Amos 4

1 Listen to this word, you fat cows that are on the mountain of Samaria, you who make false accusations against the destitute and crush the poor, who say to your nobles, “Bring, and we will drink.”

2 The Lord God has sworn in his holiness: behold, the days that will overcome you and that will impale you on poles, and that will place what remains of you in boiling pots.

3 And you will go out through the breaches, one over another, and you will be cast out into Harmon, says the Lord.

4 Come to Bethel and behave impiously, to Gilgal and increase betrayals. And bring daybreak to your victims, your tithes in three days.

5 And offer a sacrifice of praise with leaven. And call for voluntary oblations, and announce it. For such is your will, sons of Israel, says the Lord God.

6 Therefore, because of this, I have given you dull teeth in every one of your cities, and a lack of bread in all your places. And you have not been turned back towards me, says the Lord.

7 Therefore, I have withheld the rains from you, when there were still three months left until the harvest. And I rained on one city, and I did not rain on another city; one part was rained on, and the part on which I did not rain, dried out.

8 And two and three cities went to one city, in order to drink water, and they were not satisfied. And you did not return to me, says the Lord.

9 I struck you with a burning wind and with yellowing; the caterpillar has consumed your many gardens and your vineyards, your olive groves and your fig groves. And you did not return to me, says the Lord.

10 I sent death to you by way of Egypt; I struck your youths with the sword, even bringing captivity to your horses. And I made the stench of your camp ascend into your nostrils. And you did not return to me, says the Lord.

11 I overturned you, just as God overturned Sodom and Gomorrah, and you became like an ember seized from the fire. And you did not return to me, says the Lord.

12 Because of this, I will do these things to you, Israel. But after I have done these things to you, Israel, be prepared to meet your God.

13 For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind and announces his speech to man, who makes the morning mist and steps over the heights of the earth: the Lord God of hosts is his name.

Amos 5

1 Listen to this word, which I lift over you in lamentation. The house of Israel has fallen, and it will no longer rise again.

2 The virgin of Israel has been thrown onto her land, there is no one who can raise her up.

3 For thus says the Lord God: In the city from which a thousand departed, a hundred will remain, and in that from which a hundred departed, ten will remain, in the house of Israel.

4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek me and you will live.

5 But do not be willing to seek Bethel, and do not be willing to enter Gilgal, and you will not cross into Beer-sheba. For Gilgal will be led into captivity, and Bethel will be useless.

6 Seek the Lord and live. Otherwise, the house of Joseph may be destroyed with fire, and it will devour, and there will be no one who can extinguish Bethel.

7 You turn judgment into wormwood, and you abandon justice on earth.

8 The Maker of Arcturus and Orion, who turns darkness into daybreak and who changes day into night; who calls forth the waters of the sea and who pours them out over the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.

9 It is he who smiles destruction on the healthy, and who brings pillaging upon the powerful.

10 They held hatred for the one who corrects at the gate, and they have abhorred the one who speaks perfectly.

11 Therefore, on his behalf, because you have torn apart the poor and stolen choice prey from him: you will build houses with square stones and you will not dwell in them; you will plant the most delightful vineyards, and you will not drink wine from them.

12 For I know your many wicked deeds and the strength of your sins, you enemies of the just, accepting bribes, and depriving the poor at the gate.

13 Therefore, the prudent will be silent at that time, for it is an evil time.

14 Seek good and not evil, so that you may live. And the Lord God of hosts will be with you, just as you have asked.

15 Hate evil and love good, and establish judgment at the gate. Perhaps then the Lord God of hosts may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Sovereign: In all the streets, there will be wailing. And in every place where they are outdoors, they will say, “Woe, woe!” And they will call the farmer to mourn, and those who know mourning to lamentation.

17 And in all the vineyards there will be wailing. For I will cross through your midst, says the Lord.

18 Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord. What is it to you? The day of the Lord is this: darkness and not light.

19 It is as if a man flees from the face of a lion, only to have a bear meet him; or, he enters a house and leans with his hand against the wall, only to have a snake bite him.

20 Will not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

21 I hate and have rejected your feasts; and I will not accept the odor from your gatherings.

22 For if you offer me holocausts and your gifts, I will not receive them; and I will not look upon the vows of your fatness.

