Amos 7–8

¹Thus hath the Lord Jehovah shewed me, and lo, He is forming locusts at the beginning of the ascending of the latter growth, and lo, the latter growth is after the mowings of the king; ²and it hath come to pass, when it hath finished to consume the herb of the land, that I say: ‘Lord Jehovah, forgive, I pray Thee, How doth Jacob arise—for he is small?’ ³Jehovah hath repented of this, ‘It shall not be,’ said Jehovah. ⁴Thus hath the Lord Jehovah shewed me, and lo, the Lord Jehovah is calling to contend by fire, and it consumeth the great deep, yea, it hath consumed the portion, and I say: ⁵‘Lord Jehovah, cease, I pray Thee, How doth Jacob arise—for he is small?’ ⁶Jehovah hath repented of this, ‘It also shall not be,’ said the Lord Jehovah. ⁷Thus hath He shewed me, and lo, the Lord is standing by a wall made according to a plumb-line, and in His hand a plumb-line; ⁸and Jehovah saith unto me, ‘What art thou seeing, Amos?’ And I say, ‘A plumb-line;’ and the Lord saith: ‘Lo, I am setting a plumb-line in the midst of My people Israel, I do not add any more to pass over to it. ⁹And desolated have been high places of Isaac, And sanctuaries of Israel are wasted, And I have risen against the house of Jeroboam with a sword.’

¹⁰And Amaziah priest of Beth-El sendeth unto 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, ¹¹for thus said Amos: By sword die doth Jeroboam, And Israel certainly removeth from off its land.’ ¹²And Amaziah saith unto Amos, ‘Seer, go flee for thee unto the land of Judah, and eat there bread, and there thou dost prophesy; ¹³and at Beth-El do not add to prophesy any more, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the royal house.’ ¹⁴And Amos answereth and saith unto Amaziah, ‘I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son am I, but a herdsman I am, and a cultivator of sycamores, ¹⁵and Jehovah taketh me from after the flock, and Jehovah saith unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel. ¹⁶And now, hear a word of Jehovah: thou art saying, Do not prophesy against Israel, nor drop any thing against the house of Isaac, ¹⁷therefore thus said Jehovah: Thy wife in the city doth go a-whoring, And thy sons and thy daughters by sword do fall, And thy land by line is apportioned, And thou on an unclean land diest, And Israel certainly removeth from off its land.’

Chapter 8

¹Thus hath the Lord Jehovah shewed me, and, lo, a basket of summer-fruit. ²And He saith, ‘What art thou seeing, Amos?’ and I say, ‘A basket of summer-fruit.’ And Jehovah saith unto me: ‘The end hath come unto My people Israel, I do not add any more to pass over to it. ³And howled have songstresses of a palace in that day, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Many are the carcases, into any place throw—hush!

⁴Hear this, ye who are swallowing up the needy, To cause to cease the poor of the land, ⁵Saying, When doth the new moon pass, And we sell ground corn? And the sabbath, and we open out pure corn? To make little the ephah, And to make great the shekel, And to use perversely balances of deceit. ⁶To purchase with money the poor, And the needy for a pair of sandals, Yea, the refuse of the pure corn we sell. ⁷Sworn hath Jehovah by the excellency of Jacob: ‘I forget not for ever any of their works. ⁸For this doth not the land tremble, And mourned hath every dweller in it? And come up as a flood hath all of it. And it hath been cast out, and hath sunk, Like the flood of Egypt. ⁹And it hath come to pass in that day, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, I have caused the sun to go in at noon, And caused darkness on the land in a day of light, ¹⁰And have turned your festivals to mourning, And all your songs to lamentation, And caused sackcloth to come up on all loins, And on every head—baldness, And made it as a mourning of an only one, And its latter end as a day of bitterness.

¹¹Lo, days are coming, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And I have sent a famine into the land, Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water But of hearing the words of Jehovah. ¹²And they have wandered from sea unto sea, And from north even unto east, They go to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, And they do not find. ¹³In that day faint do the fair virgins, And the young men, with thirst. ¹⁴Those swearing by the guilt of Samaria, And have said, Live doth thy god, O Dan, And, Live doth the way of Beer-Sheba, And they have fallen—and rise not again!’

Chapter 9