Rotherham - Amos

Chapter 1

1:1  The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa,—of which (words) he had vision 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 earthquake.

1:2  So then he said—Yahweh, out of Zion, will roar, and, out of Jerusalem, will utter his voice,—and the pastures of the shepherds, shall mourn, and the top of Carmel, be dried up.

1:3  Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Damascus, and because of four, will I not turn it back,—Because, with threshing instruments of iron, they have threshed Gilead.

1:4  Therefore will send a fire, into the house of Hazael,—which shall devour the palaces of Ben- hadad;

1:5  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.

1:6  Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Gaza, and because of four, will I not turn it back,—Because of their taking into exile the whole body of exiles, to deliver to Edom,

1:7  Therefore will I send a fire upon the wall of Gaza,—which shall devour the palaces thereof;

1:8  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.

1:9  Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Tyre, and because of four, will I not turn it back,—Because of their delivering up the whole body of exiles to Edom, and they remembered not the brotherly covenant,

1:10  Therefore will I send a fire upon the wall of Tyre,—which shall devour the palaces thereof.

1:11  Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Edom, and because of four, will I not turn it back,—Because he pursued, with the sword, his brother, and stifled his compassions, and his anger tare in pieces evermore, and, his indignation, kept watch perpetually,

1:12  Therefore will I send a fire into Teman,—which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.

1:13  Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, and because of four, will I not turn it back,—Because of their ripping up the pregnant women of Gilead, that they might enlarge their own boundary,

1:14  Therefore will I kindle a fire upon the wall of Rabbah, which shall devour the palaces thereof,—with a war-cry in the day of battle, with tempest in the day of storm-wind;

1:15  And Milcom shall go into exile,—he and his rulers together, saith Yahweh.

Chapter 2

2:1  Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Moab, and because of four, will I not turn it back,—Because he burned the bones of the King of Edom to lime,

2:2  Therefore will I send a fire into Moab, which shall devour the palaces of Kerioth—and Moab, shall die with tumult, with war- cry, with the sound of a horn;

2:3  And I will cut off the judge out of her midst, and, all her rulers, will I slay with him, saith Yahweh.

2:4  Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Judah, and because of four, will I not turn it back,—Because they have rejected the law of Yahweh, and, his statutes, have not kept, but their falsehoods, have led them astray, after the which their fathers, did walk,

2:5  Therefore will I send a fire upon Judah,—which shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

2:6  Thus, saith Yahweh, Because of three transgressions of Israel, and because of four, will I not turn it back,—Because they have sold—for silver—the righteous, and the needy—for a pair of shoes:

2:7  Who strive to bring the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and, the way of the oppressed, they pervert,—Yea, a man and his own father, go in unto the maid, to profane my holy Name!

2:8  And, on pledged garments, they recline, beside every altar,—and, exacted wine, do they drink, in the house of their God.

2:9  Yet it was, I, who destroyed the Amorite, from before them, whose height was, like the height of cedars, and, strong, was he, like the oaks,—but I destroyed his fruit above, and his roots beneath.

2:10  And it was, I, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt,—and led you in the desert, forty years, to take possession of the land of the Amorites;

2:11  And I raised up, of your sons, for prophets, and, of your young men, for Nazirites,—Was it not even so, ye sons of Israel? Demandeth Yahweh;

2:12  And yet ye caused the Nazirites to drink wine,—and, on the prophet, laid ye command, saying, Ye shall not prophesy!

2:13  Lo! I, am pressed under you,—as a full cart is pressed by its sheaves,

2:14  Therefore shall flight, perish, from the swift, and, the mighty, shall not invigorate his strength,—nor shall, the hero, escape with his life;

2:15  Nor, he that handleth the bow, make a stand, and, the swift on his feet, shall not escape,—nor, he that rideth on a horse, escape with his life:

2:16  Nay, he that is stout in his heart, among heroes, naked, shall flee, in that day, Declareth Yahweh.

Chapter 3

3:1  Hear ye this word, which Yahweh hath spoken, concerning you, ye sons of Israel,—concerning the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt saying:—

3:2  Only you, have I acknowledged, of all the families of the ground, For this cause, will I visit upon you all your iniquities.

