Page images
PDF
EPUB

2. Text & Dr Saw

Ephraim, &c. are reproved. CHAP. XII, 9 I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.

10 They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shalt roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.

[ocr errors][merged small]

XHI, XIV: The glory of Ephraim vanisheth. exalted himself in Israel; but when he WHEN Ephraim spake trembling, he

offended in Baal, he died.

2 And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their sil ver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

11 They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I 3 Therefore they shall be as the morning will place them in their houses, saith the LORD. cloud, and as the early dew that passen 12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, away, as the chaff that is driven with the and the house of Israel with deceit: but Ju-whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke dah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.

CHAP. XII.

out of the chimney.

4 Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me: for there is no saviour besides me. 5 I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

A reproof of Ephraim, Judah, and Jacob. 3 By former favours he exhorteth to repentance. 7 Ephraim's sins provoke God. PHRAIM feedeth on wind, and followE 6 According to their pasture, so were they eth after the east wind: he daily in-filled; they were filled, and their heart was creaseth lies and desolation; and they do exalted: therefore have they forgotten me. make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil 7 Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: is carried into Egypt. as a leopard by the way will I observe them. 8 I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like

2 The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.

3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:

4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us;

5 Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD

is his memorial.

6 Therefore, turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.

7He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress. 8 And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me

that were sin.

9 And I that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feasts. 10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets. 11 Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.

12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.

13 And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he1 preserved.

14 Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.

CHAP. XIII.

1 Ephraim's glory, by reason of idolatry, vanisheth. 5 God's anger for their unkindness. 9

A promise of God's mercy. 15.A judgment for

rebellion.

"Jext

a lion the wild beast shall tear them.

9O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself but in me is thy help.

10 I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?

[ocr errors]

took him away in my wrath.
gave thee a king in mine anger, and

12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid.

13 The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the break14 I will ransom them from the power of ing forth of children. the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues, O grave, I hid from mine eyes. will be thy destruction: repentance shall be

15 ¶ Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind o the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his foun tain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the 16 Samaria shall become desolate; for she treasure of all pleasant vessels. hath rebelled against her God: they shall ed in pieces, and their women with child fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashshall be ripped up.

CHAP. XIV.

An exhortation to repentance. 4 A promise of

quity.

God's blessing.
ISRAEL, return unto the LORD thy
God; for thou hast fallen by thine ini

2 Take with you words, and turn to the
LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity,
the calves of our lips.
and receive us graciously: so will we render

3 Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more

623

Sever Auges

[ocr errors][merged small]

JOEL.

to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods:
for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
4¶I will heal their backsliding, I will love
them freely for mine anger is turned away
from him.

5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall
grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as
Lebanon.

6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

7 They that dwell under his shadow shall

CHAP. I.

A fast prescribed. return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and ob served him: I am like a green fir-tree. From me is thy fruit found.

9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

JOEL.

God?

16 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, 1 Joel, declaring sundry judgments of God, ez-yea, joy and gladness from the house of our horteth to observe them, 8 and to mourn. 14 He prescribeth a fast for complaint. The son of Pethuel. HE word of the LORD that came to Joel

2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? 3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

4 That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.

5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth. 6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.

7 He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white. 8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

9 The meat-offering and the drink-offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn.

10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried the oil languisheth.

"li Be ye ashamed, Oye husbandmen; howl,

O ye vine-dressers, for the wheat and for the
barley; because the harvest of the field is
perished.

17 The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are bro. ken down; for the corn is withered. 18 How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

19 O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.

20 The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

CHAP. II.

1 He sheweth unto Zion the terribleness of God's
judgment. 12 He exhorteth to repentance, 15
prescribeth a fast, 18 promiseth a blessing
thereon. 21 He comforteth Zion with present,
28 and future blessings.

Ban alarm in my holy mountain: let all
LOW ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound
the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the
day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a
day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the
morning spread upon the mountains: a great
people and a strong; there hath not been ever
the like, neither shall be any more after it,
even to the years of many generations.
3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind

then a flame burneth: the land is as the

garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle-array,

12 The vine is dried up, and the fig-tree lan- 4 The appearance of them is as the appear
guisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-ance of horses; and as horsemen so shall they
tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the run.
trees of the field, are withered: because joy
is withered away from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests:
howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all
night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: 6 Before their face the people shall be much
for the meat-offering and the drink-offering pained: all faces shall gather blackness.
is withholden from the house of your God. 7 They shall run like mighty men; they
14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn as-shall climb the wall like men of war; and
sembly, gather the elders and all the inhabi- they shall march every one on his ways, and
tants of the land into the house of the LORD they shall not break their ranks:
your God, and cry unto the LORD,

15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

8 Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be Iwounded.

