1:1The words of `Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Yisra'el in the days of `Uzziyah king of Yehudah, and in the days of Yarov`am the son of Yo'ash king of Yisra'el, two years before the earthquake. 1:2He said:
"The LORD will roar from Tziyon,
And utter his voice from Yerushalayim;
And the pastures of the shepherds will mourn,
And the top of Karmel will
wither."
1:3Thus says the LORD:
"For three transgressions of Dammesek, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
Because they have threshed Gil`ad
with threshing instruments of iron;
1:4But I will send a fire into the
house of Chaza'el,
And it will devour the palaces of
Ben-Hadad.
1:5I will break the bar of Dammesek,
And cut off the inhabitant from the
valley of Aven,
And him who holds the scepter from
the house of `Eden;
And the people of Aram shall go into
captivity to Kir,"
says the LORD.
1:6Thus says the LORD:
"For three transgressions of `Aza, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
Because they carried away captive the
whole community,
To deliver them up to Edom;
1:7But I will send a fire on the wall
of `Aza,
And it will devour its palaces.
1:8I will cut off the inhabitant from
Ashdod,
And him who holds the scepter from
Ashkelon;
And I will turn my hand against `Ekron;
And the remnant of the Pelishtim will
perish,"
says the Lord GOD.
1:9Thus says the LORD:
"For three transgressions of Tzor, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
Because they delivered up the whole
community to Edom,
And didn't remember the brotherly
covenant;
1:10But I will send a fire on the
wall of Tzor,
And it will devour its palaces."
1:11Thus says the LORD:
"For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
Because he pursued his brother with
the sword,
And cast off all pity,
And his anger raged continually,
And he kept his wrath forever;
1:12But I will send a fire on Teman,
And it will devour the palaces of
Botzrah."
1:13Thus says the LORD:
"For three transgressions of the children of `Ammon, yes,
for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
Because they have ripped open the
pregnant women of Gil`ad,
That they may enlarge their border.
1:14But I will kindle a fire in the
wall of Rabbah,
And it will devour its palaces,
With shouting in the day of battle,
With a tempest in the day of the
whirlwind;
1:15And their king will go into
captivity,
He and his princes together,"
says the LORD.
2:1Thus says the LORD:
"For three transgressions of Mo'av, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
Because he burned the bones of the
king of Edom into lime;
2:2But I will send a fire on Mo'av,
And it will devour the palaces of
Keriyot;
And Mo'av will die with tumult, with
shouting, and with the sound of the shofar;
2:3And I will cut off the judge from
their midst,
And will kill all its princes with
him,"
says the LORD.
2:4Thus says the LORD:
"For three transgressions of Yehudah, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
Because they have rejected the LORD's
law,
And have not kept his statutes,
And their lies have led them astray,
After which their fathers walked;
2:5But I will send a fire on Yehudah,
And it will devour the palaces of
Yerushalayim."
2:6Thus says the LORD:
"For three transgressions of Yisra'el, yes, for four,
I will not turn away its punishment;
Because they have sold the righteous
for silver,
And the needy for a pair of shoes;
2:7They trample
on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor,
And deny justice to the oppressed;
And a man and his father use the same
maiden, to profane my holy name;
2:8And they lay
themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge;
And in the house of their God they
drink the wine of those who have been fined.
2:9Yet I destroyed the Amori before
them,
Whose height was like the height of
the cedars,
And he was strong as the oaks;
Yet I destroyed his fruit from above,
and his roots from beneath.
2:10Also I brought you up out of the
land of Egypt,
And led you forty years in the
wilderness,
To possess the land of the Amori.
2:11I raised up some of your sons for
prophets,
And some of your young men for
Nazirim.
Isn't this true,
You children of Yisra'el?" says
the LORD.
2:12"But you gave the Nazirim
wine to drink,
And commanded the prophets, saying,
'Don't prophesy!'
2:13Behold, I will crush you in your
place,
As a cart crushes that is full of
grain.
2:14Flight will perish from the swift;
And the strong won't strengthen his
force;
Neither shall the mighty deliver
himself;
2:15Neither
shall he stand who handles the bow;
And he who is swift of foot won't
escape;
Neither shall he who rides the horse
deliver himself;
2:16And he who is courageous among
the mighty will flee away naked in that day,"
says the LORD.
3:1Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, children of Yisra'el, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:
3:2"You only have I chosen of
all the families of the earth.