3:3  Can two walk together,—except they meet?

3:4  Will a lion roar in the forest, when, prey, he hath none? Will a young lion utter his voice out of his den, when he hath made no capture?

3:5  Will a bird fall upon a net to the earth, when there is no, snare, for it? Will a net rise from the ground, when it hath, captured nothing?

3:6  Or a horn be blown in a city, and, a people, not tremble? Or calamity happen in a city, and, Yahweh, not have wrought with effect?

3:7  Surely My Lord Yahweh, will do, nothing,—except he have disclosed his secret unto his servants, the prophets!

3:8  A lion, hath roared, Who will not fear? My Lord Yahweh, hath spoken, Who can forbear to prophesy?

3:9  Announce it over the palaces in Ashdod, and over the palaces in the land of Egypt,—and say ye—Gather yourselves together upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold ye—the great disorders in the midst thereof, and the oppressed within her.

3:10  Therefore do they not know how to do right, Declareth Yahweh, who are treasuring up violence and spoil in their palaces.

3:11  Therefore—Thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh, An adversary! Yea round about the land,—and he who shall bring down, from thee, thy strength, And spoiled shall be thy palaces.

3:12  Thus, saith Yahweh, Just as a shepherd rescueth, out of the mouth of the lion, a couple of shankbones, or the tip of an ear, so, shall be rescued the sons of Israel, who are tarrying in Samaria, in the corner of the divan, and on the damask of the luxurious couch.

3:13  Hear ye and bear witness, throughout the house of Jacob,—Commandeth My Lord, Yahweh, God of hosts:

3:14  That, in the day I visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, then will I punish, concerning the altars of Bethel, So shall the horns of the altar, be broken off, and they shall fall to the ground;

3:15  And I will smite the winter house along with the summer house,—and the houses of ivory, shall be destroyed! and the great houses, shall disappear, Declareth Yahweh.

Chapter 4

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

4:2  Sworn hath My Lord, Yahweh, by his own holiness, That lo! days, are coming upon you,—when he will take you away with hooks, and your followers with fishhooks;

4:3  And, through fissures, shall ye go out, every woman, straight before her,—and ye shall be thrust forth towards the castle, Declareth Yahweh.

4:4  Enter ye Bethel, and transgress, At Gilgal, cause transgression, to abound,—Yea, carry in, every morning, your sacrifices, every three days, your tithes;

4:5  Yea, burn thou incense, of that which is leavened, as a thank-offering, and proclaim ye freewill-offerings, let them be known,—for, so, ye love [to have it], ye sons of Israel, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh.

4:6  Moreover also, I, have given you cleanness of teeth throughout all your cities, and want of bread throughout all your dwelling-places,—Yet have ye not returned unto me, Declareth Yahweh.

4:7  Moreover also, I, have withholden from you the abundant rain, when yet there were only three mouths to the harvest, Or I might rain upon one city, and, on another city, might not rain,—One portion, would be rained upon, and, the portion whereupon it should not rain, would be dried up;

4:8  Then would two or three cities totter to one city to drink water, without being satisfied,—Yet have ye not returned unto me, Declareth Yahweh.

4:9  I have smitten you with blight and with mildew, When your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees have increased, the creeping locust would devour them,—Yet have ye not returned unto me, Declareth Yahweh.

4:10  I have sent among you pestilence, in the manner of Egypt, I have slain, with the sword, your young men, and therewith have been taken captive your horses, And I have caused to ascend—the stench of your camps, even into your own nostrils, Yet ye have not returned unto me, Declareth Yahweh.

4:11  I have made an overthrew among you, like the divine overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye have become like a brand snatched out of the burning,—Yet hate ye not returned unto me, Declareth Yahweh.

4:12  Therefore, thus, will I do unto thee, O Israel,—Because this thing I will do unto thee, Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

4:13  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!

Chapter 5

5:1  Hear ye this word, which, I, am taking up concerning you—even a dirge, O house of Israel.

