The Book of Amos

Chapter 1
1 The words of Amos, who came to be among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he perceived 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.
2 And he is saying: Yahweh, He shall roar from Zion, And from Jerusalem He shall lift up His voice! The oases of the shepherds will mourn, And the summit of Carmel will dry up.
3 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Damascus, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because they threshed the pregnant women of Gilead with iron spikes;
4 I will send fire upon the house of Hazael, And it will devour the citadels of Ben-hadad.
5 And I will break the bar of Damascus, And cut off the dweller from the valley of Aven, And the upholder of the scepter from Beth-eden, And the people of Syria will be carried away to Kir, says Yahweh.
6 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Gaza, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because they carried away into exile a total deportation, to surrender it to Edom;
7 I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza, And it will devour her citadels.
8 And I will cut off the dweller from Ashdod, And the upholder of the scepter from Ashkelon, And I will reverse My hand on Ekron, And the remnant of the Philistines will perish, Says my Lord Yahweh.
9 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Tyre, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because they surrendered a total deportation to Edom And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood;
10 I will send fire upon the wall of Tyre, And it will devour her citadels.
11 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Edom, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because he pursued his brother with the sword And corrupted his own compassions, And his anger is ravenous continually, And his rage, he keeps it permanently;
12 I will send fire upon Teman, And it will devour the citadels of Bozrah.
13 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because they rent the pregnant women of Gilead, That they may widen their territory;
14 I will ravage with fire upon the wall of Rabbah, And it will devour her citadels, With shouting in the day of battle, With a tempest in the day of a sweeping whirlwind,
15 And Milcom will go into deportation, His priests and his chief officials together, Says Yahweh.

Chapter 2
1 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Moab, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime;
2 I will send fire upon Moab, And it will devour the citadels of Kerioth, And Moab will die with a tumult, With shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.
3 I will cut off the judge from within her, And all her chief officials shall I kill with him, Says Yahweh.
4 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Judah, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because they rejected the law of Yahweh, And His statutes they do not keep, And their lies are leading them astray, After which their fathers walked;
5 I will send fire upon Judah, And it will devour the citadels of Jerusalem.
6 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Israel, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because they sold the righteous for silver, And the needy for the sake of a pair of sandals;
7 They are snuffing down the head of the poor into the soil of the earth, And the way of the humble are they turning aside; A man and his father are going to the same maiden, That they may profane My holy Name;
8 On pledged garments are they stretching out beside every altar, And the wine of those fined are they drinking in the house of their elohim.
9 Yet I exterminated the Amorite before you, Whose loftiness was like the loftiness of the cedars, And safeguarded was he as the oaks. I exterminated his fruit from above, And his roots from beneath.
10 I brought you up from the land of Egypt, And I conducted you in the wilderness forty years, To tenant the land of the Amorite.
11 And I raised up some of your sons to be prophets, And some of your choice young men to be Nazirites. Indeed, is not this so, sons of Israel? averring is Yahweh.
12 Yet you are giving the Nazirites wine to drink, And the prophets you enjoin, saying, You shall not prophesy.
13 Behold, I will press you down Just as the cart is pressed down when it is full of sheaves.
14 Yet the hope of fleeing will perish from the fleet one, And the steadfast one, he shall not make his vigor resolute, And the master, he shall not escape with his soul,
15 And the one handling the bow, he shall not stand, And the one fleet on his feet, he shall not escape, And the rider of the horse, he shall not escape with his soul,
16 And the one resolute in his heart among the masters shall flee naked in that day, averring is Yahweh.

Chapter 3
1 Hear this word which Yahweh speaks against you, house of Israel, Against the entire family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:
2 Only you do I know of all the families of the ground; Therefore I shall visit on you all your depravities.
3 Shall two walk together unless they make an appointment?
4 Does a lion roar in the wildwood when there is no prey for him? Does a sheltered lion give forth his voice from his habitation unless he has seized something?
5 Does a bird fall into a snare on the earth when there is no trap set for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground when it is not seizing, yea seizing anything?
6 Would a trumpet be blown in a city and the people not tremble? Would there come to be evil in a city and Yahweh not have done it?
7 For my Lord Yahweh is not doing a thing Without revealing His deliberation to His servants, the prophets.
8 The lion, it roars Who will not fear? My Lord Yahweh, He speaks Who will not prophesy?
9 Announce it on the citadels in Ashdod, And on the citadels in the land of Egypt. And say, Gather together on the mountains of Samaria, And see the great discomfitures in her midst, And the exploitings within her.
10 They do not know how to do what is correct, averring is Yahweh, Who are treasuring violence and devastation in their citadels.
11 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: A foe, all around the land! He will bring down your strongholds from you, And your citadels will be plundered.
12 Thus says Yahweh: Just as the shepherd is rescuing from the mouth of the lion two shanks or a separated ear, So shall the sons of Israel be rescued, Those dwelling in Samaria on the edge of a couch, And in Damascus on a divan.
13 Hear and testify in the house of Jacob, averring is my Lord Yahweh, the Elohim of hosts,
14 That in the day I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, Then will I visit punishment on the altars of Bethel, And the horns of the altar will be hacked down, And they will fall to the earth.
15 And I will smite the winter house along with the summer house, And the houses of ivory will perish, And the great houses will be swept away, averring is Yahweh.