Therefore I will punish you for all
of your sins."
3:3Do two walk together,
Unless they have agreed?
3:4Will a lion roar in the thicket,
When he has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out of his den,
If he has caught nothing?
3:5Can a bird fall in a trap on the
earth,
Where no snare is set for him?
Does a snare spring up from the ground,
When there is nothing to catch?
3:6Does the shofar
alarm sound in a city,
Without the people being afraid?
Does evil happen to a city,
And the LORD hasn't done it?
3:7Surely the Lord GOD will do
nothing,
Unless he reveals his secret to his
servants the prophets.
3:8The lion has roared.
Who will not fear?
The Lord GOD has spoken.
Who can but prophesy?
3:9Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod,
And in the palaces in the land of
Egypt,
And say, "Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Shomron,
And see what unrest is in her,
And what oppression is among
them."
3:10"Indeed they don't know to
do right," says the LORD,
"Who hoard plunder and loot in
their palaces."
3:11Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
"An adversary will overrun the land;
And he will pull down your
strongholds,
And your fortresses will be
plundered."
3:12Thus says the LORD:
"As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two
legs,
Or a piece of an ear,
So shall the children of Yisra'el be
rescued who sit in Shomron on the corner of a couch,
And on the silken cushions of a
bed."
3:13"Listen, and testify against the house of Ya`akov," says the Lord GOD, the God Tzva'ot,.
3:14"For in the day that I visit
the transgressions of Yisra'el on him,
I will also visit the altars of
Beit-El;
And the horns of the altar will be
cut off,
And fall to the ground.
3:15I will strike the winter house
with the summer house;
And the houses of ivory will perish,
And the great houses will have an
end,"
says the LORD.
4:1Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Shomron, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their lords, "Bring, and let us drink."
4:2The Lord GOD has sworn by his
holiness that behold,
"The days shall come on you that
they will take you away with hooks,
And the last of you with fish hooks.
4:3You will go out at the breaks in
the wall,
Everyone straight before her;
And you will cast yourselves into
Harmon," says the LORD.
4:4"Go to Beit-El, and sin;
To Gilgal, and sin more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
Your tithes every three days,
4:5Offer a
sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,
And proclaim free will offerings and
brag about them:
For this pleases you, you children of
Yisra'el," says the Lord GOD.
4:6"I also have given you
cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
And lack of bread in every town;
Yet you haven't returned to me,"
says the LORD.
4:7"I also have withheld the
rain from you,
When there were yet three months to
the harvest;
And I caused it to rain on one city,
And caused it not to rain on another
city.
One place was rained on,
And the piece where it didn't rain
withered.
4:8So two or three cities staggered
to one city to drink water,
And were not satisfied:
Yet you haven't returned to me,"
says the LORD.
4:9I struck you with blight and
mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards;
And your fig trees and your olive
trees have the swarming arbeh devoured:
Yet you haven't returned to me,"
says the LORD.
4:10I sent plagues among you like I
did Egypt.
I have slain your young men with the
sword,
And have carried away your horses;
And I filled your nostrils with the
stench of your camp
Yet you haven't returned to me,"
says the LORD.
4:11"I have overthrown some of
you,
As when God overthrew Sedom and
`Amorah,
And you were like a burning stick
plucked out of the fire;
Yet you haven't returned to me,"
says the LORD.
4:12"Therefore thus will I do to
you, Yisra'el;
Because I will do this to you,
Prepare to meet your God, Yisra'el.
4:13For, behold, he who forms the
mountains,
And creates the wind,
And declares to man what is his
thought;
Who makes the morning darkness,
And treads on the high places of the
Earth:
The LORD, the God Tzva'ot,, is his name."
5:1Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Yisra'el.
5:2"The virgin of Yisra'el has
fallen;
She shall rise no more.
She is cast down on her land;
There is no one to raise her up."
5:3For thus says the Lord GOD:
"The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred
left,
And that which went forth one hundred
shall have ten left to the house of Yisra'el."
5:4For thus says the LORD to the house of Yisra'el:
"Seek me, and you will live;
5:5But don't seek Beit-El,
Nor enter into Gilgal,
And don't pass to Be'er-Sheva:
For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
And Beit-El shall come to nothing.
5:6Seek the LORD, and you will live;
Lest he break out like fire in the
house of Yosef,
And it devour, and there be no one to
quench it in Beit-El.