5:2  She hath fallen—she cannot again rise, the virgin, Israel,—she lieth forsaken on her soil, there is none to raise her up.

5:3  For, thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh, The city that goeth out a thousand strong, shall have left it a hundred,—And, that which goeth out a hundred strong, shall have left it ten, belonging to the house of Israel.

5:4  For, thus, saith Yahweh, to the house of Israel,—Seek me, and live;

5:5  Then do not seek Bethel, and, Gilgal, shall ye not enter, and, unto Beer-sheba, shall ye not cross over, For, Gilgal, shall, surely go into exile, and, Bethel, shall become a trouble.

5:6  Seek ye Yahweh, and live,—lest he break forth, like a fire, upon the house of Joseph, and it devour with none to quench it, for Bethel.

5:7  Ye who turn, into, wormwood, justice, and, righteousness—to the ground have let fall.

5:8  [Seek him] who made the Cluster and the Giant, and turneth, into morning, the shadow of death, and who, day into night, doth darken, Him who calleth to the waters of the sea, and poureth them out on the face of the land, Yahweh, is his name:

5:9  Him who flasheth force on the strong,—and, force, on the fortress, alighteth!

5:10  They hate the man who, in the gate, rebuketh,—and, him who speaketh truthfully, they abhor.

5:11  Therefore—because ye have trampled on the poor, and, the gift of corn, ye would take away from him, though, houses of hewn stone, ye have built, Yet shall ye not dwell in them,—Though, delightful vineyards, ye have planted, Yet shall ye not drink the wine of them.

5:12  For I know how numerous are your transgressions, and how surpassing your sins,—ye adversaries of the righteous! ye acceptors of a bribe! Even the needy in the gate, have they turned away!

5:13  Therefore, the prudent man, at that time, will be dumb,—Because an evil time, it is!

5:14  Seek ye right and not wrong, that ye nay live,—that, so, Yahweh God of hosts, may be with you, as ye have said.

5:15  Hate wrong, and love right, and station, Justice, in the gate,—Peradventure, Yahweh, God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

5:16  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;

5:17  Ye, in all vineyards, lamentation,—For I will pass along through thy midst, saith Yahweh.

5:18  Alas for them who are longing for the day of Yahweh,—What good to you, is the day of Yahweh? it, being darkness and not light:

5:19  As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and there should meet him—a bear! or he should have entered the house, and leaned his hand upon the wall, and there should bite him—a serpent!

5:20  Shall not the day of Yahweh be, darkness, and not light? yea, thick darkness and no brightness in it?

5:21  I hate, I despise your festivals,—and can scent no fragrance in your solemn feasts.

5:22  Nay, though ye cause to ascend unto me ascending-sacrifices, and your meal-offerings, I will not accept [them],—nor, the peace-offering of your fat heifers, will I regard.

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

5:24  But let, justice, roll along like water,—and, righteousness, as a torrent over flowing.

5:25  The sacrifices and meal-offering, ye brought near unto me, in the desert, for forty years O house of Israel;

5:26  But ye carried the tent of your king-idol, and your Saturn-images,—the star of your gods, which ye made for yourselves:

5:27  Therefore will I carry you into exile beyond Damascus,—saith Yahweh, God of hosts, is his name.

Chapter 6

6:1  Alas for the careless in Zion, and for them who put confidence in the mountain of Samaria,—the distinguished among the first group of nations, to whom came in the house of Israel.

6:2  Pass ye over to Calneh, and see, and go on from thence to Hamath the great,—and go down to Gath of the Philistines, are they better than these kingdoms? or their boundary larger than your boundary?

6:3  Ye who are putting far away the day of calamity,—but bringing near the abode of violence:

6:4  Who are lying on beds of ivory, and sprawling on their couch of pleasure,—and eating the well-fed of the flock, and the fatted calves out of the midst of the stalls:

6:5  Who are bawling at the bidding of the harp,—like David, have they invented for themselves instruments of song:

6:6  Who are quaffing bowls of wine, and, with the best of oils, anointing themselves,—and are not afflicted for the injury of Joseph:—

6:7  Therefore, at once, shall they go into exile among the first of the exiles,—so shall be disturbed the revelry of sprawlers.