Joel exhorteth to repentance.

CHAP. III. •

9 They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

11 And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

12 ¶ Therefore also now, saith the LORD, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat-offering and a drink-offering unto the LORD your God?

15T Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:

16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

18 Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.

19 Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:

The outpouring of the Spirit the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you. 26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. 27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall ever be ashamed.

28 ¶ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall pro phesy, your old men shall dream dreas, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.

30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusa lem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

CHAP. III.

1 God's judgments against the enemies of his people. 9 God will be known in his judgment. 18 His blessing upon the church.

NOR behold, in those days, and in that

time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

4 Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O 20 But I will remove far off from you the Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Pales northern army, and will drive him into a tine? will ye render me a recompence? and land barren and desolate, with his face to- if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will ward the east sea, and his hinder part to-I return your recompence upon your own ward the utmost sea; and his stink shall come head; up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.

21 ¶ Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.

22 Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength.

23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and 27

2 D

my

5 Because ye have taken silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things.

6 The children also of Judah and the chil. dren of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:

8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it. 9¶ Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: 10 Beat your plough-shares into swords, and

625

God's blessing upon the church.

AMOS.

Judgments upon Syria, Moal, &c.

your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak | LORD will be the hope of his people, and the say, I am strong.

11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.

12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. 13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

strength of the children of Israel.

17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. 18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, be15 The sun and the moon shall be dark-cause they have shed innocent blood in their ened, and the stars shall withdraw their shi-land. ning.

16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the

CHAP. I.

20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion. TAMOS.

1 Amos sheweth God's judgment upon Syria, 6 upon the Philistines, 9 upon Tyrus, Il upon Edom, 13 upon Ammon.

rus, which shall devour the palaces thereof. 11 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof: because HE words of Amos, who was among the he did pursue his brother with the sword, which he saw con- and pity, anger cerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever: Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son 12 But I will send a fire upon Teman, which of Joash king of Israel, two years before the shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. earthquake. 13 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof: because they have ripped up the women with child, of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border:

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. 3 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:

4 But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

5 I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD. 6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof: because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:

14 But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind: 15 And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD. CHAP. II.

1

God's wrath against Moab, 4upon Judah, 6 and upon Israel. 9 God complaineth of their unthankfulness.

gressions of Moab, and for four, I will HUS saith the LORD; For three transnot turn away the punishment thereof, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:

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:

3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.

7 But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof: 8 And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn my hand against Ekron and the remnant of the 4 Thus saith the LORD; For three transPhilistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD.gressions of Judah, and for four, I will not 9 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof: because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly

covenant:

turn away the punishment thereof: because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:

5 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it 10 But I will send a fire on the wall of Ty-shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

[ocr errors]

God's judgment against Israel.

Israel reproved for oppression. 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 thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof.

CHAP. III, IV.
6¶ Thus saith the LORD; For three trans-
gressions of Israel, and for four, I will not
turn away
the punishment thereof: because
they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor
for a pair of shoes;

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 unto the same maid, to profane my holy

name:

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.

9 Yet destroyed I the Amorite 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.

10 Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 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.

12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Pro phesy not.

13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.

14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: 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.

16 And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord.

CHAP. III.

1 The necessity of God's judgment against Israel. 9 The publication of it, with the causes thereof.

10 For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.

11 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled. 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.

13 Hearye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, 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 horas of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.

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.

CHAP. IV.

1 He reproveth Israel for oppression, 4 for idolatry, 6 and for their incorrigibleness.

EAR this word, ye kine 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.

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.

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¶ Come to Beth-el and transgress: at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your

HEAR this word that the LORD hath sacrifices every morning, and your tithes

spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought from the land of Egypt, saying, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?

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?

6 Shall 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?

7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy? 9. Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and

after three years:

5 And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the freeofferings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

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 unto me, saith the LORD.

7 And also I have withholden 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 rained not withered.

8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

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 unto me, saith the LORD.

« PreviousContinue »