will run back and forth to seek the LORD’s word,
and will not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful virgins
and the young men will faint for thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria,
and say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives,’
and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives,’
they will fall, and never rise up again.”
9
1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, “Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake. Break them in pieces on the head of all of them. I will kill the last of them with the sword. Not one of them will flee away. Not one of them will escape. 2 Though they dig into Sheol,† there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down. 3 Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them. 4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good. 5 For the Lord, the GOD‡ of Armies, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt. 6 It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth—the LORD is his name. 7 Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?” says the LORD. “Haven’t 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 on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says the LORD. 9 “For behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel amongst all the nations as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, ‘Evil won’t overtake nor meet us.’ 11 In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old, 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” says the LORD who does this.
13 “Behold, the days come,” says the LORD,
“that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper,
and the one treading grapes him who sows seed;
and sweet wine will drip from the mountains,
and flow from the hills.
14 I will bring my people Israel back from captivity,
and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them;
and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them.
They shall also make gardens,
and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their land,
and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,”
says the LORD your God.
† 1:2: When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “LORD” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name (Hebrew “יהוה”, usually pronounced Yahweh).
‡ 1:8: The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”
† 2:8: The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
‡ 2:13: “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.
† 8:5: 1 ephah is about 22 litres or about 2/3 of a bushel
‡ 8:5: a normal shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces.
† 9:2: Sheol is the place of the dead.
‡ 9:5: When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “LORD” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name (Hebrew “יהוה”, usually pronounced Yahweh).
Obadiah
The Book of Obadiah
1
1 The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord† GOD‡ says about Edom. We have heard news from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent amongst the nations, saying, “Arise, and let’s rise up against her in battle. 2 Behold,§ I have made you small amongst the nations. You are greatly despised. 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ 4 Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set amongst the stars, I will bring you down from there,” says the LORD. 5 “If thieves came to you, if robbers by night—oh, what disaster awaits you—wouldn’t they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn’t they leave some gleaning grapes? 6 How Esau will be ransacked! How his hidden treasures are sought out! 7 All the men of your alliance have brought you on your way, even to the border. The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. Friends who eat your bread lay a snare under you. There is no understanding in him.”
8 “Won’t I in that day”, says the LORD, “destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mountain of Esau? 9 Your mighty men, Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter. 10 For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever. 11 In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them. 12 But don’t look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and don’t rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Don’t speak proudly in the day of distress. 13 Don’t enter into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Don’t look down on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither seize their wealth on the day of their calamity. 14 Don’t stand in the crossroads to cut off those of his who escape. Don’t
