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◄ Moff AMOS ►

AMO

1 Words of Amos, who belonged to the shepherds of Tekoa – his visions of Israel during the reign of Uzziăh king of Judah and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2 He said:

When the Eternal thunders out of Sion,

loudly from Jerusalem,

then the pasture-lands are woebegone,

the ridge of Karmel withers.

3 The Eternal declares:

“After crime upon crime of Damascus

I will not relent,

for they crushed and tortured Gilead;

4 so I fling fires of war on Hazael’s house,

to burn up Benhadad’s palaces,

5 I shatter the defences of Damascus,

I wipe out chieftains from the vale of Aven,

the sceptred king from Beth-Eden,

and Aram’s folk shall be exiled to Kir–

by order of the Eternal!”

6 The Eternal declares:

“After crime upon crime of Gaza

I will not relent,

for they would bear off a whole population

and sell them into slavery to Edom;

7 so I fling fires of war on Gaza’s walls,

to burn up its palaces,

8 I wipe out the chieftains from Ashdod,

the sceptred king from Ashkelon,

I strike my blows at Ekron,

till the last of the Philistines perish–

by order of the Lord Eternal.”

9 [[The Eternal declares:

“After crime upon crime of Tyre

I will not relent;

for they would sell a whole population to Edom,

with no thought for their bond of brotherhood;

10 so I fling fires of war upon the walls of Tyre,

to burn up its palaces.”

11 The Eternal declares:

“After crime upon crime of Edom

I will not relent;

for sword in hand he pursued his brother,

stifling all pity,

he held to his anger

and cherished his wrath;

12 so I fling fires of war on Teman,

to burn up Busaireh’s palaces.”]]

13 The Eternal declares:

“After crime upon crime of the Ammonites

I will not relent;

for, as they extended their frontiers,

they ripped open women with child in Gilead;

14 so I set fire to Rabbah’s walls,

to burn up its palaces,

amid shouts on the day of battle,

amid storming on the day of blasts,

15 till their king is carried off to exile,

he together with his nobles–

by order of the Eternal.”

2 The Eternal declares:

“After crime upon crime of Moab

I will not relent;

for they burned the bones of the Edomite king,

to desecrate the dead,

in vengeance for violence done to Moab;

2 so I fling fires of war on Moab,

to burn up Keriyyoth’s palaces,

amid shouts and the blare of trumpets;

3 I wipe out their monarch

and slay all his nobles with him–

by order of the Eternal.”

4 [[The Eternal declares:

“After crime upon crime of Judah

I will not relent;

for they have rejected the Eternal’s ruling,

they have disobeyed his orders,

led astray by their false gods,

by idols that their ancestors followed;

5 so I fling fires of war on Judah,

to burn up the palaces of Jerusalem.”]]

6 The Eternal declares:

“After crime upon crime of Israel

I will not relent,

for they sell honest folk for money,

the needy for a pair of shoes,

7 they trample down the poor like dust,

and humble souls they harry;

father and son go in to the same girl

(a profanity of my sacred shrine!),

8 they loll on garments seized in pledge,

by every altar,

they drink the money taken in fines

in the temple of their God.

10 Yet it was I who brought you up from Egypt’s land,

for forty years I led you through the desert,

to occupy the Amorite land,

9 I felled the Amorite before you–

though he towered like a cedar,

strong as an oak,

I felled him, fruit above

and root below;

11 I raised up sons of yours as prophets,

and young men to be Nazirites.

Is it not so, O Israel?

the Eternal asks you.

12 But you gave Nazirites wine to drink,

and forbade prophets to prophesy.

13 So now I make your steps collapse,

as a cart collapses, laden with sheaves,

14 and flight shall fail the swift,

the sturdy shall not hold their own,

the warrior shall not escape alive,

15 the archer shall not stand his ground,

quick-footed men shall not get clear,

horsemen shall not escape,

16 and even the stalwarts in the ranks

shall strip and run upon that day–

this by order of the Eternal.”

3 Listen to this charge of the Eternal against you, sons of Israel, against the whole race that I brought up from the land of Egypt:

2 You alone, of all men, have I cared for;

therefore I will punish you for all your misdeeds.

3 Do two men travel together, unless they have planned it?

4 Does a lion in the jungle roar, unless he has some prey?

Does a young lion growl in his lair, unless he has made a capture?

5 Does a bird drop into the trap, unless the trap is baited?

Does the trap spring up, unless there is something to catch?

6 Do not townsfolk tremble, when the alarum is blown?

Can trouble befall a town, unless the Eternal is at work?