Chapter 4
1 Hear this word, young cows of Bashan, Who are in the mountain of Samaria, Who are exploiting the poor, Who are bruising the needy, Who are saying to their lords, Do bring, and let us drink.
2 My Lord Yahweh swears by His holiness, that, Behold, days shall come on you, When they will assist you away with pricks, And the hindmost of you with briars of fishing.
3 And at the breaches shall you go forth, Each woman straight in front of her, And you will be flung toward the highland, averring is Yahweh.
4 Go to Bethel and transgress! At Gilgal increase the transgression! And bring your sacrifices every morning, And your tithes every three days!
5 Fume incense with leaven as acclamation, And proclaim the voluntary vows! Announce it, for so you love, sons of Israel, averring is my Lord Yahweh.
6 Even I, I give you teeth innocent of food in all your cities, And lack of bread in all your places. Yet you do not return unto Me, averring is Yahweh.
7 I, I also withhold from you the downpour, While still three months to harvest, And I bring rain on one city, And on another city I am not bringing rain; One portion, it was rained upon, And the portion upon which I am not bringing rain, it is drying up.
8 Two or three cities stagger to one city to drink water, Yet they are not satisfied. Yet you do not return unto Me, averring is Yahweh.
9 I smite you with blast and with mildew. The increase of your gardens and your vineyards And your fig trees and your olive trees, the larva of the locust is devouring. Yet you do not return unto Me, averring is Yahweh.
10 I send among you a plague in the manner of Egypt. I kill your choice young men by the sword, With the capture of your horses, And I am making the stink of your camp ascend even in your nose. Yet you do not return unto Me, averring is Yahweh.
11 I overturn among you like Elohim’s overturning of Sodom and Gomorrah, And you are becoming like a wooden poker rescued from the burning. Yet you do not return unto Me, averring is Yahweh.
12 Therefore, thus shall I do to you, Israel! Inasmuch that this I shall do to you, Prepare to meet your Elohim, Israel!
13 For behold the One forming the mountains, And creating the wind, And telling to humanity of His Anointed One, Making the dawn and murkiness, And treading on the high-places of the land Yahweh Elohim of hosts is His Name!

Chapter 5
1 Hear this word of Yahweh, which I am lifting over you as a dirge, house of Israel:
2 The virgin of Israel falls, not again to rise; She is abandoned on her ground; There is no one raising her up.
3 For thus says my Lord Yahweh: The city from which is going forth a thousand, It shall have a hundred remain, And that from which is going forth a hundred, It shall have ten remain, for the house of Israel.
4 For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel: Seek after Me and live.
5 Yet you must not seek after Bethel, And to Gilgal you shall not come, And to Beer-sheba you shall not pass, For Gilgal, it shall be carried away, yea carried away into exile, And Bethel, it shall come to lawlessness.
6 Seek after Yahweh and live, Lest He should prosper like a fire in the house of Joseph, And it devours, And there is no one to quench it for the house of Israel.
7 You who are turning right judgment to absinth, And who hurl down righteousness to the earth
8 The Maker of the Pleiades and Orion, And He Who is turning the blackest shadow to morning, And darkens day to night, He Who is calling to the waters of the sea, And is pouring them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh Elohim of hosts is His Name!
9 He is distributing devastation over the stronghold, And devastation is coming on the fortressed city
10 You are they who hate the corrector in the gateway, And are abhorring the one who speaks with integrity.
11 Therefore, because of your trampling on the poor person, And his helping of cereal you are taking from him, Though you build houses of trimmed stone, Yet you shall not dwell in them; Though you plant coveted vineyards, Yet you shall not drink their wine.
12 For I know that your transgressions are many And your sins are plentiful; You are distressers of the righteous one, Takers of a sheltering bribe, Who turn aside the needy in the gateway.
13 Therefore, the intelligent one shall keep still at such a time, For it will be an evil time.
14 Seek after good, and evil not at all, that you may live, And so Yahweh Elohim of hosts shall come to be with you, just as you say.
15 Hate evil and love good, And put right judgment in the gateway; Perhaps Yahweh Elohim of hosts shall be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore, thus says Yahweh Elohim of hosts, my Lord: In all the squares shall be wailing, And in all the streets they shall say, Woe! Woe! And they will call the farmworker to mourning, And there will be wailing for those who are skilled at plaint making.
17 In all vineyards there will be wailing, For I shall pass in your midst, says Yahweh.
18 Woe to those yearning for the day of Yahweh! Why would you have this, the day of Yahweh? It will be darkness, and not light,
19 As if a man is fleeing from the face of the lion, And the bear comes on him, And he enters the house and supports his hand on the sidewall, And the serpent bites him.
20 Shall not the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light? And gloom, and no brightness to it?
21 I hate, I reject your festivals, And I shall not smell the approach presents in your days of restraint.
22 For if you bring up to Me ascent offerings or approach presents, I shall not accept them. And on the peace offerings of your fatlings I shall not look.
23 Take away from Me the clamor of your songs, And the melody of your zithers I shall not hear.
24 Judgment shall roll like water, And righteousness like a perennial watercourse.
25 Have you not brought close to Me sacrifices and approach presents In the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?
26 And now you have borne the booth of Moloch And the star of your elohim Kewan, The images which you made for yourselves.
27 Yet I will carry you away into exile beyond Damascus, Says Yahweh, Elohim of hosts is His Name.