5:7You who turn justice to wormwood,
And cast down righteousness to the
earth:
5:8Seek him who made the Kima and
Kesil,
And turns the shadow of death into
the morning,
And makes the day dark with night;
Who calls for the waters of the sea,
And pours them out on the surface of
the earth, the LORD is his name,
5:9Who brings sudden destruction on
the strong,
So that destruction comes on the
fortress.
5:10They hate him who reproves in the
gate,
And they abhor him who speaks
blamelessly.
5:11Forasmuch therefore as you
trample on the poor,
And take taxes from him of wheat:
You have built houses of hewn stone,
But you will not dwell in them.
You have planted pleasant vineyards,
But you shall not drink their wine.
5:12For I know how many your offenses,
And how great are your sins--
You who afflict the just,
Who take a bribe,
And who turn aside the needy in the
courts.
5:13Therefore he who is prudent shall
keep silence in such a time;
For it is an evil time.
5:14Seek good, and not evil,
That you may live;
And so the LORD, the God Tzva'ot,, will be with you,
As you say.
5:15Hate evil, love good,
And establish justice in the courts.
It may be that the LORD, the God Tzva'ot,, will be gracious to the remnant of Yosef."
5:16Therefore thus says the LORD, the God Tzva'ot,, the Lord:
"Wailing will be in all the broad ways;
And they will say in all the streets,
'Alas! Alas!'
And they will call the farmer to
mourning,
And those who are skillful in
lamentation to wailing.
5:17In all vineyards there will be
wailing;
For I will pass through the midst of
you," says the LORD.
5:18"Woe to you who desire the
day of the LORD!
Why do you long for the day of the
LORD?
It is darkness,
And not light.
5:19As if a man fled from a lion,
And a bear met him;
Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall,
And a snake bit him.
5:20Will the day of the LORD not be
darkness, and not light?
Even very dark, and no brightness in
it?
5:21I hate, I despise your feasts,
And I can't stand your solemn
assemblies.
5:22Yes, though you offer me your
burnt offerings and meal-offerings,
I will not accept them;
Neither will I regard the shalom
offerings of your fat animals.
5:23Take away from me the noise of
your songs!
I will not listen to the music of
your harps.
5:24But let justice roll on like
rivers,
And righteousness like a mighty
stream.
5:25"Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Yisra'el? 5:26Yes, you have borne the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves. 5:27Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Dammesek," says the LORD, whose name is the God Tzva'ot,.
6:1Woe to those who are at ease in
Tziyon,
And to those who are secure on the
mountain of Shomron,
The notable men of the chief of the
nations,
To whom the house of Yisra'el come!
6:2Go to Kalneh, and see;
And from there go to Chamat the great;
Then go down to Gat of the Pelishtim.
Are they better than these kingdoms?
Or is their border greater than your
border?
6:3Those who put far away the evil
day,
And cause the seat of violence to
come near;
6:4Who lie on
beds of ivory,
And stretch themselves on their
couches,
And eat the lambs out of the flock,
And the calves out of the midst of
the stall;
6:5Who strum on
the strings of a harp;
Who invent for themselves instruments
of music, like David;
6:6Who drink
wine in bowls,
And anoint themselves with the best
oils;
But they are not grieved for the
affliction of Yosef.
6:7Therefore they will now go captive
with the first who go captive;
And the feasting and lounging will
end.
6:8"The Lord GOD has sworn by
himself," says the LORD, the God Tzva'ot,:
"I abhor the pride of Ya`akov,
And detest his fortresses.
Therefore I will deliver up the city
with all that is in it.
6:9It will happen, if there remain
ten men in one house,
That they shall die.
6:10"When a man's relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in the innermost parts of the house, 'Is there yet any with you?' And he says, 'No;' then he will say, 'Hush! Indeed we must not mention the name of the LORD.'
6:11"For, behold, the LORD
commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces,
And the little house into bits.
6:12Do horses run on the rocky crags?
Does one plow there with oxen?
But you have turned justice into poison,
And the fruit of righteousness into
bitterness;
6:13You who rejoice in a thing of
nothing, who say,
'Haven't we taken for ourselves horns
by our own strength?'
6:14For, behold, I will raise up
against you a nation, house of Yisra'el,"
Says the LORD, the God Tzva'ot,;
"And they will afflict you from
the entrance of Chamat to the brook of the `Aravah."
