on another;
One field would be rained upon
While another on which it did not rain
Would wither.
8So two or three towns would wander
To a single town to drink water,
But their thirst would not be slaked.
Yet you did not turn back to Me
— declares the LORD.
9I scourged you with blight and mildew;
Repeatedlyb your gardens and vineyards,
Your fig trees and olive trees
Were devoured by locusts.
Yet you did not turn back to Me
— declares the LORD.
10I sent against you pestilence
In the manner of Egypt;d
I slew your young men with the sword,
Together with your captured horses,
And I made the stench of your armies
Rise in your very nostrils.
Yet you did not turn back to Me
— declares the LORD.
11I have wrought destruction among you
As when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah;
You have become like a brand plucked from burning.
Yet you have not turned back to Me
— declares the LORD.
12Assuredly,
e-Because I am doing that to you,-e
Even so will I act toward you, O Israel—
Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
13Behold,
He who formed the mountains,
And created the wind,
And has told man what His wishb is,
Who turns blacknessf into daybreak,
And treads upon the high places of the earth—
His name is the LORD, the God of Hosts.
5
Hear this word which I intone
As a dirge over you, O House of Israel:
2Fallen, not to rise again,
Is Maiden Israel;
Abandoned on her soil
With none to lift her up.
3For thus said my Lord GOD
About the House of Israel:
The town that marches out a thousand strong
Shall have a hundred left,
And the one that marches out a hundred strong
Shall have but ten left.
4Thus said the LORD
To the House of Israel:
Seek Me, and you will live.
5Do not seek Bethel,
Nor go to Gilgal,
Nor cross overa to Beer-sheba;
For Gilgal shall go into exile,
And Bethel shall become a delusion.
6Seek the LORD, and you will live,
b-Else He will rush like fire upon-b the House of Joseph
And consume Bethelc with none to quench it.
7[Ah,] you who turn justice into wormwood
And hurl righteousness to the ground!
[Seek the LORD,]
8Who made the Pleiades and Orion,
Who turns deep darkness into dawn
And darkens day into night,
Who summons the waters of the sea
And pours them out upon the earth—
His name is the LORD!
9 b-It is He who hurls destruction upon strongholds,
So that ruin comes upon fortresses!-b
10They hate the arbiter in the gate,
And detest him whose plea is just.
11Assuredly,
Because you b-impose a tax-b on the poor
And exact from him a levy of grain,
You have built houses of hewn stone,
But you shall not live in them;
You have planted delightful vineyards,
But shall not drink their wine.
12For I have noted how many are your crimes,
And how countless your sins—
You enemies of the righteous,
You takers of bribes,
You who subvert in the gate
The cause of the needy!
13Assuredly,
At such a time the prudent man keeps silent,
For it is an evil time.
14Seek good and not evil,
That you may live,
And that the LORD, the God of Hosts,
May truly be with you,
As you think.
15Hate evil and love good,
And establish justice in the gate;
Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts,
Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16Assuredly,
Thus said the LORD,
My Lord, the God of Hosts:
In every square there shall be lamenting,
In every street cries of “Ah, woe!”
And the farm hand shall be
Called to mourn,
And those skilled in wailing
To lament;
17For there shall be lamenting
In every vineyard, too,
When I pass through your midst
—said the LORD.
18Ah, you who wish
For the day of the LORD!
Why should you want
The day of the LORD?
It shall be darkness, not light!
19—As if a man should run from a lion
And be attacked by a bear;
Or if he got indoors,
Should lean his hand on the wall
And be bitten by a snake!
20Surely the day of the LORD shall be
Not light, but darkness,
Blackest night without a glimmer.
21I loathe, I spurn your festivals,
I am not appeased by your solemn assemblies.
22If you offer Me burnt offerings—or your meal offerings—
I will not accept them;
I will pay no heed
To your gifts of fatlings.
23Spare Me the sound of your hymns,
And let Me not hear the music of your lutes.
24But let justice well up like water,
Righteousness like an unfailing stream.
25Did you offer sacrifice and oblation to Me
Those forty years in the wilderness,
O House of Israel?
26dAnd you shall carry off your “king”—
Sikkuthe and Kiyyun,e
The images you have made for yourselves
Of your astral deity—
27As I drive you into exile beyond Damascus
—Said the LORD, whose name is God of Hosts.f
6
Ah, you who are at ease in Ziona
And confident on the hill of Samaria,
You notables of the leading nation
On whom the House of Israel b-pin their hopes:-b
2Cross over to Calnch and see,
Go from there to Great Hamath,
And go down to Gath of the Philistines:
Are [you] better than those kingdoms,
c-Or is their territory larger than yours?-c
3d-Yet you ward off [the thought of] a day of woe
And convene a session of lawlessness.-d
4They lie on ivory beds,
Lolling on their couches,
Feasting on lambs from the flock
And on calves from the stalls.
