The Hebrew Prophets

But behold, I wil raise vp against you a nation, O house of Israel, sayeth the Lord God of hostes: and they shall afflict you, from the entring in of Hamath vnto the riuer of the wildernes.

Thus hath the Lord God shewed vnto mee, and beholde, he formed grashoppers in the beginning of ye shooting vp of the latter grouth: and loe, it was in the latter grouth after the Kings mowing.

And when they had made an ende of eating the grasse of the land, then I saide, O Lord God, spare, I beseeche thee: who shall raise vp Iaakob? for he is small.

So the Lord repented for this. It shall not be, saith the Lord.

Thus also hath the Lord God shewed vnto me, and behold, the Lord God called to iudgement by fire, and it deuoured the great deepe, and did eate vp a part.

Then said I, O Lord God, cease, I beseeche thee: who shall raise vp Iaakob? for he is small.

So the Lord repented for this. This also shall not be, saith the Lord God.

Thus againe he shewed me, and behold, the Lord stoode vpon a wall made by line with a line in his hand.

And the Lord saide vnto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A line. Then said the Lord, Beholde, I wil set a line in the middes of my people Israel, and wil passe by them no more.

And the hye places of Izhak shalbe desolate, and the temples of Israel shalbe destroyed: and I wil rise against the house of Ieroboam with the sworde.

Then Amaziah the Priest of Beth-el sent to Ieroboam King of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the middes of the house of Israel: the lande is not able to beare all his wordes.

For thus Amos saith, Ieroboam shall die by the sworde, and Israel shalbe led away captiue out of their owne land.

Also Amaziah sayde vnto Amos, O thou the Seer, goe, flee thou away into the land of Iudah, and there eate thy bread and prophecie there.

But prophecie no more at Beth-el: for it is the Kings chappel, and it is the Kings court.

Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no Prophet, neither was I a prophets sonne, but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of wilde figs.

And the Lord tooke me as I followed the flocke, and the Lord said vnto me, Go, prophecie vnto my people Israel.

Now therefore heare thou the word of the Lord. Thou sayest, Prophecie not against Israel, and speake nothing against the house of Izhak.

Therefore thus sayth the Lord, Thy wife shall be an harlot in the citie, and thy sonnes and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be deuided by line: and thou shalt die in a polluted land, and Israel shall surely go into captiuitie forth of his land.

Thus hath the Lord God shewed vnto me, and behold, a basket of summer fruite.

And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I sayd, A basket of sommer fruite. Then sayd the Lord vnto me, The ende is come vpon my people of Israel, I wil passe by them no more.

And the songs of the Temple shalbe howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: many dead bodies shalbe in euery place: they shall cast them forth with silence.

Heare this, O yee that swallowe vp the poore, that ye may make the needie of the lande to fayle,

Saying, When will the newe moneth bee gone, that we may sell corne? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheate, and make the Ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifie the weights by deceit?

That we may buy the poore for siluer, and the needie for shooes: yea, and sell the refuse of the wheate.

The Lord hath sworne by the excellencie of Iaakob, Surely I will neuer forget any of their workes.