23 Take away from me the tumult of your songs, and I will not listen to the canticles of your lyre.

24 And judgment will be revealed like water, and justice like a mighty torrent.

25 Was it you who offered victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, house of Israel?

26 And you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch and the image of your idols: the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.

27 And I will cause you to go into captivity across Damascus, says the Lord. The God of hosts is his name.

Amos 6

1 Woe to you who have been wealthy in Zion, and to you who have confidence in the mountain of Samaria: aristocrats, heads of the people, who advance with a retinue into the house of Israel.

2 Cross over to Calneh and see, and go from there into Hamath the great, and descend into Gath of the Philistines, and to the best kingdoms of these, if their limits are wider than your limits.

3 You have been set aside for the day of disaster, and you approach the throne of iniquity.

4 You sleep on beds of ivory, and you are lustful on your couches. You devour lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the herd.

5 You sing to the sound of stringed instruments; they consider themselves to have the musical abilities of David.

6 You drink wine in bowls, and you anoint with the best ointments; and they suffer nothing over the grief of Joseph.

7 Because of this, now they will depart at the head of those who go into captivity; and the faction of the lustful will be removed.

8 The Lord God has sworn by his own soul, the Lord God of hosts says: I detest the arrogance of Jacob, and I hate his houses, and I will hand over the city with its inhabitants.

9 For if there were ten men remaining in one house, even they will die.

10 And his closest relative will steal him away and will burn him, so that he may carry the bones out of the house. And he will say to him that is in the inner most rooms of the house, “Now is there any left that still belongs to you?”

11 And he will answer, “It is finished.” And he will say to him, “Be silent and do not call to mind the name of the Lord.”

12 For behold, the Lord has commanded, and he will strike the greater house with catastrophes, and the lesser house with divisions.

13 Can horses gallop across rocks, or is anyone able to plough with gazelles? For you have turned judgment into bitterness and the fruit of justice into wormwood.

14 You rejoice in emptiness. You say, “Have we not, by our own strength, taken horns for ourselves?”

15 For behold, house of Israel, I will raise up a people over you, says the Lord God of hosts, and they will crush you from the entrance of Hamath all the way to the burning of the desert.

Amos 7

1 These things the Lord God has revealed to me. And behold, the locust was formed at the beginning of the germination during the latter rains, and behold, the latter rains came after the thundering of the king.

2 And it happened, when they had finally eaten all the grass in the land, that I said, “Lord God, be gracious, I beg you. Who will raise up Jacob, for he is little?”

3 The Lord has been merciful about this. “It will not be,” said the Lord.

4 These things the Lord God has revealed to me. And behold, the Lord God called for judgment unto fire, and it devoured the manifold abyss, and it consumed simultaneously in every direction.

5 And I said, “Lord God, cease, I beg you. Who will raise up Jacob, for he is little?”

6 The Lord has been merciful about this. “And even this will not be,” said the Lord God.

7 These things the Lord revealed to me. And behold, the Lord was standing near a plastered wall, and in his hand was a mason’s trowel.

8 And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A mason’s trowel.” And the Lord said, “Behold, I will place the trowel in the midst of my people Israel. I will no longer plaster over them.

9 And the heights of the idol will be demolished, and the sanctuaries of Israel will be desolate. And I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

10 And Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying: “Amos has rebelled against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to withstand all his sermons.

11 For Amos says this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will be taken captive out of their own land.’ “

12 And Amaziah said to Amos, “You, seer, go out and flee into the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there.

13 And in Bethel, do not prophesy any longer, because it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom.”

14 And Amos responded, and he said to Amasias, “I am not a prophet, and I am not the son of a prophet, but I am a herdsman plucking from wild fig trees.

15 And the Lord took me, when I was following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ “

16 And now, hear the word of the Lord: You say, “You will not prophesy about Israel, and you will not rain your words upon the house of the idol.”

17 Because of that, the Lord says this: “Your wife will fornicate in the city, and your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, and your soil will be measured with a string. And you will die on polluted land, and Israel will be taken into captivity out of their land.”

Amos 8

1 These things the Lord has revealed to me. And behold, a hook to draw down fruit.

2 And he said, “What do you see, Amos?” And I said, “A hook to draw down fruit.” And the Lord said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel. I will no longer pass through them.”

