Barns are in ruins,
For the new grain has failed.
18How the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle are bewildered
Because they have no pasture,
And the flocks of sheep are dazed.d
19To You, O LORD, I call.
For firee has consumed
The pastures in the wilderness,
And flamee has devoured
All the trees of the countryside.
20The very beasts of the field
Cry out to You;
For the watercourses are dried up,
And fire has consumed
The pastures in the wilderness.
2
Blow a horn in Zion,
Sound an alarm on My holy mount!
Let all dwellers on earth tremble,
For the day of the LORD has come!
It is close—
2A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of densest cloud
Spread like soot over the hills.
A vast, enormous horde—
Nothing like it has ever happened,
And it shall never happen again
Through the years and ages.
3Their vanguard is a consuming fire,
Their rear guard a devouring flame.
Before them the land was like the Garden of Eden,
Behind them, a desolate waste:
Nothing has escaped them.
4They have the appearance of horses,
They gallop just like steeds.
5With a clatter as of chariots
They bound on the hilltops,
With a noise like a blazing fire
Consuming straw;
Like an enormous horde
Arrayed for battle.
6Peoples tremble before them,
All faces a-turn ashen.-a
7They rush like warriors,
They scale a wall like fighters.
And each keeps to his own track.
Their paths never cross;b
8No one jostles another,
Each keeps to his own course.
b-And should they fall through a loophole,
They do not get hurt.-b
9They rush up the wall,
They dash about in the city;
They climb into the houses,
They enter like thieves
By way of the windows.
10Before them earth trembles,
Heaven shakes,
Sun and moon are darkened,
And stars withdraw their brightness.
11And the LORD roars aloud
At the head of His army;
For vast indeed is His host,
Numberless are those that do His bidding.
For great is the day of the LORD,
Most terrible—who can endure it?
12“Yet even now”—says the LORD—
“Turn back to Me with all your hearts,
And with fasting, weeping, and lamenting.”
13Rend your hearts
Rather than your garments.
And turn back to the LORD your God.
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in kindness,
And renouncing punishment.
14Who knows but He may turn and relent,
And leave a blessing behind
For meal offering and drink offering
To the LORD your God?c
15Blow a horn in Zion,
Solemnize a fast,
Proclaim an assembly!
16Gather the people,
Bid the congregation purify themselves.d
Bring together the old,
Gather the babes
And the sucklings at the breast;
Let the bridegroom come out of his chamber,
The bride from her canopied couch.
17Between the portico and the altar,
Let the priests, the LORD’s ministers, weep
And say:
“Oh, spare Your people, LORD!
Let not Your possession become a mockery,
To be taunted by nations!
Let not the peoples say,
‘Where is their God?’ ”
18Then the LORD was roused
On behalf of His land
And had compassion
Upon His people.
19In response to His people
The LORD declared:
“I will grant you the new grain,
The new wine, and the new oil,
And you shall have them in abundance.
Nevermore will I let you be
A mockery among the nations.
20I will drive the northernere far from you,
I will thrust it into a parched and desolate land—
Its van to the Eastern Seaf
And its rear to the Western Sea;g
And the stench of it shall go up,
And the foul smell rise.”
For [the LORD] shall work great deeds.
21Fear not, O soil, rejoice and be glad;
For the LORD has wrought great deeds.
22Fear not, O beasts of the field,
For the pastures in the wilderness
Are clothed with grass.
The trees have borne their fruit;
Fig tree and vine
Have yielded their strength.
23O children of Zion, be glad,
Rejoice in the LORD your God.
For He has given you the early rain in [His] kindness,
Now He makes the rain fall [as] formerly—
The early rain and the late—
24And threshing floors shall be piled with grain,
And vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.
25“I will repay you h-for the years-h
Consumed by swarms and hoppers,
By grubs and locusts,
The great army I let loose against you.
26And you shall eat your fill
And praise the name of the LORD your God
Who dealt so wondrously with you—
My people shall be shamed no more.
27And you shall know
That I am in the midst of Israel:
That I the LORD am your God
And there is no other.
And My people shall be shamed no more.”
3
After that,
I will pour out My spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and daughters shall prophesy;
Your old men shall dream dreams,
And your young men shall see visions.
2I will even pour out My spirit
Upon male and female slaves in those days.
3a-Before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes,-a
I will set portents in the sky and on earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke;
4The sun shall turn into darkness
And the moon into blood.
5But everyone who invokes the name of the LORD shall escape; for there shall be a remnant on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as the LORD promised. b-Anyone who invokes the LORD will be among the survivors.-b
4
For lo! in those days
And in that time,
When I restore the fortunes
Of Judah and Jerusalem,
2I will gather all the nations
And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.a
There I will contend with them
Over My very own people, Israel,
Which they scattered among the nations.
