ACV - Amos

Chapter 1

1:1  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.

1:2  And he said, Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the pastures of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.

1:3  Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Damascus, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron.

1:4  But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

1:5  And I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and he who holds the scepter from the house of Eden, and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir, says Jehovah.

1:6  Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Gaza, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they carried away captive the whole people, to deliver them up to Edom.

1:7  But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour the palaces of it.

1:8  And 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 shall perish, says the lord Jehovah.

1:9  Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Tyre, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they delivered up the whole people to Edom, and did not remember the brotherly covenant.

1:10  But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour the palaces of it.

1:11  Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Edom, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity. And his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.

1:12  But I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.

1:13  Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border.

1:14  But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces of it, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind.

1:15  And their king shall go into captivity, he and his rulers together, says Jehovah.

Chapter 2

2:1  Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Moab, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.

2:2  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.

2:3  And I will cut off the judge from the midst of it, and will kill all the rulers of it with him, says Jehovah.

2:4  Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have rejected the law of Jehovah, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, according to which their fathers walked.

2:5  But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

2:6  Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have sold a righteous man for silver, and a needy man for a pair of shoes-

2:7  those who pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek. And a man and his father go to the same maiden, to profane my holy name.

2:8  And they lay themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge. And in the house of their God they drink the wine of such as have been fined.

2:9  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.

2:10  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.

2:11  And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O ye sons of Israel? says Jehovah.

2:12  But ye gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, Do not Prophesy.

2:13  Behold, I will press you in your place, as a cart presses that is full of sheaves.

2:14  And flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, nor shall the mighty deliver himself.

2:15  Neither shall he stand who handles the bow. And he who is swift of foot shall not deliver himself, nor shall he who rides the horse deliver himself.

2:16  And he who is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, says Jehovah.

Chapter 3

3:1  Hear this word that Jehovah has spoken against you, O sons of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying,

3:2  You only I have known of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities.

3:3  Shall two walk together unless they have agreed?

3:4  Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has taken nothing?

3:5  Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no net is set for him? Shall a snare spring up from the ground, and have taken nothing at all?

3:6  Shall the trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid? Shall evil befall a city, and Jehovah has not done it?

3:7  Surely the lord Jehovah will do nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.

3:8  The lion has roared, who will not fear? The lord Jehovah has spoken, who can but prophesy?

3:9  Publish ye 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 what great tumults are in it, and what oppressions are in the midst of it.

3:10  For they do not know to do right, says Jehovah, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.

3:11  Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: An adversary shall be, even round about the land, and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be plundered.

3:12  Thus says Jehovah: As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the sons of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria in the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed.

3:13  Hear ye, and testify against the house of Jacob, says the lord Jehovah, the God of hosts.

3:14  For in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.

3:15  And I will smite the winter house with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, says Jehovah.

Chapter 4

4:1  Hear this word, ye cows of Bashan, who are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their lords, Bring, and let us drink.

4:2  The lord Jehovah has sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that they shall take you away with hooks, and your residue with fish-hooks.

4:3  And ye shall go out at the breaches, each one straight before her, and ye shall cast yourselves into Harmon, says Jehovah.

4:4  Come to Bethel and transgress, to Gilgal and multiply transgression. And bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes every three days.

4:5  And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, and publish them. For this pleases you, O ye sons of Israel, says the lord Jehovah.

4:6  And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places, yet ye have not returned to me, says Jehovah.

4:7  And I also have withheld 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 upon which it did not rain withered.

4:8  So two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied. Yet ye have not returned to me, says Jehovah.

4:9  I have smitten you with blasting and mildew. The multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees the palmer-worm has devoured. Yet ye have not returned to me, says Jehovah.

4:10  I have sent among you the pestilence according to the manner of Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses, and I have made the stench of your camp to come up even into your nostrils. Yet ye have not returned to me, says Jehovah.

4:11  I have overthrown cities among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning. Yet ye have not returned to me, says Jehovah.

4:12  Therefore thus I will do to thee, O Israel, and because I will do this to thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

4:13  For, lo, he who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads upon the high places of the earth-Jehovah, the God of hosts, is his name.

Chapter 5

5:1  Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.

5:2  The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise. She is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up.

5:3  For thus says the lord Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel.

5:4  For thus says Jehovah to the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and ye shall live.

5:5  But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba. For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to naught.

5:6  Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.

5:7  Ye who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth,

5:8  seek him who makes 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 upon the face of the earth (Jehovah is his name),

5:9  who brings sudden destruction upon the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

5:10  They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks uprightly.

5:11  Inasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, and take exactions of wheat from him. Ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them. Ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink the wine thereof.

5:12  For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins-ye who afflict the just man, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the gate.

5:13  Therefore he who is prudent shall keep silence in such a time, for it is an evil time.

5:14  Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live, and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be with you, as ye say.

