The words of Amos, who was one of the sheep breeders from Tekoa—what he saw regarding Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

And he said,
“The Lord thunders and roars from Zion [in judgment]
And utters His voice from Jerusalem;
Then the pastures of the shepherds mourn,
And the summit of [Mount] Carmel dries up [because of God’s judgment].”

And thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Damascus, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of their threshing Gilead with sharp-pointed irons,

but I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

And I will break the bolt of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant out of the plain of Aven, and the holder of the sceptre out of the house of Eden, - and the people of Syria, shall be exiled, unto Kir, saith Yahweh.

Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Gaza, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of their removing a complete captivity, To deliver up to Edom,

but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

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.

Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Tyre, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of their delivering up a complete captivity to Edom, And they remembered not the brotherly covenant,

but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Edom, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of his pursuing with a sword his brother, And he hath destroyed his mercies, And tear perpetually doth his anger, And his wrath -- he hath kept it for ever,

but I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.

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,

But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind:

Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Moab, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of his burning the bones of the king of Edom to lime,

But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet:

And I will cut off the judge out of her midst, and, all her rulers, will I slay with him, saith Yahweh.

Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, And for four, I do not reserve it, Because of their loathing the law of Jehovah, And His statutes they have not kept, And their lies do cause them to err, After which their fathers did walk,

But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of their selling for silver the righteous, And the needy for a pair of sandals.

Crushing the head of the poor, and turning the steps of the gentle out of the way: and a man and his father go in to the same young woman, putting shame on my holy name:

They stretch themselves out beside every altar on clothing taken in pledge and they drink wine, bought with fines imposed, in the house of their God.

Yet destroyed I 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.

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.

And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.

And yet ye caused the Nazirites to drink wine, - and, on the prophet, laid ye command, saying, Ye shall not prophesy!

Behold, I am pressed under you as a wagon will be pressed being filled with the sheaf to it

Even the bravest of elite troops will run away naked at that time," declares the LORD.

Hear this word that Jehovah hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying,

I have known only you
out of all the clans of the earth;
therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Is it possible for two to go walking together, if not by agreement?

Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?

Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?

Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

The cry of the lion is sounding; who will not have fear? The Lord God has said the word; is it possible for the prophet to keep quiet?

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.

For they have no knowledge of how to do what is right, says the Lord, who are storing up violent acts and destruction in their great houses.

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: "An enemy will surround the land. He will pull down your defenses, and plunder your fortified citadels."

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.

"because on that day I will lay out the charges against Israel. I will also bring judgment upon the altars of Bethel; the horns of the altar will be cut off and will fall to the ground.

Give ear to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are in the hill of Samaria, by whom the poor are kept down, and those in need are crushed; who say to their lords, Get out the wine and give us drink.

And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD.

Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:

Offer leavened bread as a thank offering,
and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings,
for that is what you Israelites love to do!
This is the Lord’s declaration.

And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

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 have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

Therefore, thus I do to thee, O Israel, at last, Because this I do to thee, Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.

The virgin of Israel has been made low, never again to be lifted up: she is stretched out by herself on her land; there is no one to put her on her feet again.

For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.

"For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: "Seek me and live,

“But do not resort to Bethel [to worship the golden calf]
Nor enter [idolatrous] Gilgal,
Nor cross over to Beersheba [and its idols];
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity and exile,
And Bethel will come to nothing.

Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.

The Israelites turn justice into bitterness; they throw what is fair and right to the ground.

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:

He brings destruction on the strong,
and it falls on the stronghold.

They hate the one who convicts the guilty
at the city gate
and despise the one who speaks with integrity.

Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

For I know your crimes are many
and your sins innumerable.
They oppress the righteous, take a bribe,
and deprive the poor of justice at the gates.

Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live, And it is so; Jehovah, God of Hosts, is with you, as ye said.

Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, the Lord, In all broad places is lamentation, And in all out-places they say, 'Alas, alas,' And called the husbandman to mourning, And to lamentation the skilful of wailing.

Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.

It is as if a man runs from a lion [escaping one danger]
And a bear meets him [so he dies anyway],
Or goes home, and leans with his hand against the wall
And a snake bites him.

Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

"'I hate and abhor your holidays, and whereas ye cense me when ye come together I will not accept it.

Yes, [even] if you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept [them], and I will not look at the fellowship offerings of your fattened animals.

“House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to Me during the 40 years in the wilderness?

Yet have ye set up tabernacles to your Moloch, and images of your Idols, yea and the star of your god Rempha: figures which ye made to worship them.

Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!

They say to the people: "Journey over to Calneh and look at it! Then go from there to Hamath-Rabbah! Then go down to Gath of the Philistines! Are they superior to our two kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?"

Do you put off the day of punishment,
Yet cause the seat of violence to come near?

That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

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

Who drink wine from sacrificial bowls
And anoint themselves with the finest oils [reflecting their unrestrained celebration];
Yet they are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph (Israel).

Therefore now they remove at the head of the captives, And turned aside is the mourning-feast of stretched-out ones.

The Lord God has sworn [an oath] by Himself—the Lord God of hosts, says:
“I loathe and reject the [self-centered] arrogance of Jacob (Israel),
And I hate his palaces and citadels;
Therefore, I shall hand over the [idolatrous] city [of Samaria] with all that it contains [to the Assyrian invaders].”

And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that 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 a rock? Doth one plough it with oxen? For ye have turned to gall judgment, And the fruit of righteousness to wormwood.

O ye who are rejoicing at nothing, Who are saying, 'Have we not by our strength taken to ourselves horns?'

Indeed, I [am] going to raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, {declares} Yahweh, the God of hosts. And they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath up to the wadi 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 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: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.

The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.

Thus 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.

Jehovah hath repented of this, 'It also shall not be,' said the Lord Jehovah.

This is what he showed me: Behold, my Lord [was] standing beside a wall [built with] a plummet, and a plummet [was] in his hand.

And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:

but the high hill chapels of Isaac must be laid waste, and the churches of Israel made desolate: and as for the house of Jeroboam, I will stand up against it with the sword."

Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel [site of the golden calf shrine], sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words.

For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.

Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, 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.