Title: The World English Bible (WEB): Amos
Author: Anonymous
Language: English
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Book 30 Amos
001:001 The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa,
        which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah,
        and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel,
        two years before the earthquake.
001:002 He said:  "Yahweh will roar from Zion, and utter his voice
        from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds will mourn,
        and the top of Carmel will wither."
001:003 Thus says Yahweh:  "For three transgressions of Damascus, yes,
        for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they
        have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron;
001:004 but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it will
        devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.
001:005 I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant
        from the valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter
        from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go
        into captivity to Kir," says Yahweh.
001:006 Thus says Yahweh:  "For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four,
        I will not turn away its punishment; because they carried
        away captive the whole community, to deliver them up to Edom;
001:007 but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will
        devour its palaces.
001:008 I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds
        the scepter from Ashkelon; and I will turn my hand against Ekron;
        and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,"
        says the Lord Yahweh.
001:009 Thus says Yahweh:  "For three transgressions of Tyre, yes,
        for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they
        delivered up the whole community to Edom, and didn't remember
        the brotherly covenant;
001:010 but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it will
        devour its palaces."
001:011 Thus says Yahweh:  "For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four,
        I will not turn away its punishment; because he pursued his
        brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, and his anger
        raged continually, and he kept his wrath forever;
001:012 but I will send a fire on Teman, and it will devour
        the palaces of Bozrah."
001:013 Thus says Yahweh:  "For three transgressions of the children
        of Ammon, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment;
        because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead,
        that they may enlarge their border.
001:014 But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will
        devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle,
        with a storm in the day of the whirlwind;
001:015 and their king will go into captivity, he and his
        princes together," says Yahweh.
002:001 Thus says Yahweh:  "For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four,
        I will not turn away its punishment; because he burned
        the bones of the king of Edom into lime;
002:002 but I will send a fire on Moab, and it will devour the palaces
        of Kerioth; and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting,
        and with the sound of the trumpet;
002:003 and I will cut off the judge from their midst, and will kill
        all its princes with him," says Yahweh.
002:004 Thus says Yahweh:  "For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four,
        I will not turn away its punishment; because they have rejected
        Yahweh's law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies
        have led them astray, after which their fathers walked;
002:005 But I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour
        the palaces of Jerusalem."
002:006 Thus says Yahweh:  "For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four,
        I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold
        the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes;
002:007 They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor,
        and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father
        use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;
002:008 and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes
        taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink
        the wine of those who have been fined.
002:009 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was
        like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks;
        yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
002:010 Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty
        years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.
002:011 I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your
        young men for Nazirites.  Isn't this true, you children
        of Israel?" says Yahweh.
002:012 "But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded
        the prophets, saying, 'Don't prophesy!'
002:013 Behold, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes
        that is full of grain.
002:014 Flight will perish from the swift; and the strong won't strengthen
        his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself;
002:015 neither shall he stand who handles the bow; and he who is
        swift of foot won't escape; neither shall he who rides
        the horse deliver himself;
002:016 and he who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked
        on that day," says Yahweh.
003:001 Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, children of Israel,
        against the whole family which I brought up out of the land
        of Egypt, saying:
003:002 "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth.
        Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins."
003:003 Do two walk together, unless they have agreed?
003:004 Will a lion roar in the thicket, when he has no prey?
        Does a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?
003:005 Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, where no snare
        is set for him?  Does a snare spring up from the ground,
        when there is nothing to catch?
003:006 Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people
        being afraid?  Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh
        hasn't done it?
003:007 Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals
        his secret to his servants the prophets.
003:008 The lion has roared.  Who will not fear?  The Lord Yahweh has spoken.
        Who can but prophesy?
003:009 Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land
        of Egypt, and say, "Assemble yourselves on the mountains
        of Samaria, and see what unrest is in her, and what oppression
        is among them."
003:010 "Indeed they don't know to do right," says Yahweh, "Who hoard
        plunder and loot in their palaces."
003:011 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh:  "An adversary will
        overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds,
        and your fortresses will be plundered."
003:012 Thus says Yahweh:  "As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth
        of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children
        of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch,
        and on the silken cushions of a bed."
003:013 "Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob,"
        says the Lord Yahweh, the God of Armies.
003:014 "For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel
        on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; and the horns
        of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground.
003:015 I will strike the winter house with the summer house;
        and the houses of ivory will perish, and the great houses
        will have an end," says Yahweh.
004:001 Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain
        of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,
        who tell their husbands, "Bring us drinks!"
