meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt/Tanakh/Prophets/Amos/English/The Koren Jerusalem Bible.txt"}
text: Amos
  עמוס
  The Koren Jerusalem Bible
  
  
  Amos
  
  
  
  
  
  The words of ῾Amos, who was among the herdmen of Teqoa which he saw concerning Yisra᾽el in the day of ῾Uzziyya king of Yehuda, and in the days of Yorov῾am the son of Yo᾽ash king of Yisra᾽el, two years before the earthquake.
  And he said, The Lord will roar from Żiyyon, and utter his voice from Yerushalayim; and the pastures of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Karmel shall wither.
  Thus says the Lord; For three transgressions of Dammeseq, I will turn away its punishment, but for the fourth I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gil῾ad with threshing instruments of iron:
  but I will send a fire into the house of Ĥaza᾽el, which will devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.
  And I will break the bar of Dammeseq, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him who holds the sceptre from the house of ῾Eden: and the people of Aram shall go into exile to Qir, says the 
  					Lord.
  Thus says the Lord; For three transgressions of ῾Azza, I will turn away its punishment, but for the fourth I will not turn away its punishment; because they carried away into exile a whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:
  but I will send a fire on the wall of ῾Azza, which shall devour its palaces:
  and I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the sceptre from Ashqelon, and I will turn my hand against ῾Eqron: and the remnant of the Pelishtim shall perish, says the 
  					Lord God.
  Thus says the Lord; For three transgressions of Żor, I will turn away its punishment, but for the fourth I will not turn away its punishment; because they delivered up a complete captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant:
  but I will send a fire on the wall of Żor, which shall devour its palaces.
  Thus says the Lord; For three transgressions of Edom, I will turn away its punishment, but for the fourth I will not turn away its punishment; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever:
  but I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bożra.
  Thus says the Lord; For three transgressions of the children of ῾Ammon, I will turn away their punishment, but for the fourth I will not turn away their punishment; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gil῾ad, that they might enlarge their border:
  but I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabba, and it shall devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the storm:
  and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together, says the Lord.
  
  
  
  Thus says the Lord; For three transgressions of Mo᾽av, I will turn away its punishment, but for the fourth I will not turn away its punishment; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:
  but I will send a fire upon Mo᾽av, and it shall devour the palaces of Qeriyyot: and Mo᾽av shall die amidst tumult, shouting, and the sound of the shofar:
  and I will cut off the judge from their midst, and will slay all his princes with him, says the Lord.
  Thus says the Lord; For three transgressions of Yehuda, I will turn away his punishment, but for the fourth I will not turn away his punishment; because they have despised the Tora of the 
  					Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies, after which their fathers have walked, have led them astray:
  but I will send a fire upon Yehuda, and it shall devour the palaces of Yerushalayim.
  Thus says the Lord; For three transgressions of Yisra᾽el, I will turn away his punishment, but for the fourth I will not turn away his punishment; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;
  that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the humble: and a man and his father will go in to the same girl, to profane my holy name:
  and they lay themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.
  Yet I destroyed the Emori 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.
  Also I brought you up out of the land of Miżrayim, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Emori.
  And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nezirim. Is it not even thus, O you children of Yisra᾽el? says the Lord.
  But you gave the Nezirim wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
  Behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart presses down that is full of sheaves.
  So the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his force, nor shall the mighty man deliver himself:
  nor shall he who handles the bow stand; and he who is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: nor shall he who rides the horse deliver himself.
  And he who is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked on that day, says the Lord.
  
  
  
  Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Yisra᾽el, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Miżrayim, saying,
  You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
  Can two walk together, unless they be agreed?
  will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has taken nothing?
  Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where there is no lure for it? does a snare spring up from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?
  Shall a shofar be sounded in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall evil befall a city, and the Lord has not done it?
  Surely the Lord God will do nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.
  The lion has roared, who will not fear? the Lord God has spoken, who can but prophesy?
  Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Miżrayim, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Shomeron, and behold the great tumults within her, and the oppressed in her midst.
  For they know not to do right, says the Lord, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.
  Therefore thus says the Lord God; An adversary there shall be and shall surround the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.
  Thus says the Lord; As the shepherd takes out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Yisra᾽el that dwell in Shomeron, escape with the corner of a bed, and the corner of a couch.
  Hear, and testify in the house of Ya῾aqov, says the Lord God, the God of hosts,
  that in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Yisra᾽el upon him I will also punish the altars of Bet-el: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.
  And I will smite the winter house and the summer house together; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, says the Lord.
  
