Words of Amos -- who hath been among herdsmen of Tekoa -- that he hath seen concerning Israel, in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the shaking;

And I sent fire into the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the palaces of the son of Hadad.

Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of their ripping up the pregnant ones of Gilead, To enlarge their border,

They tread upon poor men's heads, in the dust of the earth, and crook the ways of the meek. The son and the father go to the harlot, to dishonour my holy name,

And I raise of your sons for prophets, And of your choice ones for Nazarites, Is not this true, O sons of Israel? An affirmation of Jehovah.

Hear ye this word that Jehovah hath spoken concerning you, O sons of Israel, concerning all the family that I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:

Thus said Jehovah: As the shepherd delivereth from the lion's mouth Two legs, or a piece of an ear, So delivered are the sons of Israel, Who are sitting in Samaria on the corner of a bed, And in Damascus on that of a couch.

The Lord Jehovah has sworn by His holiness that the days shall come on you that He will lift you up with meat hooks, and your sons with fishhooks.

And perfume with leaven a thank-offering, And proclaim willing gifts, sound ye! For so ye have loved, O sons of Israel, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

For lo! He that fashioned the mountains, and created the wind, and who telleth the son of earth what is his thought, who turneth dawn into darkness, and marcheth upon the high places of the earth, Yahweh, God of hosts, is his name!

Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, family of Israel:

Therefore, thus, saith Yahweh, God of hosts, My Lord, In all broadways, shall be lamentation, and, in all streets, shall they say, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman unto the mourning, and, unto the lamentation, them who know a wailing song;

Who are bawling at the bidding of the harp, - like David, have they invented for themselves instruments of song:

And 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,

therefore 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.'

And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

Like the sons of the Ethiopians, are not ye, unto me, O sons of Israel? Demandeth Yahweh: Was it not, Israel, I brought up out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines out of Caphtor, and the Syrians out of Kir?