7 The Lord Eternal never does anything

without telling his servants the prophets.

8 When the lion roars, who does not shudder?

When the Lord Eternal speaks, who can but prophesy?

9 Proclaim this in the palaces of Assyria

and in the palaces of Egypt’s land:

“Muster on Samaria’s hills,

look at the rife disorders there,

at all the oppression in their midst;

10 they know not how to deal justly,

they plenish their palaces by violence and robbery.”

11 Therefore, the Lord Eternal declares,

the Foe shall overrun the land,

laying your forts level,

plundering your palaces.

The Eternal declares:

As a shepherd snatches from a lion’s mouth

no more than two bones or a rag of an ear,

so scarcely shall the Israelites be rescued,

who loll on corners of diwans within Samaria,

on silken cushions of a couch.

15 I strike down winter-house and summer-house together,

and ivoried houses perish–

aye, many a house is swept away:

by order of the Eternal.

13 Listen and testify against the house of Jacob, says the Lord Eternal, the God of hosts, 14 that when I punish Israel for his iniquities,

I will punish the Bethel altars on that day,

till the knobs of the altar are cut away

and drop to the ground.

4 Listen to this, you cows of Bashan,

you women in high Samaria,

you who defraud the poor and are hard on the needy,

who tell your husbands, ‘Let us have wine to drink!’

2 As sure as I am God, the Lord Eternal swears,

your day is coming,

when you will be dragged out with prongs,

the last of you with fish-hooks;

3 out you go, through breaches in the walls,

each of you headlong,

chased to mount Hermon–

by order of the Eternal.

4 Go to Bethel, go on with your sins!

pile sin on sin at Gilgal!

aye, sacrifice in the morning,

and every third day pay your tithes,

5 burn your dough as a thank-offering,

announce your freewill gifts–

oh, make them public,

for you love all that, you Israelites!

The Lord Eternal declares:

6 ‘My way has been to starve your towns

and to spread famine over all the land;

yet, says the Eternal, yet

you would not come back to me.

7 I kept the rain from you,

three months before the harvest,

I would send rain on one town

and hold it from another,

one patch would get rain,

and the rainless patch dried up,

8 till two or three towns would crawl to another

in quest of water, all in vain;

and yet, says the Eternal, yet

you would not come back to me.

9 I smote you with blight and mildew,

I wasted your gardens and vineyards,

the locust spoiled your fig-trees and your vines;

yet, says the Eternal, yet

you would not come back to me.

10 I sent you an Egyptian plague,

I slew your soldiers in the fight

and the flower of your steeds,

till the stench of your camp

rose to your nostrils;

and yet, says the Eternal, yet

you would not come back to me.

11 I sent you a shattering earthquake,

like God’s own shattering of Sodom and Gomorrah,

till you only escaped

like charred sticks snatched from the fire;

and yet, says the Eternal, yet

you would not come back to me.

12 So now I will deal with you, O Israel, thus… Since thus I deal with you, O Israel, prepare to meet your God; 13 for it is he who forms the mountains and creates the wind and reveals His inner mind to man, he who makes the dawn and darkness, who marches over the heights of earth – his name is the Eternal, God of hosts; 8 he it is who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns black darkness into dawn and darkens day again into the night, who summons floods and pours them on the earth; his name is the Eternal– 9 he flashes ruin on the mighty, till their forts fall to the ground.

5 Listen to this word of mine against you, house of Israel, listen to this dirge:

2 ‘Fallen, fallen, never to rise,

is maiden Israel;

low on her own land she lies,

with none to raise her.’

3 For the Lord Eternal has declared that the town which marched out a thousand strong will have only a hundred men left, and the town which marched out a hundred strong will have only ten men left.

4 Here is the Eternal’s message for the house of Israel:

Seek me and you shall live,

5 seek not Bethel,

go not to Gilgal,

cross not to Beêrsheba

(for Gilgal shall have a galling exile,

and Bethel sink to be bethral);

6 seek the Eternal and live,

lest he set Joseph’s house ablaze with fire

that none can quench in Israel.

7 You who make justice a bitter thing,

trampling on the law,

10 hating a man who exposes you,

loathing him who is honest with you!–

11 for this, for crushing the weak,

and forcing them to give you grain,

houses of ashlar you may build,

but you shall never dwell in them,

and vineyards you may plant,

but you shall drink no wine from them.

12 I know your countless crimes,

your manifold misdeeds–

browbeating honest men, accepting bribes,

defrauding the poor of justice.

13 (It is a time when the prudent make no protest,

so evil is the time!)