  
  
  Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Shomeron, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their lords, Bring, that we may drink.
  The Lord God has sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, when you will be taken with hooks, and your remnant with fishhooks.
  And you shall go out at the breaches, every one straight before her; and you shall be cast away into Harmon, says the Lord.
  Come to Bet-el, and transgress; to Gilgal and multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three days:
  and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim and publish the free will offerings: for this you like, O you children of Yisra᾽el says the 
  					Lord God.
  And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet you have not returned to me, says the Lord.
  And I too have withheld 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 did not rain, withered.
  So two or three cities wandered to one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have you not returned to me, says the Lord.
  I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the cutting locust devoured them: yet have you not returned to me, says the 
  					Lord.
  I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Miżrayim: your young men I have slain with the sword, and I have taken away your horses; and I have made the stench of your camp to come up to your nostrils: yet have you not returned to 
  					me, says the Lord.
  I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sedom and ῾Amora, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning: yet have you not returned to 
  					me, says the Lord.
  Therefore thus will I do to thee, O Yisra᾽el: and because I will do this to thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Yisra᾽el.
  For, lo, he that forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, that makes the morning darkness, and treads upon the high places of the earth, The 
  					Lord, the God of hosts, is his name.
  
  
  
  Hear this word which I take up against you, a lamentation, O house of Yisra᾽el.
  The virgin of Yisra᾽el is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
  For thus says the Lord God; The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left for the house of Yisra᾽el.
  For, thus says the Lord to the house of Yisra᾽el, Seek me and you shall live:
  but do not seek Bet-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and do not pass to Be᾽er-sheva; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bet-el shall come to nought.
  Seek the Lord, and live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Yosef, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bet-el,
  O you who turn judgment to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the ground.
  He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deepest darkness into morning, and makes the day darken into night: that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is 
  					his name:
  who sends forth destruction against the strong, the destruction that comes against the fortress.
  They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him that speaks uprightly.
  Therefore, since you trample upon the poor, and take from him exactions of wheat: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine of them.
  For I know your many transgressions and your mighty sins: you that afflict the just, that take a bribe, and turn aside the poor at the gate.
  Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
  Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken.
  Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Yosef.
  Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, says thus; Lamentation shall there be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the farmer to mourning, and to wailing such as are skilful in lamentation.
  And in all vineyards there shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, says the Lord.
  Woe to you that desire the day of the Lord! why would you have this day of the Lord; it is darkness, and not light.
  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 snake bit him.
  Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
  I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will not smell the sacrifices of your solemn assemblies.
  Though you offer me burnt offerings and your meal offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
  Take away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy lutes.
  But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
  Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Yisra᾽el?
  But you shall carry Sikkut your king, and Kiyyun, your images, the star image of your God which you made for yourselves,
  and I will cause you to go into exile beyond Dammeseq, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.
  
  
  
  Woe to them that are at ease in Żiyyon, and trust in the mountain of Shomeron, who are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Yisra᾽el come!
  Pass to Kalne, and see; and from there go to Ĥamat the great: then go down to Gat of the Pelishtim: are they better than these kingdoms?
  or is their border greater than your border? You that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
  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;
  that pluck the strings of the lute, and devise for themselves instruments of music, like David;
  that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the ruin of Yosef.
  Therefore now they shall go into exile at the head of the exiles; and the revelry of those who stretched themselves out shall pass away.
  The Lord God has sworn by himself, The Lord, the God of hosts says, I abhor the pride of Ya῾aqov, and I hate his palaces: therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.
  And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.
  And if a man’s uncle, he that burns him, shall take him up, to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him that is in the recesses of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No; then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we must not make mention of the name of the 
  					Lord.
  For, behold, the Lord commands, and he will smite the great house into splinters, and the little house into chips.
  Do horses run upon the rock? does one plough there with oxen? for you have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood:
  you who rejoice in a thing of nought, who say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?
  For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Yisra᾽el, says the Lord the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Ĥamat to the wadi of the ῾Arava.
  