7:1Thus the Lord GOD showed me: and, behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, behold, it was the latter growth after the king's harvest. 7:2It happened that, when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, "Lord GOD, forgive, I beg you! How could Ya`akov stand? For he is small."
7:3The LORD relented concerning this. "It shall not be," says the LORD.
7:4Thus the Lord GOD showed me and, behold, the Lord GOD called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land. 7:5Then I said, "Lord GOD, stop, I beg you! How could Ya`akov stand? For he is small."
7:6The LORD relented concerning this. "This also shall not be," says the Lord GOD.
7:7Thus he showed me and, behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 7:8The LORD said to me, "`Amos, what do you see?"
I said, "A plumb line."
Then the Lord said, "Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Yisra'el. I will not again pass by them any more. 7:9The high places of Yitzchak will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Yisra'el will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Yarov`am with the sword."
7:10Then Amatzyah the kohen of Beit-El sent to Yarov`am king of Yisra'el, saying, "`Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Yisra'el. The land is not able to bear all his words. 7:11For `Amos says, 'Yarov`am will die by the sword, and Yisra'el shall surely be led away captive out of his land.'"
7:12Amatzyah also said to `Amos, "You seer, go, flee away into the land of Yehudah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 7:13but don't prophesy again any more at Beit-El; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house!"
7:14Then `Amos answered Amatzyah, "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore trees; 7:15and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Yisra'el.' 7:16Now therefore listen to the word of the LORD: 'You say, Don't prophesy against Yisra'el, and don't preach against the house of Yitzchak.' 7:17Therefore thus says the LORD: '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 Yisra'el shall surely be led away captive out of his land.'"
8:1Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.
8:2He 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 Yisra'el.
I will not again pass by them any
more.
8:3The songs of the temple will be
wailings in that day," says the Lord GOD.
"The dead bodies will be many.
In every place they will throw them out with silence.
8:4Hear this, you who desire to
swallow up the needy,
And cause the poor of the land to
fail,
8:5Saying,
'When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain?
And the Shabbat, that we may market
wheat,
Making the efah small, and the shekel
large,
And dealing falsely with balances of
deceit;
8:6That we may buy the poor for
silver,
And the needy for a pair of shoes,
And sell the sweepings with the
wheat?'"
8:7The LORD has sworn by the pride of
Ya`akov,
"Surely I will never forget any
of their works.
8:8Won'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.
8:9"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.
8:10I 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 the end of it like a bitter day.
8:11Behold, 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 words of the LORD.
8:12They will wander from sea to sea,
And from the north even to the east;
They will run back and forth to seek
the word of the LORD,
And will not find it.
8:13In that day the beautiful virgins
And the young men will faint for
thirst.
8:14Those who swear by the sin of
Shomron,
And say, 'As your god, Dan, lives;'
And, 'As the way of Be'er-Sheva
lives;'
They will fall, and never rise up
again."
9:1I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, "Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape. 9:2Though they dig into She'ol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down. 9:3Though they hide themselves in the top of Karmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them. 9:4Though 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. 9:5For the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, 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. 9:6It is he who builds his chambers 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. 9:7Are you not like the children of the Kushim to me, children of Yisra'el?" says the LORD. "Haven't I brought up Yisra'el out of the land of Egypt, and the Pelishtim from Kaftor, and the Aram from Kir? 9:8Behold, 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 Ya`akov," says the LORD. 9:9"For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Yisra'el among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth. 9:10All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, 'Evil won't overtake nor meet us.' 9:11In 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; 9:12that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name," says the LORD who does this.
9:13"Behold, the days
come," says the LORD,
"That the plowman 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.
9:14I will bring back the captivity
of my people Yisra'el,
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 the fruit of them.
9:15I 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.
Notes:
[1] back to 2:2 trumpet
[2] back to 3:6 trumpet
[3] back to 3:13 of hosts or of armies
[4] back to 4:9 locust
[5] back to 4:13 of hosts or of armies
[6] back to 5:14 of hosts or of armies
[7] back to 5:15 of hosts or of armies
[8] back to 5:16 of hosts or of armies
[9] back to 5:27 of hosts or of armies
[10] back to 6:8 of hosts or of armies
[11] back to 6:14 of hosts or of armies
[12] back to 7:10 priest