Beginning
6 Against the princes of Israel living in pleasure.
1 Woe to [a]them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, [b]which were famous at the beginning of the nations: and the house of Israel came to them.
2 Go you unto Calneh, and see: and from thence go you to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be [c]they better than these kingdoms? or the border of their land greater than your border,
3 Ye that put far away the [d]evil day, and approach to the seat of iniquity?
4 They lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their beds, and eat the lambs of the flock, and the calves out of the stall.
5 They sing to the sound of the viol: they invent to themselves instruments of music like [e]David.
6 They drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments, but no man is [f]sorry for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and [g]the sorrow of them that stretched themselves, is at hand.
8 [h]The Lord God hath sworn by himself, saith the Lord God of hosts, I abhor [i]the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.
9 And if there remain ten men in one house, they shall die.
10 And his uncle [j]shall take him up and burn him, to carry out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him, that is by the [k]sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? And he shall say, None. Then shall he say, [l]Hold thy tongue: for we may not remember 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 [m]run upon the rock? or will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into [n]wormwood.
13 Yet rejoice in a thing of nought: ye say, Have not we gotten us [o]horns by our own strength?
14 But behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God of hosts: and they shall afflict you from the entering in of [p]Hamath unto the river of the wilderness.
7 God showeth certain visions, whereby he signifieth the destruction of the people of Israel. 10 The false accusation of Amaziah, 12 His crafty counsel.
1 Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me, and behold, he formed [q]grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth: and lo, it was in the latter growth [r]after the King’s mowing.
2 And when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord God, spare, I beseech thee: who shall raise up Jacob? for he is small.
3 So the Lord [s]repented for this. It shall not be, saith the Lord.
4 ¶ Thus also hath the Lord God showed unto me, and behold, the Lord God called to judgment by fire, [t]and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.
5 Then said I, O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee: who shall raise up Jacob? for he is small.
6 So the Lord repented for this. This also shall not be, saith the Lord God.
7 ¶ Thus again he showed me, and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by line [u]with a line in his hand.
8 And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a line in the midst of my people Israel, and will pass by them no more.
9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the temples of Israel shall be destroyed: and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
10 ¶ [v]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 be led away captive out of their own land.
12 Also [w]Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou the Seer, go, flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat thy bread, and prophesy there.
13 But prophesy no 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 [x]Prophet, neither was I a Prophet’s son, but I was an herdsman, and a gatherer of wild figs.
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 speak nothing against the house of Isaac.
17 Therefore thus saith the Lord, [y]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.
8 1 Against the rulers of Israel. 7 The Lord sweareth. 11 The famine of the word of God.
1 Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me, and behold, a basket of summer fruit.
2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of [z]summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel, I will pass by them no more.
3 And the songs of the Temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: many dead bodies shall be in every place: they shall cast them forth with [aa]silence.
4 Hear this, O ye that [ab]swallow up the poor, that ye may make the needy of the land to fail,
5 Saying, When will the [ac]new month be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, and make [ad]the Ephah small and the shekel great, and falsify the weights by deceit?
6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for 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 everyone mourn, that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood, and it shall be cast out, and [ae]drowned as by the flood of Egypt.
9 And in that day, saith the Lord God, I will even cause the [af]Sun to go down at noon: 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 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 word of the Lord.
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the North even unto the East shall they run to and fro to seek the [ag]word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men perish for thirst.
14 They that swear by the sin [ah]of Samaria, and that say, Thy God, O Dan, liveth, and [ai]the manner of Beersheba liveth, even they shall fall, and never rise up again.
9 Threatenings against the Temple, 2 And against Israel. 11 The restoring of the Church.
1 I saw the Lord standing upon the [aj]Altar, and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in pieces, even the [ak]heads of them all, 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 the 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 [al]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 shall touch the land, and it shall melt away, 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 He buildeth his [am]spheres in the heaven, and hath laid the foundation of his globe of elements in the earth: he calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the open earth: the Lord is his Name.
7 Are ye not as the Ethiopians [an]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 [ao]Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?
8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it clean out of the earth. Nevertheless I will not utterly [ap]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 [aq]least stone fall upon the earth.
10 But all the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not come, nor hasten for us.
11 In that day will I raise up the [ar]Tabernacle of David, that is fallen down, 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 [as]Edom, and of all the heathen, because my Name is called upon them, saith the Lord, that doeth this.
13 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall [at]touch the mower, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed: and the mountains shall [au]drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
14 [av]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 fruits of them.
15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up again out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.