Surely now they will say, "We have no king; for we do not fear the LORD; and the king, what can he do for us?"

The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. They will tell the mountains, "Cover us." and the hills, "Fall on us."

When it is my desire, I will chastise them; and the nations will be gathered against them, when they are bound to their two transgressions.

Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on her beautiful neck. I will set a rider on Ephraim. Judah will plow. Jacob will break his clods.

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and rains righteousness on you.

Therefore a battle roar will arise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel in the day of battle. The mother was dashed in pieces with her children.

"How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.

Ephraim surrounds me with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit. Judah still strays from God, and is unfaithful to the Holy One.

Ephraim feeds on wind, and chases the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and desolation. They make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt.

Indeed, he struggled with the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to him. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us,

even the LORD, the God of Hosts; The LORD is his name of renown.

Ephraim said, "Surely I have become rich, I have found myself wealth. In all my wealth they won't find in me any iniquity that is sin."

"But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt. I will yet again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast.

If Gilead is wicked, surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field.

Therefore they will be like the morning mist, and like the dew that passes away early, like the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing floor, and like the smoke out of the chimney.

"Yet I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; and you shall acknowledge no god but me, and besides me there is no savior.

I will meet them like a bear that is bereaved of her cubs, and will tear the covering of their heart. There I will devour them like a lioness. The wild animal will tear them.

Where is your king now, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, 'Give me a king and princes?'

The guilt of Ephraim is stored up. His sin is stored up.

The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him. He is an unwise son; for when it is time, he doesn't come to the opening of the womb.

I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death. Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your sting? "Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.

Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of the LORD coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up. He will plunder the storehouse of treasure.

Take words with you, and return to the LORD. Tell him, "Forgive all our sins, and accept that which is good, and we will offer the fruit of our lips

Assyria can't save us. We won't ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, 'Our gods.' for in you the fatherless finds mercy."

"I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him.

Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I answer, and will take care of him. I am like a green fir tree; from me your fruit is found."

Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep. Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes.

Alas for the day. For the day of the LORD is at hand, and it will come as destruction from Shaddai.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm on my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming, for it is near.

A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, a great and strong people; there has never been the like, neither will there be any more after them, even to the years of many generations.

A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.

The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen, so do they run.

Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a mighty people drawn up for battle.

The LORD thunders his voice before his army; for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of the LORD is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?

Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to the LORD, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.

Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, "Spare your people, LORD, and do not give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

"Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD, your God; for he gives you the former rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain, as before.

You will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD, your God, and there is no one else; and my people will never again be disappointed.

It will happen that whoever will call on the name of the LORD shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the remnant, those whom the LORD calls.

Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great."

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. For the day of the LORD is near, in the valley of decision.

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.

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;

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.

Behold, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes that is full of grain.

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;

and he who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked on that day," says the LORD.

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?

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."

Thus says the LORD: "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."

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."

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 GOD.

"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 the LORD.

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: The LORD, the God of Hosts, is his name."

"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."

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, the LORD is his name,

Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.

Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you say.

"Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD. Why do you long for the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light.

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 serpent bit him.

Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.

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?

"The Lord GOD has sworn by himself," says the LORD, the God of Hosts: "I abhor the pride of Jacob, and detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.

"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 the LORD.'

It happened that, when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, "Lord GOD, forgive, I beg you. How could Jacob stand? For he is small."

Then I said, "Lord GOD, stop, I beg you. How could Jacob stand? For he is small."

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.

but do not prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house."

Therefore thus says the LORD: '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.'"

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."

For the Lord, the LORD of hosts, 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.

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; the LORD is his name.

"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.

All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, 'Evil won't overtake nor meet us.'

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;

that the rest of mankind, and all the nations upon whom my name is called, may earnestly seek me," says the LORD who does this.

The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord GOD says about Edom. We have heard news from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, "Arise, and let's rise up against her in battle.

The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, 'Who will bring me down to the ground?'

Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there," says the LORD.

How Esau will be ransacked. How his hidden treasures are sought out.

All the men of your alliance have brought you on your way, even to the border. The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. Friends who eat your bread lay a snare under you. There is no understanding in him."

"Won't I in that day," says the LORD, "destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mountain of Esau?

Your mighty men, Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.

For the day of the LORD is near all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head.

For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been.

The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. They will burn among them, and devour them. There will not be any remaining to the house of Esau." Indeed, the LORD has spoken.

Those of the Negev will possess the mountain of Esau, and those of the lowland, the Philistines. They will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria. Benjamin will possess Gilead.

Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be the LORD's.

So the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God. Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won't perish."

They all said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is on us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

Then they asked him, "Tell us, please, for whose cause this evil is on us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? Of what people are you?"

Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said to him, "What is this that you have done?" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

Then said they to him, "What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us?" For the sea grew more and more stormy.

He said to them, "Take me up, and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; for I know that because of me this great storm is on you."

Therefore they cried to the LORD, and said, "We beg you, LORD, we beg you, let us not perish for this man's life, and do not lay on us innocent blood; for you, LORD, have done as it pleased you."

but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.

Therefore now, LORD, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live."