Amos 6:8–8:12

8  xaThe Lord God hath sworn by himself, saith the Lord ythe God of hosts,

I abhor zathe excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces:

Therefore will I bdeliver up the city with all †that is therein.

9  And it shall come to pass, bbif there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.

10  And a man’s uncle shall take him up, and he that cburneth him,

To bring out the bones out of the house,

And shall say unto him that is dby the sides of the house,

Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No.

Then shall he say, efHold thy tongue:

eFor ||we may not make mention of the name of the Lord.

11  For, behold, the Lord commandeth,

And ghe will smite the great house with ||breaches,

And the little house with hclefts.

12  Shall horses run upon the rock?

Will one plow there with oxen?

For iye have turned kjudgment into gall,

And the fruit of irighteousness into hemlock:

13  lYe which rejoice in a thing of nought,

Which say, Have we not taken to us mhorns by our own strength?

14  But, behold, nI will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the Lord ythe God of hosts;

And they shall afflict you opfrom the entering in of Hemath punto the ||river of qthe wilderness.

7 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. 2 And 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.

3  eThe Lord repented for this:

It shall not be, saith the Lord.

4 aThus 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. 5 Then said I,

O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee:

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

6  eThe Lord repented for this:

This also shall not be, saith the Lord God.

7 aThus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, fwith a plumbline in his hand. 8 And 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:

9  And †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.

10 Then 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. 11 For thus Amos saith, hJeroboam shall die by the sword, and oIsrael shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.

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

16  Now therefore yyhear thou the word of the Lord:

Thou sayest, sProphesy not against Israel,

And zdrop not thy word against the house of aIsaac.

17  bTherefore thus saith the Lord;

cThy wife shall be an 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.

8 aThus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and behold ba basket of csummer fruit. 2 And 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.

3  And 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.

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

Even to make kthe poor of the land to fail,

5  Saying, 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?

6  That we may buy the poor qfor silver,

qAnd the needy for a pair of shoes;

Yea, and msell rthe refuse of the wheat?

7  sThe Lord hath sworn by stthe excellency of Jacob,

Surely uI will never forget any of their works.

8  vShall 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.

9  And 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:

10  And 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.

11  Behold, 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:

12  And 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.