The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen 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.

And he said, The Lord will give a lion's cry from Zion, his voice will be sounding from Jerusalem; and the fields of the keepers of sheep will become dry, and the top of Carmel will be wasted away.

So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Damascus, yea for four, I will not turn away from it; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron.

“So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction] upon the house of Hazael,
And it shall devour the palaces and strongholds of Ben-hadad (Hazael’s son).

“I will also break the gate bar of Damascus,
And cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven,
And him who holds the scepter, from Beth-eden;
So the people of Aram will go exiled to Kir,”
Says the Lord.

So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Gaza, yea for four, I will not turn away from it; because they deported as exiles to deliver up a complete population to Edom.

“So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction] on the wall of Gaza
And it shall consume her citadels.

And I will cut off the inhabitant out of Ashdod, and the holder of the sceptre out of Ashkelon, - and will turn my hand against Ekron, So shall perish the remnant of the Philistines, saith My Lord, Yahweh.

So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Tyre, yea for four, I will not turn away from it. Because they delivered up as exiles a complete population to Edom, and did not remember the brotherly covenant.

“So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction] on the wall of Tyre,
And it shall consume her citadels.”

"Thus sayeth the LORD, 'For three and four wickednesses of Edom, I will not spare him, because he persecuted his brother with the sword, destroyed his mother's womb, bare hatred very long, and so kept indignation always by him.

“So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction] upon Teman,
And it shall consume the citadels of Bozrah [in Edom].”

These are the words of the Lord: For three crimes of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not let its fate be changed; because in Gilead they had women with child cut open, so that they might make wider the limits of their land.

“So I will kindle a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction] on the wall of Rabbah [in Ammon]
And it shall devour its strongholds
Amid war cries and shouts of alarm on the day of battle,
And a tempest on the day of the whirlwind [when the enemy captures the city].

Ammon's king will be deported; he and his officials will be carried off together." The Lord has spoken!

Thus says the Lord,
“For three transgressions of Moab and for four (multiplied delinquencies)
I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,
Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom [Esau’s descendant] into lime [and used it to plaster a Moabite house].

“So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction] upon Moab
And it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth;
And Moab shall die amid tumult and uproar,
With war cries and shouts of alarm and the sound of the trumpet.

I will remove Moab's leader; I will kill all Moab's officials with him." The Lord has spoken!

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;

“So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction by the Babylonians] upon Judah
And it will devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”

So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, yea for four, I will not turn away from it; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals;

Who are panting for the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, And the way of the humble they turn aside, And a man and his father go unto the damsel, So as to pollute My holy name.

They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral; they do so right beside every altar! They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied; they do so right in the temple of their God!

For Israel's sake I destroyed the Amorites. They were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks, but I destroyed the fruit on their branches and their roots in the ground.

And I took you up out of the land of Egypt, guiding you for forty years in the waste land, so that you might take for your heritage the land of the Amorite.

And I raised up some [of] your sons to [be] prophets and some [of] your young men to [be] Nazirites. Is it not so, O {people} of Israel? [This is] the declaration of Yahweh!

See, I am crushing you down, as one is crushed under a cart full of grain.

So the swift runner will not escape, the valiant will not fortify his strength, and the mighty warrior will not save his life.

Even the most courageous of the warriors
will flee naked on that day—
this is the Lord’s declaration.

Doth a lion roar in the woods, except he have prey? Or crieth a Lion's whelp out of his den, except he have gotten something?

If a ram’s horn is blown in a city,
aren’t people afraid?
If a disaster occurs in a city,
hasn’t the Lord done it?

Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof.

The people are incapable of doing right—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
those who store up violence and destruction
in their citadels.

So the Lord Jehovah says this: An enemy! And he shall be all around the land; and he shall bring you down from your strength, and your palaces shall be plundered.

Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.

“On that day when I punish Israel’s transgressions,
I shall also punish the altars of Bethel [with their golden calves];
And the horns of the altar shall be cut off
And fall to the ground.

I will demolish the winter house
and the summer house;
the houses inlaid with ivory will be destroyed,
and the great houses will come to an end.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character: "Certainly the time is approaching when you will be carried away in baskets, every last one of you in fishermen's pots.

“And you shall go out through the breaches [made in the city wall],
Every woman straight before her [unable to turn aside],
And you shall be cast to Harmon,”
Says the Lord.

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.

I gave you absolutely nothing to eat
in all your cities,
a shortage of food in all your communities,
yet you did not return to Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

"I therefore have withheld the rain from you three months before the harvest, causing rain to come upon one city, but not upon another, and upon one field but not upon another, so that it would wither.