For they divided My land among themselves
3And cast lots over My people;
And they bartered a boy for a whore,
And sold a girl for wine, which they drank.
4What is this you are doing to Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the districts of Philistia? Are you requiting Me for something I have done, or are you doing something for My benefit? Quick as a flash, I will pay you back; 5for you have taken My gold and My silver, and have carried off My precious treasures to your palaces; 6and you have sold the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem to the Ionians, so that you have removed them far away from their homeland. 7Behold, I will rouse them to leave the place you have sold them to, and I will pay you back: 8I will deliver your sons and daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them into captivity to a distant nation—for the LORD has spoken.
9Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for battle!
Arouse the warriors,
Let all the fighters come and draw near!
10Beat your plowsharesb into swords,
And your pruning hooks into spears.
Let even the weakling say, “I am strong.”
11c-Rouse yourselves-c and come,
All you nations;
Come together
From roundabout.
There c-bring down-c
Your warriors, O LORD!
12Let the nations rouse themselves and march up
To the Valley of Jehoshaphat;d
For there I will sit in judgment
Over all the nations roundabout.
13Swing the sickle,
For the crop is ripe;
Come and tread,
For the winepress is full,
The vats are overflowing!
For great is their wickedness.
14Multitudes upon multitudes
In the Valley of Decision!
For the day of the LORD is at hand
In the Valley of Decision.
15Sun and moon are darkened,
And stars withdraw their brightness.
16And the LORD will roar from Zion,
And shout aloud from Jerusalem,
So that heaven and earth tremble.
But the LORD will be a shelter to His people,
A refuge to the children of Israel.
17And you shall know that I the LORD your God
Dwell in Zion, My holy mount.
And Jerusalem shall be holy;
Nevermore shall strangers pass through it.
18And in that day,
The mountains shall drip with wine,
The hills shall flow with milk,
And all the watercourses of Judah shall flow with water;
A spring shall issue from the House of the LORD
And shall water the Wadi of the Acacias.
19Egypt shall be a desolation,
And Edom a desolate waste,
Because of the outrage to the people of Judah,
In whose land they shed the blood of the innocent.
20But Judah shall be inhabited forever,
And Jerusalem throughout the ages.
21Thus e-I will treat as innocent their blood
Which I have not treated as innocent;-e
And the LORD shall dwell in Zion.
a The Heb. terms translated “cutter, locust, grub, and hopper” are of uncertain meaning; they probably designate stages in the development of the locust.
b-b Lit. “cut off from your mouth.”
c Traditionally “the Almighty”; see Gen. 17.1.
d-d Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
e I.e., scorching heat.
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain; cf. Nah. 2.11.
b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c When the locusts depart, there will again be yield enough for offerings; see 1.9.
d Cf. Exod. 19.10; Zeph. 1.7.
e I.e., the locusts. Emendation yields “My multitude”; cf. “nation” (1.6), “horde,” “army,” and “host” (2.2, 5, 11, and 25).
f The Dead Sea.
g The Mediterranean Sea.
h-h Emendation yields “double what was.”
a-a Brought up from v. 4 for clarity.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a Here understood as “The LORD contends”; contrast v. 12.
b See note at Isa, 2.4.
c-c Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
d Here understood as “The LORD judges”; contrast v. 2.
e-e Emendation yields “their unavenged blood shall be avenged.”
Amos
1 The words of Amos, a sheepbreeder from Tekoa, who prophesied concerning Israel in the reigns of Kings Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake.a
2He proclaimed:
The LORD roars from Zion,
Shouts aloud from Jerusalem;
And the pastures of the shepherds shall languish,
And the summit of Carmel shall wither.
3Thus said the LORD:
For three transgressions of Damascus,
For four, I will not revoke it:b
Because they threshed Gilead
With threshing boards of iron.
4I will send downc fire upon the palace of Hazael,
And it shall devour the fortresses of Ben-hadad.d
5I will break the gate bars of Damascus,
And wipe out the inhabitants from the Vale of Aven
And the sceptered ruler of Beth-eden;
And the people of Aram shall be exiled to Kir
— said the LORD.
6Thus said the LORD:
For three transgressions of Gaza,
For four, I will not revoke it:
Because they exilede an entire population,
Which they delivered to Edom.f
7I will send down fire upon the wall of Gaza,
And it shall devour its fortresses;
8And I will wipe out the inhabitants of Ashdod
And the sceptered ruler of Ashkelon;
And I will turn My hand against Ekron,
And the Philistines shall perish to the last man
—said the Lord GOD.
9Thus said the LORD:
For three transgressions of Tyre,
For four, I will not revoke it:
Because they handed over
An entire population to Edom,g
Ignoring the covenant of brotherhood.h
10I will send down fire upon the wall of Tyre,
And it shall devour its fortresses.
11Thus said the