004:002 The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that behold, "The days
        shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks,
        and the last of you with fish hooks.
004:003 You will go out at the breaks in the wall, everyone straight
        before her; and you will cast yourselves into Harmon," says Yahweh.
004:004 "Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more.  Bring your
        sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days,
004:005 offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,
        and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them:
        for this pleases you, you children of Israel,"
        says the Lord Yahweh.
004:006 "I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
        and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven't returned
        to me," says Yahweh.
004:007 "I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet
        three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city,
        and caused it not to rain on another city.  One place was
        rained on, and the piece where it didn't rain withered.
004:008 So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water,
        and were not satisfied:  yet you haven't returned to me,"
        says Yahweh.
004:009 "I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens
        and your vineyards; and your fig trees and your olive trees
        have the swarming locust devoured:  yet you haven't returned
        to me," says Yahweh.
004:010 "I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt.  I have slain your
        young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses;
        and I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp,
        yet you haven't returned to me," says Yahweh.
004:011 "I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom
        and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out
        of the fire; yet you haven't returned to me," says Yahweh.
004:012 "Therefore thus will I do to you, Israel; because I will do
        this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.
004:013 For, behold, he who forms the mountains, and creates
        the wind, and declares to man what is his thought;
        who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places
        of the Earth:  Yahweh, the God of Armies, is his name."
005:001 Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you,
        O house of Israel.
005:002 "The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more.
        She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up."
005:003 For thus says the Lord Yahweh:  "The city that went forth
        a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth
        one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel."
005:004 For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel:  "Seek me,
        and you will live;
005:005 but don't seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don't pass
        to Beersheba:  for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
        and Bethel shall come to nothing.
005:006 Seek Yahweh, and you will live; lest he break out like fire
        in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one
        to quench it in Bethel.
005:007 You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness
        to the earth:
005:008 seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow
        of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night;
        who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on
        the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name,
005:009 who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction
        comes on the fortress.
005:010 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him
        who speaks blamelessly.
005:011 Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take taxes
        from him of wheat:  You have built houses of hewn stone, but you
        will not dwell in them.  You have planted pleasant vineyards,
        but you shall not drink their wine.
005:012 For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins--
        you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn
        aside the needy in the courts.
005:013 Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time,
        for it is an evil time.
005:014 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Yahweh,
        the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say.
005:015 Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts.
        It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious
        to the remnant of Joseph."
005:016 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies,
        the Lord:  "Wailing will be in all the broad ways;
        and they will say in all the streets, 'Alas!  Alas!' and they
        will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful
        in lamentation to wailing.
005:017 In all vineyards there will be wailing; for I will pass through
        the midst of you," says Yahweh.
005:018 "Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh!  Why do you long
        for the day of Yahweh?  It is darkness, and not light.
005:019 As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him;
        Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall,
        and a snake bit him.
005:020 Won't the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light?
        Even very dark, and no brightness in it?
005:021 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can't stand
        your solemn assemblies.
005:022 Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings,
        I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace
        offerings of your fat animals.
005:023 Take away from me the noise of your songs!  I will not listen
        to the music of your harps.
005:024 But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like
        a mighty stream.
005:025 "Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness
        forty years, house of Israel?
005:026 You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images,
        the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.
005:027 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,"
        says Yahweh, whose name is the God of Armies.
006:001 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure
        on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief
        of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!
006:002 Go to Calneh, and see; and from there go to Hamath the great;
        then go down to Gath of the Philistines.  are they better than
        these kingdoms? or is their border greater than your border?
006:003 Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat
        of violence to come near;
006:004 Who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches,
        and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of
        the midst of the stall;
006:005 who strum on the strings of a harp; who invent for themselves
        instruments of music, like David;
006:006 who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils;
        but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
006:007 Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive;
        and the feasting and lounging will end.
006:008 "The Lord Yahweh has sworn by himself," says Yahweh, the God
        of Armies:  "I abhor the pride of Jacob, and detest his fortresses.
        Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.
006:009 It will happen, if there remain ten men in one house,
        that they shall die.
006:010 "When a man's relative carries him, even he who burns him,
        to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in
        the innermost parts of the house, 'Is there yet any with you?'
        And he says, 'No;' then he will say, 'Hush!  Indeed we must
        not mention the name of Yahweh.'
006:011 "For, behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be
        smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits.
006:012 Do horses run on the rocky crags?  Does one plow there with oxen?
        But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit
        of righteousness into bitterness;
006:013 you who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, 'Haven't we
        taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?'
006:014 For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel,"
        says Yahweh, the God of Armies; "and they will afflict you
        from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah."