  
  
  Thus the Lord God showed me; and, behold, he was forming locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings.
  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: how shall Ya῾aqov stand? for he is small.
  The Lord relented concerning this: It shall not be, said the Lord.
  Thus did the Lord God show me: and, behold, the Lord God called to judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and was eating up the land.
  Then I said, O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee: how shall Ya῾aqov stand? for he is small.
  The Lord relented concerning this: This also shall not be, said the Lord God.
  Thus he showed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.
  And the Lord said to me, ῾Amos, what dost thou see? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Yisra᾽el: I will not again pardon him any more:
  and the high places of Yisĥaq shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Yisra᾽el shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Yorov῾am with the sword.
  Then Amażya the priest of Bet-el sent to Yorov῾am king of Yisra᾽el, saying, ῾Amos has conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Yisra᾽el: the land is not able to bear all his words.
  For thus ῾Amos says, Yorov῾am shall die by the sword, and Yisra᾽el shall surely be led away into exile out of their own land.
  And Amażya said to ῾Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Yehuda, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
  but do not prophesy again any more at Bet-el: for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house.
  Then ῾Amos answered and said to Amażya, I am no prophet, neither am I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdman, and a dresser of sycamore trees:
  and the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Yisra᾽el.
  Now therefore hear the word of the Lord: Thou sayst, Do not prophesy against Yisra᾽el, and do not preach against the house of Yisĥaq.
  Therefore thus says the Lord; Thy wife shall be a 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 an unclean land: and Yisra᾽el shall surely go into Exile out of his land.
  
  
  
  Thus the Lord God showed me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
  And he said, ῾Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then the Lord said to me, The end is come upon my people of Yisra᾽el; I will not again pardon him any more.
  And the songs of the temple shall become wailings on that day, says the Lord God: many will be the dead bodies; in every place they shall be cast forth; O hush.
  Hear this, O you that swallow up the needy, so as to destroy the poor of the land,
  saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the efa small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances of deceit?
  that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and sell the refuse of the wheat?
  The Lord has sworn by the pride of Ya῾aqov, saying, Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
  Shall not the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn that dwells in it? and it shall all rise up like the River; and it shall overflow and sink down like the River of Miżrayim.
  And it shall come to pass on that day, says the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
  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 for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
  Behold, days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the 
  					Lord:
  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.
  In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
  They that swear by the sin of Shomeron, and say, As thy god, O Dan, lives; and As the road to Be᾽er-sheva lives; they shall fall, and never rise up again.
  
  
  
  I saw the Lord standing besides the altar: and he said, Smite the capitals, that the thresholds may shake: and break them in pieces over the head of all of them; and I will slay the remnant of them with the sword: not a single one of them shall flee away, and not a single one of them shall escape.
  Though they dig into She᾽ol, from there shall my hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, from there will I bring them down:
  and though they hide themselves in the top of the Karmel, I will search and take them out from there; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, from there will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
  and though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
  And the Lord God of hosts is he that touches the land, and it melts, and all that dwell therein mourn: and it rises up all of it like the River and sinks down like the River of Miżrayim.
  It is he that builds his upper chambers in the heavens, and has founded his stairway in the earth; 
  					he that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: the Lord is his name.
  Are you not as much mine as the children of the Kushiyyim, O children of Yisra᾽el? says the Lord. Have not I brought up Yisra᾽el out of the land of Miżrayim? and the Pelishtim from Kaftor, and Aram from Qir?
  Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Ya῾aqov, says the 
  					Lord.
  For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Yisra᾽el among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
  All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, The evil shall not overtake or meet us.
  On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and repair its breaches; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
  that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the nations, who are called by my name, says the Lord who does this.
  Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
  And I will bring back the captivity of my people of Yisra᾽el, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink their wine; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
  And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, says the Lord thy God.