5:15  Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate. It may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

5:16  Therefore thus says Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways. And they shall say in all the streets, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to wailing.

5:17  And in all vineyards shall be wailing, for I will pass through the midst of thee, says Jehovah.

5:18  Woe to you who desire the day of Jehovah! Why would ye have the day of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light.

5:19  As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

5:20  Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light, even very dark, and no brightness in it?

5:21  I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

5:22  Yea, though ye offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.

5:23  Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

5:24  But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.

5:25  Did ye bring sacrifices and offerings to me in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

5:26  Yea, ye have borne the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, your images which ye made to yourselves.

5:27  Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says Jehovah, whose name is the God of hosts.

Chapter 6

6:1  Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!

6:2  Pass ye to Calneh, and see, and from there go ye 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?

6:3  Ye who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near,

6:4  who 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,

6:5  who sing idle songs to the sound of the viol, who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David,

6:6  who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oils, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

6:7  Therefore they shall now go captive with the first who go captive, and the revelry of those who stretched themselves shall pass away.

6:8  The lord Jehovah has sworn by himself, says Jehovah, the God of hosts: I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces, therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is therein.

6:9  And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.

6:10  And when a man's uncle shall take him up, even he who burns him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No, then he shall say, Hold thy peace, for we may not make mention of the name of Jehovah.

6:11  For, behold, Jehovah commands, and the great house shall be smitten with breaches, and the little house with clefts.

6:12  Shall horses run upon the rock? Will a man plow there with oxen? That ye have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,

6:13  ye who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?

6:14  For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, says Jehovah, the God of hosts, and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.

Chapter 7

7:1  Thus the lord Jehovah showed me: And, behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth, and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.

7:2  And it came to pass that, when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O lord Jehovah, forgive, I beseech thee. How shall Jacob stand, for he is small?

7:3  Jehovah relented concerning this. It shall not be, says Jehovah.

7:4  Thus the lord Jehovah showed me: And, behold, the lord Jehovah called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and would have eaten up the land.

7:5  Then I said, O lord Jehovah, cease, I beseech thee. How shall Jacob stand, for he is small?

7:6  Jehovah relented concerning this. This also shall not be, says the lord Jehovah.

7:7  Thus he showed me: And, behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand.

7:8  And Jehovah said to me, Amos, what do thou see? And 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.

7:9  And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

7:10  Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.

7:11  For thus Amos says: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.

7:12  Also Amaziah said to Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there.

7:13  But do not prophesy again any more at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house.

7:14  Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, nor was I a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees.

7:15  And Jehovah took me from following the flock, and Jehovah said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.

7:16  Now therefore hear thou the word of Jehovah: Thou say, Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not drop thy word against the house of Isaac.

7:17  Therefore thus says Jehovah: Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line, and thou thyself shall die in a land that is unclean. And Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.

Chapter 8

8:1  Thus the lord Jehovah showed me: And, behold, a basket of summer fruit.

8:2  And he said, Amos, what do thou see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then Jehovah said to me, The end has come upon my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.

8:3  And the songs of the temple shall be wailings in that day, says the lord Jehovah. The dead bodies shall be many. In every place they shall cast them forth with silence.

8:4  Hear this, O ye who would swallow up a needy man, and cause the poor of the land to fail,

8:5  saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit,

8:6  that we may buy the poor for silver, and a needy man for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

8:7  Jehovah has sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.

8:8  Shall the land not tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells therein? Yea, it shall rise up wholly like the River, and it shall be troubled and sink again like the River of Egypt.

8:9  And it shall come to pass in that day, says the lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.

8:10  And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. And I will bring 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.

8:11  Behold, the days come, says the lord Jehovah, 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 Jehovah.

8:12  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 Jehovah, and shall not find it.

8:13  In that day the fair virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst.

8:14  Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, As thy god, O Dan, lives, and, As the way of Beersheba lives, they shall fall, and never rise up again.

Chapter 9

9:1  I saw the Lord standing beside the altar. And he said, Smite the capitals, 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.

9:2  Though they dig into Sheol, from there my hand shall take them, and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down.

9:3  And though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there. And though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.

9:4  And though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.

9:5  For the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell therein shall mourn. And it shall rise up wholly like the River, and shall sink again like the River of Egypt.

9:6  He who builds his chambers in the heavens, and has founded his vault upon the earth, he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth, Jehovah is his name.

9:7  Are ye not as the sons of the Ethiopians to me, O sons of Israel? says Jehovah. Have I not brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?

9:8  Behold, the eyes of the lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says Jehovah.

9:9  For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, just as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet the least kernel shall not fall upon the earth.

9:10  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, The evil shall not overtake nor meet us.

9:11  In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof. And I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old,

9:12  that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called by my name, says Jehovah who does this.

9:13  Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed, and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.

9:14  And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of it. They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

9:15  And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, says Jehovah thy God.