Chapter 6
1 Woe to the self-satisfied in Zion And those trusting in the mountain of Samaria! The specified men of the first of the nations, And to them to whom the house of Israel comes.
2 Pass over to Calneh and see, And go from there to Hamath the great, And go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory?
3 You are those isolating the day of evil, Yet you are bringing the seat of violence closer,
4 Those lying on couches of ivory, And who are sprawled out on their divans, And are eating the butting lambs from the flock, And the calves from the midst of the stall;
5 Those twanging at the bidding of the zither like David, Who devise for themselves instruments of song;
6 Those drinking in sprinkling bowls of wine, And who are anointing with first quality oils, Yet do not travail over the breaking of Joseph.
7 Therefore now, they shall be carried away into exile at the head of those carried away. And the communal rites of those who are sprawled out will be taken away.
8 My Lord Yahweh swears by His soul, averring is Yahweh Elohim of hosts: I am abhorring the pride of Jacob, And his citadels I hate, And I will surrender over the city and its fullness.
9 And it will come, if ten men are left in one house, yet they will die.
10 When a man’s friend takes him up, even he who is burning him up, to bring forth his bones from the house, and he asks him who is in the recesses of the house, Are any still with you? and he will say, Nobody, then he will say, Be quelled! for one is not to mention Yahweh by name.
11 For, behold! Yahweh is instructing, And He will smite the great house with demolition And the small house with rents.
12 Do horses run on a crag? Or does one plow it with oxen? For you turn right judgment into poison And the fruit of righteousness into absinth.
13 You are those rejoicing about Lo-debar, who are saying, Did we not by our own steadfastness take Karnaim to ourselves?
14 For, behold Me raising against you, house of Israel (averring is Yahweh, the Elohim of hosts), a nation; And they will oppress you, From Lebo-hamath unto the Arabah wadi.

Chapter 7
1 Thus my Lord Yahweh shows me: And behold, He is forming the hoppers at the start of the coming up of the aftergrowth. And behold, the aftergrowth is after the mowings of the king.
2 And it comes, when they finish devouring the herbage of the land, then I am saying, O my Lord Yahweh, pardon, I pray: Who shall raise Jacob, for he is small?
3 Yahweh regrets over this. It shall not come to be, says Yahweh.
4 Thus my Lord Yahweh shows me: And behold, my Lord Yahweh is calling to contend by fire. And it is devouring the vast abyss, and it devours the land portion.
5 And I am saying, My Lord Yahweh, forbear, I pray: Who shall raise Jacob, for he is small?
6 Yahweh regrets over this as well; it shall not come to be, says my Lord Yahweh.
7 Thus Yahweh shows me: And behold, my Lord is stationed on a plumblined wall. And in His hand is a plumbline.
8 And Yahweh is saying to me, What are you seeing, Amos? and I am saying, A plumbline. And my Lord is saying, Behold Me placing a plumbline in the midst of My people Israel; I shall not continue to pass by them any longer.
9 The high-places of Isaac will be made desolate, And the grand sanctuary of Israel shall be deserted. And I rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
10 Amaziah, priest of Bethel, is sending to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying: Amos conspires against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to contain all his words.
11 For thus says Amos, By the sword shall Jeroboam die. And Israel shall be carried away, yea carried away into exile off his ground.
12 And Amaziah is saying to Amos, Vision seer, go! Run your way to the land of Judah, and there eat your bread, and there you shall prophesy.
13 Yet at Bethel you shall not continue to prophesy further, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the royal palace.
14 Yet Amos is answering and saying to Amaziah, I am not a prophet, nor am I a son of a prophet. For I am a herder and a puncturer of sycamore figs.
15 And Yahweh is taking me from following the flock, and Yahweh is saying to me, Go, prophesy to My people Israel.
16 And now, hear the word of Yahweh: You are saying, You shall not prophesy against Israel, nor shall you preach against the house of Isaac.
17 Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Your wife, she shall commit prostitution in the city, Your sons and your daughters, they shall fall by the sword, And your ground, it shall be split up by the line, And you shall die on unclean ground; For Israel, he shall be carried away, yea carried away into exile off his ground.

