THE BOOK OF AMOS
King James Version
1 ¶ The words of Amos, who was among
the herdmen 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.
2 And he said,
The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the
habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.
3 ¶ Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of
Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because
they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:
4 But I will send
a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad.
5 I will break
also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven,
and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of
Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD.
6 Thus saith the
LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away
captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:
7 But I will send
a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof:
8 And I will cut
off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon,
and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines
shall perish, saith the Lord GOD.
9 Thus saith the
LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the
punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and
remembered not the brotherly covenant:
10 But I will
send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof.
11 Thus saith the
LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the
punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did
cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath
for ever:
12
But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of
Bozrah.
13 Thus saith the
LORD; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will
not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women
with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border:
14 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:
15 And their king
shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD.
1 ¶ Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions
of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he
burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:
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:
3
And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all
the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.
4 Thus saith the
LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the
punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have
not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after
the which their fathers have walked:
5 But I will send
a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
6 Thus saith the
LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away
the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the
poor for a pair of shoes;
7
That 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 will go in unto the same
maid, to profane my holy name:
8 And they lay
themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the
wine of the condemned in the house of their god.
9 ¶ 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.
10 Also I brought
you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness,
to possess the land of the Amorite.
11
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.
12 But ye gave
the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
13 Behold, I am
pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.
14
Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall
not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:
15 Neither shall
he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver
himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.
16 And he that is
courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith
the LORD.
1 ¶ Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you,
O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land
of Egypt, saying,
2 You only have I
known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
3 Can two walk
together, except they be agreed?
4 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?
5 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?
6 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?
7 Surely the Lord
GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the
prophets.
8
The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who
can but prophesy?
9 ¶ 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.
10
For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and
robbery in their palaces.
11 Therefore thus
saith the Lord GOD; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he
shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.
12
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.
13 Hear ye, and
testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,
14 That 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.
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, saith the LORD.
1 ¶ Hear this word, ye kine of
Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which
crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
2 The Lord GOD
hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he
will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
3
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.
4 Come to Bethel,
and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices
every morning, and your tithes after three years:
5 And offer a
sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel,
saith the Lord GOD.
6 ¶ 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.
7 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.
8 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.
9 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.
10 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.
11 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.
12 Therefore thus
will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
13 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.
1 ¶ Hear ye this word which I take up
against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
2 The virgin of
Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there
is none to raise her up.
3 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.
4 ¶ For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel,
Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
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 nought.
6
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.
7 Ye who turn
judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
8 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:
9 That
strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come
against the fortress.
10 They hate him
that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
11
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.
12 For I know
your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they
take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
13
Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil
time.
14 Seek good, and
not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with
you, as ye have spoken.
15 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.
16 ¶ Therefore the LORD, the God of
hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall
say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to
mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
17 And in all vineyards
shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.
18
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.
19 As if a man
did flee 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.
20 Shall not the
day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21 ¶ I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not
smell in your solemn assemblies.
22 Though ye
offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them:
neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23 Take thou away
from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
24 But let
judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
25 Have ye
offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house
of Israel?
26 But ye have
borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star
of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
27 Therefore will
I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is
The God of hosts.
1 ¶ 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!
2 Pass ye unto
Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath
of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater
than your border?
3 Ye that put far
away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
4
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;
5 That chant to
the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like
David;
6 That drink wine
in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they
are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore now
shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them
that stretched themselves shall be removed.
8 ¶ The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD
the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces:
therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is
therein.
9 And it shall
come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.
10 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.
11 For, behold,
the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the
little house with clefts.
12 Shall horses
run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into
gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
13
Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to
us horns by our own strength?
14 But, behold, I
will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God
of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the
river of the wilderness.
1 ¶ 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.
2 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.
3 The LORD
repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.
4 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.
5
Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob
arise? for he is small.
6 The LORD
repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD.
7 Thus he shewed
me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a
plumbline in his hand.
8
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:
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.
10 ¶ Then Amaziah the priest of
Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against
thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his
words.
11 For thus Amos
saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away
captive out of their own land.
12
Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the
land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
13 But prophesy
not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's
court.
14 Then answered
Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's
son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:
15 And the LORD
took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto
my people Israel.
16 Now therefore
hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and
drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.
17
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an 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 shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely
go into captivity forth of his land.
1 ¶ Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto
me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
2 And he said,
Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD
unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by
them any more.
3 And the songs
of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall
cast them forth with silence.
4 ¶ Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to
make the poor of the land to fail,
5 Saying, When will
the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that
we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and
falsifying the balances by deceit?
6 That we may buy
the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the
refuse of the wheat?
7 The LORD hath
sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8 Shall not the
land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall
rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the
flood of Egypt.
9 And it shall
come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the
clear day:
10 And I will
turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will
bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will
make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
11 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, 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 the LORD:
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 the LORD, and shall not find it.
13 In that day
shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
14
They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth;
and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.
1 ¶ I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said,
Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the
head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with
the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of
them shall not be delivered.
2 Though they dig
into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven,
thence will I bring them down:
3 And though they
hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them
out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea,
thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
4 And though they
go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it
shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
5
And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt,
and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a
flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
6 It is he that
buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he
that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.
7 Are ye not as
children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have
not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from
Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?
8 Behold, the
eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not
utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.
9 For, lo, I will
command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is
sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
10 All the
sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
11 ¶ In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David
that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his
ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
12 That they may
possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called
by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.
13 Behold, the
days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the
treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet
wine, and all the hills shall melt.
14 And I will
bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant
vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat
the fruit of them.
15 And I will
plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their
land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.