16 But the Eternal speaks,

the God of hosts declares:

“A wail shall ring through all your squares,

a cry of woe in all your streets,

the very peasants shall be moved

to wail with those well skilled in dirges,

17 and in all vineyards there shall be lamenting,

when I sweep through your midst,

the Eternal declares.”

18 You long for the day of the Eternal?

Ah, what will that avail you,

6 so eager to avert the evil day,

3 so keen upon injustice?

19 A man runs from a lion,

and a bear springs at him;

he hides indoors, and, resting his hand on the wall,

a serpent bites him–

20 is not that the day of the Eternal,

danger, not safety,

pitch dark, and not a ray of light?

21 Your sacred festivals? I hate them, scorn them;

your sacrifices? I will not smell their smoke;

22 you offer me your gifts? I will not take them;

you offer fatted cattle? I will not look at them.

23 No more of your hymns for me!

I will not listen to your lutes.

24 No, let justice well up like fresh water,

let honesty roll in full tide.

25 Was it sacrifice and offering you brought me

all the forty years within the desert, Israel?

26 So now you must shoulder your king Sakkut,

and Kaiwan your star-god,

idols you have manufactured;

26 for into exile I send you, far away beyond Damascus,

the Eternal, the God of hosts, declares.

24 [[Seek to be honest, not evil,

and so life;

that the Eternal may be with you,

as you think he is.

15 Hate evil and love honesty,

set justice up again;

it may be that the Eternal, the God of hosts,

may pity those left of the house of Joseph.]]

6 Woe to the careless citizens,

so confident in high Samaria,

leaders of this most ancient race,

who are like gods in Israel!–

2 [[Pass over to Kalneh, look at it,

then on to great Hamath,

then down to Gath of the Philistines.

Are you any better than these realms,

is your land larger than theirs?]]

4 lolling on their ivory diwans,

sprawling on their couches,

dining off fresh lamb and fatted veal,

5 crooning to the music of the lute,

composing airs like David himself,

6 lapping wine by the bowlful,

and using for ointment the best of the oil–

with never a single thought

for the bleeding wounds of the nation.

7 So now they must head the exiles;

that dissolute crew shall disappear–

by order of the Eternal, the God of hosts.

8 The Lord Eternal has sworn by his own life,

“I loathe the pride of Jacob,

his palaces I hate;

I will abandon the city and all it holds,

11 the mansion to be pulled to pieces,

the small house to be shattered.

9 [[And it shall be that if ten men are left within a house, they shall die. 10 If some survivor who brings out their bodies from the house for burial calls to a woman in the corner, ‘Are there any left alive?’ she will answer, ‘No! They all did sinfully.’ She will cry, ‘Call upon the Eternal!’]]

12 Shall horses race over crags,

or oxen plough the sea,

that you make a poison of justice,

a bitter, deadly thing?

13 You are so proud of Lo-Dear,

you think you captured Karnaim by your own strength.

14 But I am rousing against you a nation, O house of Israel,

says the Eternal, the God of hosts,

and they shall harry you

from the pass of Hamath to the wady of the Arâbah.”

7 Then the Lord Eternal showed me this,

showed me himself forming a brood of locusts,

just as the spring-crops were coming up,

when the royal crop had been mowed.

2 As they devoured all the green growth, I cried,

“Have mercy, Lord, have mercy!

How can Jacob recover? – he has so little.”

3 Then the Eternal did relent,

the Eternal said, “This shall not be.”

4 The Lord Eternal showed me this,

showed me himself calling down fire

to burn up the great deep,

to burn up the tilled land.

5 “Cease, Lord, oh cease,” I cried.

“How can Jacob recover? – he has so little.”

6 Then the Eternal did relent,

the Eternal said, “This shall not be.”

7 The Lord Eternal showed me this,

showed me himself standing beside a wall,

a plumb-line in his hand.

8 The Eternal said to me,

“Amos, what do you see?”

“A plumb-line,” I replied.

The Eternal said, “With a plumb-line I test my people;

never again will I pardon them,

9 but Isaac’s heights shall be laid waste,

the shrines of Israel shall be ruined,

and I will attack Jeroboam’s house with the sword.”

