nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD, the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the 'entering in of Hamath unto the brook of See 2 Kings the Arabah.

7 I Thus the Lord GOD shewed me: and, behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the 2 latter growth after the king's mowings. And it came to pass that when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: how 3 shall Jacob stand? for he is small. The LORD repented concerning this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.

1

xiv. 25.

4 Thus the Lord GoD shewed me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire; and it devoured the great deep, and would have eaten 5 up the 'land. Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, Heb. portion. I beseech thee: how shall Jacob stand? for he 6 is small. The LORD repented concerning this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD.

7 Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumbline, with 3 Or, upon 8 a plumbline in his hand. And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, Í will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more: 9 and the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

1Ο

Then Amaziah the priest of Beth-el sent to 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. 11 For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the

1 Or, am

sons of the

prophets
See Kings
XX. 35.

sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, 12 O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: but prophesy not again any more at Beth-el: for 13 it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house. Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I 14 1was no prophet, neither 'was I a prophet's son; 2 Or, one of the but I was an herdman, and a dresser of sycomore trees and the LORD took me from follow- 15 ing the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. Now therefore 16 hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac; therefore thus saith the LORD: Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou thyself shalt die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.

3 Or, palace

17

Thus the Lord GOD shewed me: and behold, 18 a basket of summer fruit. And he said, Amos, 2 what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. And the 3 songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: the dead bodies shall be Or, have they many; in every place 'shall they cast them forth with silence. Hear this, O ye that would swallow 4 up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, saying, When will the new moon be gone, 5 that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we Heb. open. may set forth wheat? making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit; that we may buy the poor See ch. ii. 6. for 'silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and

cast them forth: be silent!

6

7

sell the refuse of the wheat.

all

The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will 8 never forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? yea, it shall rise up wholly like the River; and it shall be troubled and sink 9 again, like the River of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith 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 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter II day. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of 12 hearing the words of the LORD. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the 13 word of the LORD, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men 14 faint for thirst. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, As thy God, O Dan, liveth; and, As the 'way of Beer-sheba liveth; even 1 Or, manner they shall fall, and never rise up again.

9 I I saw the Lord standing 'beside the altar: and Or, upon he said, Smite the chapiters, that the thresholds may shake and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of Or, he that them flee away, and there shall not one of them feeth of them 2 escape. Though they dig into 'hell, thence shall mine hand take them; and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. 3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence;

shall not flee

away, and he
of them shall
that escapeth
not be

delivered
4 Heb. Shcol.

and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them. And though 4 they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. For the Lord, the 5 GOD of hosts, is he that toucheth the land and it melteth, and all that dwell therein shall mourn; and it shall rise up wholly like the River; and shall sink again, like the River of Egypt; it is 6 he that buildeth his chambers in the heaven, and hath founded his vault upon the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth; the LORD is his name. Are ye not as the children of the 7 Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? Behold, 8 the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. For, 9 1 Heb. cause lo, I will command, and I will 'sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people shall ro die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

to move to and fro.

2 Or, were

In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of 11 David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; that they may 12 possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. Behold, the days come, 13 saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake

the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop 14 Sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And

I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also 15 make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.