MacWorld 1996 July/Macworld (1996-07).dmg/Shareware World/Communication/WarpSearch CGI 1.0/The_Bible/amos.txt

Text File | 1996-04-13 | 23KB | 436 lines

The next file is: AMOS
1:1 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.
1:2 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.
1:3 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus,
 and for four, I will not turn away its [punishment]; because
 they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:
1:4 But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall
 devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.
1:5 I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the
 inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the
 scepter from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall
 go into captivity to Kir, saith the LORD.
1:6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and
 for four, I will not turn away its [punishment]: because they
 carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver [them] up
 to Edom:
1:7 But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall
 devour its palaces:
1:8 And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that
 holdeth the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turn my hand
 against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,
 saith the Lord GOD.
1:9 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyre, and
 for four, I will not turn away its [punishment]: because they
 delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not
 the brotherly covenant:
1:10 But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, which shall
 devour its palaces:
1:11 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and
 for four, I will not turn away its [punishment]: because he
 pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, and
 his anger did tear perpetually, and [he] kept his wrath for
 ever:
1:12 But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the
 palaces of Bozrah.
1:13 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the
 children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away [their
 punishment]: because they have ripped up the women with child
 of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border:
1:14 But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it
 shall devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle,
 with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind:
1:15 And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes
 together, saith the LORD.
2:1 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and
 for four, I will not turn away [his punishment]: because he
 burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:
2:2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the
 palaces of Kirioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with
 shouting, [and] with the sound of the trumpet:
2:3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst of it, and will
 slay all its princes with him, saith the LORD.
2:4 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and
 for four, I will not turn away [their punishment]: because they
 have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his
 commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after which
 their fathers have walked:
2:5 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the
 palaces of Jerusalem.
2:6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and
 for four, I will not turn away [their punishment]: because they
 sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of
 shoes;
2:7 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 to the [same] maid, to profane my holy name:
2:8 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.
2:9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose hight [was]
 like the hight of the cedars, and he [was] strong as the oaks;
 yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from
 beneath.
2:10 Also I brought you from the land of Egypt, and led you
 forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the
 Amorite.
2:11 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.
2:12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the
 prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
2:13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed [that
 is] full of sheaves.
2:14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the
 strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty
 deliver himself:
2:15 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.
2:16 And [he that is] courageous among the mighty shall flee
 away naked in that day, saith the LORD.
3:1 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,
3:2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth:
 therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
3:3 Can two walk together, except they are agreed?
3:4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a
 young lion cry out of his den, if he hath taken nothing?
3:5 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?
3:6 Shalt 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]?
3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his
 secret to his servants the prophets.
3:8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath
 spoken, who can but prophesy?
3:9 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 of it,
 and the oppressed in the midst of it.
3:10 For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up
 violence and robbery in their palaces.
3:11 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An adversary [there
 shall be] even around the land; and he shall bring down thy
 strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be plundered.
3:12 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.
3:13 Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord
 GOD, the God of hosts,
3:14 That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of
 Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Beth-el: and
 the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the
 ground.
3:15 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.
4:1 Hear this word, ye heifers 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.
4:2 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 fish-hooks,
4:3 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.
4:4 Come to Beth-el and transgress; at Gilgal multiply
 transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, [and]
 your tithes after three years:
4:5 And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and
 proclaim [and] publish the free-offerings: for this pleaseth
 you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
4:6 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 to me, saith the LORD.
4:7 And also I 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 on which it rained not
 withered.
4:8 So two [or] three cities wandered to one city, to drink
 water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned to
 me, saith the LORD.
4:9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your
 gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your
 olive-trees increased, the palmer-worm devoured [them]: yet
 have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.
4:10 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 ill savor of your
 camps to come up to your nostrils: yet have ye not returned to
 me, saith the LORD.
4:11 I have overthrown [some] of you, as God overthrew Sodom and
 Gomorrah, and ye were as a fire-brand plucked out of the
 burning: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.
4:12 Therefore thus will I do to thee, O Israel: [and] because I
 will do this to thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
4:13 For lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the
 wind, and declareth to 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.
5:1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, [even] a
 lamentation, O house of Israel.
5:2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise! she
 is forsaken upon her land; [there is] none to raise her up.
5:3 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out [by] a
 thousand shall leave a hundred, and that which went forth [by]
 a hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
5:4 For thus saith the LORD to the house of Israel, Seek ye me,
 and ye shall live:
5:5 But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to
 Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and
 Beth-el shall come to naught.
5:6 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 Beth-el.
