Amos 7–8

^aThus hath the Lord God shewed unto me; and behold, he formed ^bgrasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s ^cmowings. ²And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said,

O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee:

^dBy whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.

^3eThe Lord repented for this:

It shall not be, saith the Lord.

^4aThus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part. ⁵Then said I,

O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee:

^dBy whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.

^6eThe Lord repented for this:

This also shall not be, saith the Lord God.

^7aThus he shewed me: and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, ^fwith a plumbline in his hand. ⁸And the Lord said unto me, ^eeAmos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord,

Behold, ^fI will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel:

^gI will not again pass by them any more:

⁹And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate,

And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste;

And I will rise against ^hthe house of Jeroboam with the sword.

¹⁰Then Amaziah ⁱthe priest of ^kBeth-el sent to ^lJeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath ^mconspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able ⁿto bear all his words. ¹¹For thus Amos saith, ^hJeroboam shall die by the sword, and ^oIsrael shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.

¹²Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou ^pseer, go, flee thee away ^qinto the land of Judah, and there ^reat bread, and prophesy there: ¹³but ^sprophesy not again any more at ^kBeth-el: ^tfor it is the king’s ^uchapel, and it is the king’s court. ¹⁴Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, ^vI was no prophet, neither was I ^wa prophet’s son; but ^vI ^xwas a herdman, and a gatherer of ^ysycomore fruit: ¹⁵and the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

¹⁶Now therefore ^yyhear thou the word of the Lord:

Thou sayest, ^sProphesy not against Israel,

And ^zdrop not thy word against the house of ^aIsaac.

^17bTherefore thus saith the Lord;

^cThy wife shall be a harlot in the city,

And thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword,

And thy land ^dshall be divided by line;

And thou shalt die in ^ea polluted land:

And ^fIsrael shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.

VIII.^aThus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and behold, ^ba basket of ^csummer fruit. ²And he said, ^dAmos, what seest thou? And I said, ^bA basket of ^csummer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me,

^eThe end is come upon my people of Israel;

^dI will not again pass by them any more.

³And ^fthe songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God:

^gThere shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.

^4hHear this, ⁱO ye that ^jswallow up the needy,

Even to make ^kthe poor of the land to fail,

⁵Saying, When will the ^lnew moon be gone, that we may ^msell corn?

And ^lthe ⁿsabbath, that we may set forth wheat,

^oMaking the ephah small, and the shekel great,

And falsifying ^pthe balances by deceit?

⁶That we may buy the poor ^qfor silver,

^qAnd the needy for a pair of shoes;

Yea, and ^msell ^rthe refuse of the wheat?

^7sThe Lord hath sworn by ^stthe excellency of Jacob,

Surely ^uI will never forget any of their works.

^8vShall not ^wthe land tremble for this,

And ^vxevery one mourn that dwelleth therein?

^xAnd it shall rise up wholly as a flood;

And it shall be cast out and ^xdrowned, as by ^xythe flood of Egypt.

⁹And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God,

That ^yyI will cause the sun to go down at noon,

And ^zI will darken the earth in the clear day:

¹⁰And ^aI will turn your feasts into mourning,

And all your songs into lamentation;

And I will bring up ^bcsackcloth upon all loins,

And ^cbaldness upon every head;

And I will make it ^das the mourning of an only son,

And the end thereof as ^dea bitter day.

¹¹Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God,

That ^fI will send a famine in the land,

Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,

But ^fgof hearing the words of the Lord:

¹²And ^hthey shall wander ⁱfrom sea to sea, and from the north even to the east,

They shall ^krun to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.

¹³In that day shall the fair virgins and young men ^lfaint ^mfor thirst.

¹⁴ⁿThey that swear by ^othe sin of ^pSamaria,

And say, Thy god, ^qO Dan, liveth;

And, ^rThe manner of ^sBeer-sheba liveth;

Even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

IX.