10 Then the priest at Bethel, Amazĭah, sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is conspiring against you in the very midst of Israel, and the country cannot bear what he is saying. 11 This is what he says, that Jeroboam is to die by the sword, and Israel to go into exile, farm from its own country.” 12 Amazĭah also told Amos, “You dreamer! Be off to Judah and earn your living there; play the prophet there, 13 but never again at Bethel, for it is the royal shrine, the national temple.” 14 But Amos answered Amazĭah, “I am no prophet, no member of any prophets’ guild; I am only a shepherd, and I tend sycamore. 15 But the Eternal took me from the flock; the Eternal said to me, ‘Go and prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now then, listen to what the Eternal says. You say that I am not to prophesy against Israel, not to say one word against the house of Isaac. 17 The Eternal says, ‘Your wife shall be a harlot in the town, your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword, your farm shall be divided up, and you yourself shall die in a foreign land; for Israel is indeed to be led off to exile, far from its own country.’ ”

8 The Lord Eternal showed me this:

a basket of ripe fruit.

2 Then said he,

“Amos, what do you see?”

“A basket of ripe fruit,” said I;

and the Eternal said to me,

“So is the doom ripe for my people Israel;

never again will I pardon them.”

4 Listen to this, you men who crush the humble,

and oppress the poor,

5 muttering, “When will the new-moon be over,

that we may sell our grain?

When will the sabbath be done,

that our corn may be on sale?”

(small you make your measures, large your weights,

you cheat by tampering with the scales)–

6 all to buy up innocent folk,

to buy the needy for a pair of shoes,

to sell the very refuse of your grain.

7 The Eternal has sworn by the pride of Jacob,

“Never will I forget what you have done.”

8 [[For all this shall not the land have to shake,

and every dweller mourn?

Shall it not all rise up like the Nile,

and sink like Egypt’s flood?]]

9 Upon that day, the Lord Eternal declares,

I will make the sun go down at noon,

and darken the earth in broad daylight,

10a turn your festivals into mourning,

and your ditties into dirges;

3 the temple hymns shall change to howls,

as corpse on corpse is being flung outside with a “Hush!”

Upon that day, the Lord Eternal declares,

10 I will make every loin wear sackcloth,

and every head be shaved in mourning,

I will make you lament as for an only son–

a day of utter bitterness.

11 The time is coming, says the Lord Eternal,

when I will send a famine on the land,

no famine of bread, no drouth of water,

but of hearing the word of the Eternal,

12 till men go wandering from sea to sea,

and run from north to east,

in quest of the Eternal’s word–

and all in vain.

13 On that day they shall faint,

faint, fall, and never rise again,

the maidens fair and stalwart youths,

14 who swear by the god at Bethel,

who say, “As your god lives, O Dan!”

or, “As your Patron lives, Beêrsheba!”

9 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar;

“Strike the pillars on the top,” said he,

“that the ceiling may be shaken,

break them on the heads of all the worshippers;

those who are left I will slay with the sword,

not one shall escape as he flies,

not one survivor shall get clear away.

2 Though they were to break through to Death-land,

I would pull them out:

though they were to climb up to heaven,

I would drag them down:

3 though they were concealed on Karmel’s summit,

I would find and fetch them:

though they were to hide from me under the sea,

I would bid the Dragon bite them:

4 though they went into exile in front of their foes,

I would command the sword to slay them.

My eye will be upon them

for evil, not for good.

5 [[’Tis the Eternal, Lord of hosts,

at whose touch the earth trembles,

and ever dweller wails,

as it all rises like the Nile

and sinks like Egypt’s flood;

6 ’tis he who builds his chambers high in heaven

and rests his Vault upon the earth,

who summons floods and pours them on the earth–

the Eternal is his name.]]

7 What are you more than Ethiopians?

O Israelites, the Eternal asks?

I brought up Israel from Egypt? Yes,

and Philistines from Crete,

from Kir the Aramaeans.

8 Mine eyes are on the sinful realms,

to wipe it off the earth.

[[Only I will not wipe out all the house of Jacob,

the Eternal promises.

9 For I will issue my command

to shake the house of Israel among all nations,

like corn within a sieve,

but not one grain of it shall fall.

10 The sword shall slay the sinners of my people,

all who say, ‘Trouble will never touch us, never catch us.’

11 On that day I will raise again the fallen huts of David,

repair their breaches, mend their rifts,

rebuild them as in days of old,

12 till the people hold what is left of Edom

and of all nations I have conquered:

the Eternal has said it,

the Eternal will do it.

13 The time is coming, the Eternal One declares,

when the ploughman overtakes the reaper,

when he who treads grapes overtakes the sower,

when mountains drip with new wine,

and all the hills are aflow with milk;

14 when I bring back the exiles of my people Israel,

to build waste towns and dwell in them,

to plant vineyards and drink their wine,

to lay out gardens and to eat their fruit.

15 In their own land I will plant them,

nevermore to be uprooted

from the land I give to them–

so the Eternal promises, your God.”]]