5:7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off
 righteousness on the earth,
5:8 [Seek him] that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and
 turneth the shades 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: JEHOVAH [is]
 his name:
5:9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that
 the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
5:10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him
 that speaketh uprightly.
5:11 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.
5:12 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].
5:13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for
 it [is] an evil time.
5:14 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.
5:15 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
 to the remnant of Joseph.
5:16 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 skillful in lamentation to wailing.
5:17 And in all vineyards [shall be] wailing: for I will pass
 through thee, saith the LORD.
5:18 Woe to 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.
5:19 As if a man fled 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.
5:20 [Shall] not the day of the LORD [be] darkness, and not
 light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
5:21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in
 your solemn assemblies.
5:22 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.
5:23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will
 not hear the melody of thy viols.
5:24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a
 mighty stream.
5:25 Have ye offered to me sacrifices and offerings in the
 wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
5:26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun
 your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
5:27 Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond
 Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name [is] The God of hosts.
6:1 Woe to them [that are] at ease in Zion, and trust in the
 mountain of Samaria, [who are] named chief of the nations, to
 whom the house of Israel came!
6:2 Pass ye to Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath
 the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: [are they]
 better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your
 border?
6:3 Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of
 violence to come near;
6:4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon
 their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from
 the midst of the stall;
6:5 That chant to the sound of the viol, [and] invent to
 themselves instruments of music, like David;
6:6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the
 chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of
 Joseph.
6:7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go
 captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves
 shall be removed.
6:8 The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God
 of hosts, I abhor the excellence of Jacob, and hate his
 palaces: therefore I will deliver up the city with all its
 abundance.
6:9 And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one
 house, they shall die.
6:10 And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth
 him, to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to 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.
6:11 For behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the
 great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
6:12 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:
6:13 Ye who rejoice in a thing of naught, who say, Have we not
 taken to us horns by our own strength?
6:14 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 entrance of Hamath to the river of the
 wilderness.
7:1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shown to 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.
7:2 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.
7:3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.
7:4 Thus hath the Lord GOD shown to me: and behold, the Lord GOD
 called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and
 did eat up a part.
7:5 Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom
 shall Jacob arise? for he [is] small.
7:6 The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith
 the Lord GOD.
7:7 Thus he showed me: and behold, the LORD stood upon a wall
 [made] by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand.
7:8 And the LORD said to me, Amos, what seest thou? and I said,
 A plumb-line. Then said the LORD, Behold, I will set a
 plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again
 pass by them any more:
7:9 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.
7:10 Then Amaziah the priest of Beth-el 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.
7:11 For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and
 Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.
7:12 Also Amaziah said to Amos, O thou seer, go flee thee away
 into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy
 there:
7:13 But prophesy not again any more at Beth-el: for it [is] the
 king's chapel, and it [is] the king's court.
7:14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I [was] no
 prophet, neither [was] I a prophet's son; but I [was] a
 herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit:
7:15 And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD
 said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.
7:16 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.
7:17 Therefore thus saith 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 a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go from his
 land into captivity.
8:1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shown to me: and behold a basket of
 summer fruit.
8:2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of
 summer fruit. Then said the LORD to me, The end is come upon my
 people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
8:3 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.
8:4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the
 poor of the land to fail,
8:5 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?
8:6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a
 pair of shoes; and even sell the refuse of the wheat?
8:7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellence of Jacob, Surely I
 will never forget any of their works.
8:8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn
 that dwelleth in it? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood:
 and it shall be cast out and drowned, as [by] the flood of
 Egypt.
8:9 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:
8:10 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 of it as a bitter day.
8:11 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:
8:12 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].
8:13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for
 thirst.
8:14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O
 Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they
 shall fall, and never rise again.
9:1 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.
9:2 Though they dig into the place of the dead, thence shall my
 hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I
 bring them down:
9:3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I
 will search and take them out thence; and though they are hid
 from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command
 the serpent, and he shall bite them:
9:4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies,
 thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I
 will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
9:5 And the Lord GOD of hosts [is] he that toucheth the land,
 and it shall melt, and all that dwell in it shall mourn: and it
 shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as
 [by] the flood of Egypt.
9:6 [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.
9:7 [Are] ye not as children of the Cushites to me, O children
 of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel from
 the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the
 Assyrians from Kir?
9:8 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.
9:9 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.
9:10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who
 say, The evil shall not overtake nor fall upon us.
9:11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that
 is fallen, and close up their breaches; and I will raise up its
 ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
9:12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the
 heathen, who are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth
 this.
9:13 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.
9:14 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 of
 them; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
9:15 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.