5d-They hum snatches of song
To the tune of the lute—
They account themselves musicians-d like David.
6They drink [straight] from the wine bowls
And anoint themselves with the choicest oils—
But they are not concerned about the ruin of Joseph.
7Assuredly, right soon
They shall head the column of exiles;
They shall loll no more at festive meals.
8My Lord GOD swears by Himself:
I loathe e-the Pride of Jacob,-e
And I detest his fortresses.
I will declare forfeit city and inhabitants alike
—declares the LORD, the God of Hosts.
9If ten people are left in one house, they shall die. 10d-And if someone’s kinsman—who is to burn incense for him—comes to carry the remains out of a house,-d and he calls to the one at the rear of the house, “Are there any alive besides you?” he will answer, “No, none.” And he will say, “Hush!”— so that no one may utter the name of the LORD.
11For the LORD will command,
And the great house shall be smashed to bits,
And the little house to splinters.
12Can horses gallop on a rock?
f-Can it be plowed with oxen?-f
Yet you have turned justice into poison weed
And the fruit of righteousness to wormwood.
13[Ah,] those who are so happy about Lo-dabar,g
Who exult, “By our might
We have captured Karnaim”!g
14But I, O House of Israel,
Will raise up a nation against you
—declares the LORD, the God of Hosts—
Who will harass you from Lebo-Hamath
To the Wadi Arabah.
7 This is what my Lord GOD showed me: He was creating [a plague of] locusts at the time when the late-sown crops were beginning to sprout— a-the late-sown crops after the king’s reaping.-a 2When it had finished devouring the herbage in the land, I said, “O Lord GOD, pray forgive. How will Jacob survive? He is so small.” 3The LORD relented concerning this. “It shall not come to pass,” said the LORD.
4This is what the Lord GOD showed me: Lo, my Lord GOD was sum- moning b-to contend by-b fire which consumed the Great Deep and was consuming the fields. 5I said, “Oh, Lord GOD, refrain! How will Jacob survive? He is so small.” 6The LORD relented concerning this. “That shall not come to pass, either,” said my Lord GOD.
7This is what He showed me: He was standing on a wall c-checked with a plumb line-c and He was holding a plumb line.d 8And the LORD asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” “A plumb line,”d I replied. And my Lord declared, “I am going to apply a plumb lined to My people Israel; I will pardon them no more. 9The shrines of Isaac shall be laid waste, and the sanctuaries of Israel reduced to ruins; and I will turn upon the House of Jeroboam with the sword.”
10Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent this message to King Jeroboam of Israel: “Amos is conspiring against you within the House of Israel. The country cannot endure the things he is saying. 11For Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be exiled from its soil.’ ”
12Amaziah also said to Amos, “Seer, off with you to the land of Judah! e-Earn your living-e there, and do your prophesying there. 13But don’t ever prophesy again at Bethel; for it is a king’s sanctuary and a royal palace.” 14Amos answered Amaziah: “I am not a prophet,f and I am not a prophet’s disciple. I am a cattle breederg and a tender of sycamore figs. 15But the LORD took me away from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’ 16And so, hear the word of the LORD. You say I must not prophesy about the House of Israel or preach about the House of Isaac; 17but this, I swear, is what the LORD said: Your wife shall h-play the harlot-h in the town, your sons and daugh- ters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line. And you yourself shall die on unclean soil;i for Israel shall be exiled from its soil.”
8 This is what my Lord GOD showed me: There was a basket of figs.a 2He said, “What do you see, Amos?” “A basket of figs,” I replied. And the LORD said to me: “The b-hour of doom-b has come for My people Israel; I will not pardon them again. 3And the singing women of the palace shall howl on that day—declares my Lord GOD:
So many corpses
Left lying everywhere!
Hush!”
4Listen to this, you c-who devour the needy, annihilating the poor of the land,-c 5saying, “If only the new moon were over, so that we could sell grain; the sabbath, so that we could offer wheat for sale, d-using an ephah that is too small, and a shekel that is too big,-d tilting a dishonest scale, 6and selling grain refuse as grain! We will buy the poor for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals.” 7The LORD swears bye the Pride