Old/New Testament
7 Here is what Adonai Elohim showed me: he was forming a swarm of locusts as the late crop was starting to come up, the late crop after the hay had been cut to pay the king’s tribute. 2 While they were finishing up eating all the vegetation in the land, I said,
“Adonai Elohim, forgive — please!
How will tiny Ya‘akov survive?”
3 So Adonai changed his mind about this. “It won’t happen,” Adonai said.
4 Next Adonai Elohim showed me this: Adonai Elohim was summoning a blazing fire to consume the great abyss, and it would have devoured the land too. 5 But I said,
“Adonai Elohim, stop — please!
How will tiny Ya‘akov survive?”
6 Adonai changed his mind about it. “This too won’t happen,” said Adonai Elohim.
7 Then he showed me this: Adonai was standing by a wall made with a plumbline, and he had a plumbline in his hand. 8 Adonai asked me, “‘Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A plumbline.” Then Adonai said,
“I am going to put a plumbline in
among my people Isra’el;
I will never again overlook their offenses.
9 The high places of Yitz’chak will be desolate,
Isra’el’s sanctuaries will be destroyed,
and I will attack the house
of Yarov‘am with the sword.”
10 Then Amatzyah the priest of Beit-El sent this message to Yarov‘am king of Isra’el, “‘Amos is conspiring against you there among the people of Isra’el, and the land can’t bear all that he’s saying. 11 For ‘Amos says: ‘Yarov‘am will die by the sword, and Isra’el will be led away from their land into exile.’” 12 Amatzyah also said to ‘Amos, “Go away, seer! Go back to the land of Y’hudah! Earn your living there; and prophesy there; 13 but don’t prophesy any more at Beit-El; for this is the king’s sanctuary, a royal temple.”
14 ‘Amos gave this answer to Amatzyah: “I am not trained as a prophet, and I’m not one of the guild prophets — I own sheep and grow figs. 15 But Adonai took me away from following the flock, and Adonai said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Isra’el.’ 16 So now, hear what Adonai says: ‘You say, “Don’t prophesy against Isra’el, don’t lecture the people of Yitz’chak.”’ 17 Therefore Adonai says this:
‘Your wife will become a whore in the city,
your sons and daughters will die by the sword,
your land will be parcelled out with a measuring line,
you yourself will die in an unclean land,
and Isra’el will certainly be exiled from their land.’”
8 Here is what Adonai Elohim showed me: there in front of me was a basket of summer fruit. 2 He asked, “‘Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A basket of summer [a] fruit.” Then Adonai said to me,
“The end [b] has come for my people,
I will never again overlook their offenses.
3 When that time comes, the songs in the temple
will be wailings,” says Adonai Elohim.
“There will be many dead bodies;
everywhere silence will reign.”
4 Listen, you who swallow the needy
and destroy the poor of the land!
5 You say, “When will Rosh-Hodesh be over,
so we can market our grain?
and Shabbat, so we can sell wheat?”
You measure the grain in a small eifah,
but the silver in heavy shekels,
fixing the scales, so that you can cheat,
6 buying the needy for money
and the poor for a pair of shoes,
and sweeping up the refuse of the wheat to sell!”
7 Adonai swears by Ya‘akov’s pride,
“I will forget none of their deeds, ever.
8 Won’t the land tremble for this,
and everyone mourn, who lives in the land?
It will all rise, just like the Nile,
be in turmoil and subside, like the Nile in Egypt.
9 “When that time comes,” says Adonai Elohim,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your festivals into mourning
and all your songs into wailing;
I will make you all put sackcloth around your waists
and shave your heads bald in grief.
I will make it like mourning for an only son
and its end like a bitter day.
11 “The time is coming,” says Adonai Elohim,
“when I will send famine over the land,
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of Adonai.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
and from north to east, running back and forth,
seeking the word of Adonai;
but they will not find it.
13 When that time comes, young women and men
will faint from thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Shomron,
who say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives,’
and, ‘As the way of Be’er-Sheva lives’ —
they will fall and never get up again.”
9 I saw Adonai standing beside the altar, and he said,
“Strike the tops of the columns until the thresholds shake!
Smash them to pieces on the heads of all the people!
Those who remain I will kill with the sword;
not one of them will succeed in fleeing,
not one of them will escape.
2 If they dig down to Sh’ol,
my hand will haul them out;
if they climb up to heaven,
I will bring them down.
3 If they hide themselves on the top of the Karmel,
I will search them out and capture them there;
If they hide from me at the bottom of the sea,
I will order the serpent to bite them there.
4 If their enemies herd them into exile,
I will order the sword to kill them there.
I will fix my gaze on them
for harm and not for good.”
5 For Adonai Elohim-Tzva’ot
is the one who can melt the earth with his touch,
and make all who live on it mourn.
It will all rise, just like the Nile,
and then subside, like the Nile in Egypt.
6 He builds his upper rooms in heaven
and establishes his sky-vault over the earth.
He summons the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the earth.
Adonai is his name.
7 “People of Isra’el, are you any different
from the Ethiopians to me?” asks Adonai.
“True, I brought Isra’el up from Egypt,
but I also brought the P’lishtim from Kaftor,
and Aram from Kir.
8 Look, the eyes of Adonai Elohim
are on the sinful kingdom.
I will wipe it off the face of the earth,
yet I will not completely destroy
the house of Ya‘akov,” says Adonai.
9 “For when I give the order,
I will shake the house of Isra’el,
there among all the Goyim,
as one shakes with a sieve,
letting no grain fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people
who say, ‘Disaster will never overtake us
or confront us,’ will die by the sword.
11 “When that day comes, I will raise up
the fallen sukkah of David.
I will close up its gaps, raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as it used to be,
12 so that Isra’el can possess
what is left of Edom
and of all the nations bearing my name,”
says Adonai, who is doing this.
13 “The days will come,” says Adonai,
“when the plowman will overtake the reaper
and the one treading grapes the one sowing seed.
Sweet wine will drip down the mountains,
and all the hills will flow with it.
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Isra’el;
they will rebuild and inhabit the ruined cities;
they will plant vineyards and drink their wine,
cultivate gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant them on their own soil,
no more to be uprooted
from their land, which I gave them,”
says Adonai your God.
8 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for what seemed like half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven shofars. 3 Another angel came and stood at the altar with a gold incense-bowl, and he was given a large quantity of incense to add to the prayers of all God’s people 4 on the gold altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of God’s people from the hand of the angel before God. 5 Then the angel took the incense-bowl, filled it with fire from the altar and threw it down onto the earth; and there followed peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
6 Now the seven angels with the seven shofars prepared to sound them.
7 The first one sounded his shofar; and there came hail and fire mingled with blood, and it was thrown down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8 The second angel sounded his shofar, and what looked like an enormous blazing mountain was hurled into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel sounded his shofar; and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky onto a third of the rivers and onto the springs of water. 11 The name of the star was “Bitterness,” and a third of the water became bitter, and many people died from the water that had been turned bitter.
12 The fourth angel sounded his shofar; and a third of the sun was struck, also a third of the moon and a third of the stars; so that a third of them were darkened, the day had a third less light, and the night likewise.
13 Then I looked, and I heard a lone eagle give a loud cry, as it flew in mid-heaven, “Woe! Woe! Woe to the people living on earth, because of the remaining blasts from the three angels who have yet to sound their shofars!”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.