Chapter 8
1 Thus my Lord Yahweh shows me: Behold, a crate of summer fruit.
2 And He is saying, What are you seeing, Amos? And I am saying, A crate of summer fruit. Then Yahweh is saying to me: The end comes for My people Israel. I shall not continue still to pass by them,
3 And the songs of the temple will howl in that day, averring is my Lord Yahweh. Many are the corpses; They will be flung in every place! Be quelled!
4 Hear this, you who are snuffing down the needy and who eradicate the humble of the land,
5 saying, When shall the new moon pass that we may retail food-grain, and the sabbath that we may open out the cereal, making the ephah measure small and the shekel weight great, and distorting the scales by deceit,
6 buying the poor for silver and the needy for the sake of a pair of sandals? Even the tailings of the cereal we shall retail!
7 Yahweh swears by the pride of Jacob, I shall assuredly not forget permanently any of their deeds!
8 Over this, shall not the land be disturbed? And everyone dwelling in it mourn? And it will ascend like the Nile, all of it, And it will be disgorged and sunk down like the Nile of Egypt.
9 And it comes in that day, averring is my Lord Yahweh, That I will bring in the sun at noon, And I will darken the land in broad daylight;
10 I will turn your festivals to mourning, And all your songs to a dirge; I will bring up sackcloth on all waists, And on every head baldness; I will make it like the mourning for an only child, And the end of it like a bitter day.
11 Behold, the days are coming, averring is my Lord Yahweh, That I will send a famine into the land, Not a famine for bread, nor a thirsting for water, But rather for hearing the words of Yahweh.
12 They will rove from sea unto sea And from the north unto the sunrise; They shall go to and fro to seek the word of Yahweh And shall not find it.
13 In that day the lovely virgins shall swoon, And also the choice men, in thirst,
14 Who swear by the guilt of Samaria And say, As your elohim lives, Dan! And, As the way of Beer-sheba lives! Yet they will fall and shall not rise again.

Chapter 9
1 I see Yahweh stationed over the altar, And He is saying, Smite the sphere-like capital, And the thresholds shall quake; Clip them off at the head, all of them, And I shall kill the hindmost of them with the sword. Not one taking to flight shall flee away among them, And not one seeking deliverance shall escape among them.
2 If they are burrowing into the unseen, From there My hand, it shall take them; And if they are ascending to the heavens, From there I shall bring them down.
3 And if they are hiding in the summit of Carmel, There I shall search and take them; And if they are concealed from in front of My eyes on the floor of the sea, There I shall instruct the serpent, and it will bite them.
4 And if they are going into captivity before their enemies, There I shall instruct the sword, and it will kill them. I will place My eye on them for evil, and not for good.
5 My Lord Yahweh, the Elohim of hosts is He Who is touching the land so that it is dissolving, And all dwelling in it mourn. And it ascends like the Nile, all of it, And it sinks down like the Nile of Egypt.
6 He Who is building His ascents in the heavens, And His harnessing over the earth He founds it, He Who is calling to the waters of the sea, And is pouring them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh, Elohim of hosts, is His Name!
7 Are you not like the sons of the Cushites to Me, sons of Israel? averring is Yahweh; Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt? And the Philistines from Caphtor? And Syria from Kir?
8 Behold, the eyes of my Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, And I will exterminate it off the surface of the ground, Only that I shall not exterminate the house of Jacob to extermination, averring is Yahweh.
9 For behold, I am instructing, And I will jerk the house of Israel to and fro among all the nations, Just as if jerked to and fro in a sieve, Yet not a pebble shall fall to the earth.
10 By the sword shall die all the sinners of My people, Those saying, The evil shall not come close, or confront about us.
11 In that day shall I raise up the fallen booth of David, And I will dike up its breaches with stones, And its demolished places shall I raise, And I will rebuild it as in the days of the eon,
12 That the remnant of humanity may seek after the Lord, And all the nations over whom My Name is called, averring is Yahweh, Who does this.
13 Behold, the days are coming, averring is Yahweh, When the plowman will draw close to the reaper, And the treader of grapes to the one drawing forth the seed from the sack. And the mountains will drip with new wine, And all the hills shall ripple with grain.
14 And I will reverse the captivity of My people Israel, And they will rebuild the desolated cities and dwell in them. And they will plant vineyards and drink their wine, And they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 And I will plant them on their ground, And not again shall they be plucked up off their ground which I give to them, Says Yahweh your Elohim.