Amos 7:1–9:10

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.

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

14  nThey 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.

9 aI saw the Lord standing upon bthe altar: and he said,

Smite cthe ||lintel of the door, that cdthe posts may shake:

And ||ecut them in fthe head, all of them;

And I will slay fthe last of them with the sword:

gHe that fleeth of them shall not flee away,

And hihe that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.

2  ijThough they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them;

klThough they climb up to heaven, lthence will I bring them down:

3  And though they hide themselves in mthe top of Carmel,

nI will search and take them out thence;

And ithough they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea,

Thence will I command the serpent, and ohe shall bite them:

4  And though they go into captivity before their enemies,

pThence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them:

And qI will set mine eyes upon them rfor evil, and not for good.

5  And the Lord God of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and sit shall melt,

tAnd all that dwell therein shall mourn:

tAnd it shall rise up wholly like a flood;

tAnd shall be udrowned, as by the flood of Egypt.

6  It is he that buildeth his ||†vstories in the heaven,

And hath founded his ||wtroop in the earth;

xHe that calleth for the waters of the sea,

xAnd poureth them out upon the face of the earth:

xyThe Lord is his name.

7  zAre ye not as children of athe Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord.

Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt?

And bthe Philistines from cCaphtor, and dthe Syrians from Kir?

8  Behold, ethe eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,

And I will destroy it from off the face of the earth;

fSaving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.

9  For, lo, I will command, and I will †gsift the house of Israel among all nations,

hLike as corn gis sifted in a sieve, iyet shall not the least †grain fall upon the earth.

10  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,

iiWhich say, jThe evil shall not overtake nor kprevent us.