007:001 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me:  and behold, he formed locusts
        in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth;
        and behold, it was the latter growth after the king's harvest.
007:002 It happened that, when they made an end of eating the grass
        of the land, then I said, "Lord Yahweh, forgive, I beg you!
        How could Jacob stand?  For he is small."
007:003 Yahweh relented concerning this.  "It shall not be," says Yahweh.
007:004 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me and behold, the Lord Yahweh
        called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep,
        and would have devoured the land.
007:005 Then I said, "Lord Yahweh, stop, I beg you!  How could Jacob stand?
        For he is small."
007:006 Yahweh relented concerning this.  "This also shall not be,"
        says the Lord Yahweh.
007:007 Thus he showed me and behold, the Lord stood beside a wall
        made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
007:008 Yahweh said to me, "Amos, what do you see?"  I said, "A plumb line."
        Then the Lord said, "Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst
        of my people Israel.  I will not again pass by them any more.
007:009 The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries
        of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house
        of Jeroboam with the sword."
007:010 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king
        of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the midst
        of the house of Israel.  The land is not able to bear
        all his words.
007:011 For Amos says, 'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel
        shall surely be led away captive out of his land.'"
007:012 Amaziah also said to Amos, "You seer, go, flee away into the land
        of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
007:013 but don't prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is
        the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house!"
007:014 Then Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet, neither was
        I a prophet's son; but I was a herdsman, and a farmer
        of sycamore figs;
007:015 and Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said
        to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'
007:016 Now therefore listen to the word of Yahweh:  'You say,
        Don't prophesy against Israel, and don't preach against
        the house of Isaac.'
007:017 Therefore thus says Yahweh:  'Your wife shall be a prostitute
        in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall
        by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line;
        and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean,
        and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.'"
008:001 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me:  behold, a basket of summer fruit.
008:002 He said, "Amos, what do you see?"  I said, "A basket of
        summer fruit."  Then Yahweh said to me, "The end has come
        on my people Israel.  I will not again pass by them any more.
008:003 The songs of the temple will be wailings in that day,"
        says the Lord Yahweh.  "The dead bodies will be many.
        In every place they will throw them out with silence.
008:004 Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause
        the poor of the land to fail,
008:005 Saying, 'When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain?
        And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small,
        and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
008:006 that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair
        of shoes, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?'"
008:007 Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, "Surely I will never
        forget any of their works.
008:008 Won't the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells
        in it?  Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; and it
        will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt.
008:009 It will happen in that day," says the Lord Yahweh, "that I
        will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken
        the earth in the clear day.
008:010 I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs
        into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth
        on all your bodies, and baldness on every head.
        I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end
        of it like a bitter day.
008:011 Behold, the days come," says the Lord Yahweh, "that I will send
        a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst
        for water, but of hearing the words of Yahweh.
008:012 They will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east;
        they will run back and forth to seek the word of Yahweh,
        and will not find it.
008:013 In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will
        faint for thirst.
008:014 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, 'As your god,
        Dan, lives;' and, 'As the way of Beersheba lives;' they will fall,
        and never rise up again."
009:001 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said,
        "Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake;
        and break them in pieces on the head of all of them;
        and I will kill the last of them with the sword:
        there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not
        one of them escape.
009:002 Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them;
        and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.
009:003 Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search
        and take them out there; and though they be hid from my sight
        in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent,
        and it will bite them.
009:004 Though they go into captivity before their enemies,
        there I will command the sword, and it will kill them.
        I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.
009:005 For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, is he who touches the land
        and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it
        will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again,
        like the River of Egypt.
009:006 It is he who builds his chambers in the heavens, and has
        founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters
        of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth;
        Yahweh is his name.
009:007 Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me,
        children of Israel?" says Yahweh.  "Haven't I brought up Israel
        out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor,
        and the Syrians from Kir?
009:008 Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom,
        and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth;
        except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,"
        says Yahweh.
009:009 "For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of
        Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve,
        yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth.
009:010 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say,
        'Evil won't overtake nor meet us.'
009:011 In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen,
        and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins,
        and I will build it as in the days of old;
009:012 that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations
        who are called by my name," says Yahweh who does this.
009:013 "Behold, the days come," says Yahweh, "that the plowman
        shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him
        who sows seed; and sweet wine will drip from the mountains,
        and flow from the hills.
009:014 I will bring my people Israel back from captivity,
        and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them;
        and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them.
        They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
009:015 I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be
        plucked up out of their land which I have given them,"
        says Yahweh your God.





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