6:8  Sworn hath the Lord, Yahweh, by his own life, Declareth Yahweh, God of hosts, abhorring am I, the grandeur of Jacob, and, his palaces, I hate,—therefore will I cast off the city and the fulness thereof.

6:9  And it shall come to pass, though there be left remaining ten men in one house, yet shall they die;

6:10  And a man’s near of kin, even he who is about to burn the bones, shall carry him out of the house, when he shall say to him that is in the hinder parts of the house—Are there yet any with thee? and he shall say—No one. Then shall he say—Hush! for we must not invoke the name of Yahweh.

6:11  For lo! Yahweh, is giving command, and will smite the great house into ruins,—and the little house with clefts.

6:12  Shall horses run upon crag? or will a man plough [there] with oxen? For ye have turned to poison the sentence of justice, and the fruit of righteousness, to wormwood:

6:13  Who rejoice in a thing of nought,—who say, Have we not by our own strength, taken to ourselves horns?

6:14  For behold me! raising up against you, O house of Israel, Declareth Yahweh, the God of hosts—a nation! And they shall crush you, from the entering in of Hamath, unto the torrent-bed of the waste plain.

Chapter 7

7:1  Here, My Lord, Yahweh gave me to see, and lo! he was preparing the locust, in the beginning of the shooting up of the after-grass,—and lo! after-grass, cometh after the mowings for the king.

7:2  And it came to pass, when they had made an end of eating the herbage of the land, that I said—Oh, My Lord, Yahweh, forgive, I beseech thee: By whom shall Jacob, arise? for, small, he is.

7:3  Grieved was Yahweh, over this,—It shall not be, said Yahweh?

7:4  Here, My Lord, Yahweh gave me to see, and lo! My Lord Yahweh proclaiming that, the controversy should be settled by fire,—which, having devoured the mighty roaring deep, should devour the inheritance.

7:5  Then said I, My Lord, Yahweh, forbear, I beseech thee, By whom shall Jacob, arise? for, small, he is.

7:6  Grieved was Yahweh, over this,—Even this, shall not be, said My Lord, Yahweh.

7:7  Here, he gave me to see, and lo! My Lord, stationed upon a pinnacle,—and, in his hand a plummet.

7:8  And Yahweh said unto me, What canst thou see, Amos? And I said, A plummet,—Then said My Lord, Behold me! fixing a plummet in the midst of my people Israel, I will not again any more forgive him.

7:9  So shall the high places of Isaac, be made desolate, and, the holy places of Israel, be laid waste,—and I will rise up, against the house of Jeroboam, with the sword.

7:10  Then sent Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, unto Jeroboam king of Israel, saying: A conspiracy hath Amos, raised against thee, in the midst of the house of Israel, The land, is not able to endure, all his words;

7:11  For, thus, saith Amos, By the sword, shall Jeroboam, die,—and, Israel, shall, surely be exiled, from off his own soil.

7:12  Then said Amaziah unto Amos, O seer, go flee thee away unto the land of Judah—and eat, there, bread, and, there, mayest thou prophesy;

7:13  But, at Bethel, not again, any more, mayest thou prophesy,—for, the holy place of the king, it is, and, the house of the kingdom, it is.

7:14  Then answered Amos, and said unto Amaziah, No prophet, was I,—nor the son of a prophet, was I,—but, a herdman, was I, and a preparer of sycamore fruit;

7:15  But Yahweh, took me away, from following the flock,—and Yahweh, said unto me, Go prophesy against my people Israel.

7:16  Now, therefore, hear thou the word of Yahweh,—Thou art saying, Thou must not prophesy concerning Israel, nor let thy word drop down upon the house of Isaac.

7:17  Therefore—Thus, saith Yahweh, Thy wife, in the city, will commit unchastity, and, thy sons and thy daughters, by the sword, shall fall, and, thine own soil, by line, shall he apportioned,—and, thou, on a polluted soil, shalt die, and, Israel, shall, surely go into exile, away from his own soil.