So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

I struck you with blight and mildew;
the locust devoured
your many gardens and vineyards,
your fig trees and olive trees,
yet you did not return to Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

I sent plagues like those of Egypt;
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I caused the stench of your camp
to fill your nostrils,
yet you did not return to Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

I have overthrown among you, like God's overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.

So this is what I will do to you, O Israel: and because I will do this to you, be ready for a meeting with your God, O Israel.

For see, he who gave form to the mountains and made the wind, giving knowledge of his purpose to man, who makes the morning dark, and is walking on the high places of the earth: the Lord, the God of armies, is his name.

For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel, "Seek me so that you may live."

Seek Yahweh so that you may live, so that he will not break out like a fire [against] the house of Joseph! And it will devour, {with none to quench} [it] for Bethel.

Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:

That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

So because the poor man is crushed under your feet, and you take taxes from him of grain: you have made for yourselves houses of cut stone, but you will not take your rest in them; the fair vine-gardens planted by your hands will not give you wine.

So the wise will say nothing in that time; for it is an evil time.

Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

Hate evil and love good,
And establish justice in the [court of the city] gate.
Perhaps the Lord God of hosts
Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph [that is, those who remain after God’s judgment].

Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.

"Woe to those who are craving the Day of the LORD! How is it to your benefit, this Day of the LORD? It's a day of darkness to you, and not light.

Don't you realize the Lord's day of judgment will bring darkness, not light -- gloomy blackness, not bright light?

but see that equity flow as the water, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

You carried along your king Sikkuth and Kayyun [your man-made gods of Saturn], your images of your star-god which you made for yourselves [but you brought Me none of the appointed sacrifices].

So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.” Yahweh, the God of Hosts, is His name. He has spoken.

O Woe be to the proud wealthy in Zion, to such as think them so sure upon the mount of Samaria: which hold themselves for the best of the world, and rule the house of Israel, even as they list.

Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?

Who improvise to the sound of the harp—
Like David they have composed songs for themselves—

drinking wine from bowls, anointing themselves with the choicest of oils, but not grieving on the occasion of Joseph's ruin

So now they will go away prisoners with the first of those who are made prisoners, and the loud cry of those who were stretched out will come to an end.

The Lord God has sworn by Himself—this is the declaration of Yahweh, the God of Hosts:

I loathe Jacob’s pride
and hate his citadels,
so I will hand over the city and everything in it.

so that though there remain ten men in one house, they shall die.

And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.

For see, at the order of the Lord the great house will be full of cracks and the little house will be broken.

Do horses run on rocks, or does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and [the] fruit of righteousness into wormwood!

Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?

For see, I will send against you a nation, O Israel, says the Lord, the God of armies, ruling you cruelly from the way into Hamath as far as the stream of the Arabah.

Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.

and 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?'

So the LORD relented from this. "This will not happen," said the LORD.

Thus 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:

Then I said,

“O Lord God, please stop!
How can Jacob stand,
For he is so small [that he cannot endure this]?”

So the LORD relented from this. "This will not happen, either," said the Lord GOD.

This is what he let me see: and I saw the Lord stationed by a wall made straight by a weighted line, and he had a weighted line in his hand.

and 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.

Isaac’s high places will be deserted,
and Israel’s sanctuaries will be in ruins;
I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam
with a sword.”

So Amaziah priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel. It said, "Amos has been conspiring against you in the very heart of the house of Israel! The land cannot bear everything he has to say,

For so Amos says: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely go into exile out of his land.

So Amaziah kept saying to Amos, "Get out of here, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Live there and prophesy there.

But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court.

Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:

And Jehovah will take me from after the sheep, and Jehovah will say to me, Go prophesy to my people Israel.

Now therefore, listen to the word of the Lord: You say, ‘You shall not prophesy against Israel nor shall you speak against the house of Isaac.’

So this is what the Lord has said: Your wife will be a loose woman in the town, and your sons and your daughters will be put to the sword, and your land will be cut up into parts by a line; and you yourself will come to your end in an unclean land, and Israel will certainly be taken away a prisoner out of his land.

This is what the Lord God let me see: and I saw a basket of summer fruit.

And 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.

In that day the temple songs will become wailing”—this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere! Silence!”

saying, "When will the new moon be over, so that we can sell grain? And the Sabbath, so that we can open the grain bins, that we can make [the] ephah small and make [the] shekel large, and can practice deceit [with] a set of scales of deceit?

So as to buy the helpless for money
And the needy for a pair of sandals,
And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”

So will I turn your festivals into mourning, and all your songs into a dirge, and I will bring up - on all loins - sackcloth, and upon every head - baldness, - and I will make it like the mourning for an only one, even the afterpart thereof, as a day of bitterness.

See, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send times of great need on the land, not need of food or desire for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.

And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.