Chapter 8

8:1  Here, My Lord, Yahweh, gave me to see,—and lo! there was a basket of summer fruit.

8:2  So then he said, What canst thou see, Amos? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said Yahweh unto me, The end hath come unto my people Israel, I will not again any more forgive them;

8:3  but palace-songs, shall become howlings, in that day, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh,—Many shall be the dead bodies in every place—cast forth—[with a] hush!

8:4  Hear this, ye who pant after the needy, and to make an end of the oppressed of the land:

8:5  Who say, When will the new moon, pass away, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath that we may open grain? who diminish the ephah, and increase the shekel, and who falsify by deceitful weights:

8:6  Who buy—for silver—the poor, and the needy for a pair of shoes,—and that the refuse of the grain we may sell.

8:7  Sworn hath Yahweh, by the Excellency of Jacob,—Surely I will never forget any of their doings!

8:8  Is it not, for this, that the land, shall tremble? and shall mourn every inhabitant therein? Shall it not come up—like the Nile, all of it, and be tossed and subside like the river of Egypt?

8:9  Yea it shall come to pass, in that day, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh, that I will cause the sun to go in at high noon,—and will darken the earth on a day of brightness.!

8:10  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.

8:11  Lo! days are coming, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh, that I will send a hunger throughout the land,—not a hunger for food, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Yahweh;

8:12  Therefore shall men rove about—from sea to sea, and from the north even unto sunrise,—they shall run to and fro—seeking the word of Yahweh, but shall not find [it] .

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

8:14  They who swear by the Guilt of Samaria, and say, As thy God, liveth, O Dan! and, As the Way of Beer-sheba, liveth, shall fall, and shall not rise any more.

Chapter 9

9:1  I saw My Lord stationed by the altar, and he said—Smite the capital—that the sills, may tremble, Yea break them off on the head of them all, and, the last of them, with the sword, will I slay,—He that fleeth of them, shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them, shall not make good his escape.

9:2  Though they break through into hades, from thence, shall my hand fetch them,—and, though they ascend the heavens, from thence, will I bring them down;

9:3  And, though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, from thence, will I search for them and take them,—and, though they conceal themselves from before mine eyes at the bottom of the sea, from thence, will I command the serpent and he shall bite them;

9:4  And, though they go into captivity before their enemies, from thence, will I command the sword, and it shall slay them,—So will I set mine eyes upon them for calamity, and not for blessing.

9:5  Now, My Lord, Yahweh of hosts, is he—who toucheth the earth, and it melteth, and all that dwell therein, mourn; and it cometh up like the Nile, all of it, and subsideth like the river of Egypt:

9:6  Who buildeth, in the heavens, his upper rooms, and, as for his vault, upon the earth, hath he founded it,—who calleth to the waters of the sea, and poureth them out over the face of the land, Yahweh, is his name.

9:7  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?

9:8  Lo! the eyes of My Lord, Yahweh, are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the ground,—save only that I will not, utterly destroy, the house of Jacob, Declareth Yahweh.

9:9  For lo! I am giving command, and will sift, throughout all the nations, the house of Israel,—as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall there not fall a kernel, to the earth.

9:10  By the sword, shall die all the sinners of my people,—who say, The calamity, shall not overtake and close in before us.

9:11  In that day, will I raise up the pavilion of David, that is lying prostrate,—and wall up the breaches of them, and, his ruins, will I raise up, and will build it, as in the days of age-past times:

9:12  That they on whom my name hath been called, may take possession, of the residue of Edom and of all the nations, Declareth Yahweh, who executeth this.

9:13  Lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, that, the plowman, shall overtake, the reaper, and, he that treadeth out the grapes, him that traileth the seed,—so shall, the mountains, drip 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 waste cities, and inhabit [them], and plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof, and lay out gardens, and eat the fruit thereof:

9:15  So will I plant them upon their own soil,—and will not uproot them any more from off their own soil, which I have given to them, saith Yahweh thy God.