3 And the hinges of the temple will creak in that day, says the Lord God. Many will die. Silence will be thrown away in all places.

4 Hear this, you who crush the poor and who make those in need of land to do without.

5 You say, “When will the first day of the month be over, so we can sell our wares, and the sabbath, so we can open the grain: in order that we may decrease the measure, and increase the price, and substitute deceitful scales,

6 in order that we may possess the destitute with money, and the poor for a pair of shoes, and may sell even the refuse of the grain?”

7 The Lord has sworn by the arrogance of Jacob: I will not forget, even to the end, all their works.

8 Will not the earth shudder over this, and all its inhabitants mourn, and all rise up like a river, and be cast out, and flow away like the river of Egypt?

9 And it will be in that day, says the Lord God, that the sun will decline at midday, and I will cause the earth to become dark on the day of light.

10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your hymns into lamentation. And I will put sackcloth over every one of your backs, and baldness on every head. And I will begin it like the mourning for an only-begotten son, and complete it like a bitter day.

11 Behold, the days pass, says the Lord, and I will send a famine on the earth: not a famine of bread, nor of thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the Lord.

12 And they will move even from sea to sea, and from the North all the way to the East. They will wander around seeking the word of the Lord, and they will not find it.

13 In that day, beautiful virgins, and young men, will fail because of thirst.

14 They swear by the offense of Samaria, and they say, “As your God lives, Dan,” and “The way of Beer-sheba lives.” And they will fall, and they will not rise up any more.

Amos 9

1 I saw the Lord standing over an altar, and he said: “Strike the hinges, and let the lintels be shaken. For there is avarice at the head of them all, and I will execute the very last of them with the sword. There will be no escape for them. They will flee, and he who flees from among them will not be saved.

2 If they descend even to the underworld, from there my hand will draw them out; and if they ascend even to the sky, from there will I pull them down.

3 And if they were hiding at the top of Carmel, when searching there, I would steal them away, and if they conceal themselves from my eyes in the depths of the sea, I will command the serpent there and he will bite them.

4 And if they go into captivity in the sight of their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. And I will set my eyes over them for harm and not for good.”

5 And the Lord God of hosts, he touches the earth and it will melt. And all who dwell in it will mourn. And everyone will rise up like a river, and will flow away like the river of Egypt.

6 He establishes his ascension into heaven, and he has founded his bundle on the earth. He calls the waters of the ocean, and pours them over the face of the earth. The Lord is his name.

7 Sons of Israel, are you not like the sons of the Ethiopians to me, says the Lord? Did I not cause Israel to rise up out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of Cyrene?

8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinning kingdom, and I will wipe it from the face of the earth. Though truly, when destroying, I will not wipe away the house of Jacob, says the Lord.

9 For behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as wheat is sifted in a sieve. And not even one small stone will fall to the ground.

10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword. They say, “Disaster will not come near us, and it will not overcome us.”

11 In that day, I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which is fallen. And I will repair the breaches in its walls, and I will restore that which collapsed. And I will rebuild it, just as in the days of antiquity,

12 so that they may possess the remnant of Idumea and all the nations, for my name has been invoked over them, says the Lord who does this.

13 Behold, the days pass, says the Lord, and the plower will overtake the harvester, and the treader of grapes will overtake the sower of seed. And the mountains will drip sweetness, and every hill will be cultivated.

14 And I will turn back the captivity of my people Israel. And they will rebuild the deserted cities and inhabit them. And they will plant vineyards and drink their wine. And they will create gardens and eat their fruits.

15 And I will plant them on their own soil. And I will no longer root them out of their own land, which I have given them, says the Lord your God.

Joel 1

1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

2 Listen to this, elders, and pay close attention, all inhabitants of the land. Did this ever happen in your days or in the days of your fathers?

3 Talk this over with your sons, and your sons with their sons, and their sons with another generation.

4 The locust has eaten what the caterpillar has left, and the beetle has eaten what the locust has left, and the mildew has eaten what the beetle has left.

5 Rouse yourselves, you drunkards, and weep and wail, all you who delight in drinking wine; for it has been cut off from your mouth.

6 For a nation has ascended over my land: strong and without number. His teeth are like the teeth of a lion, and his molars are like that of a lion’s young.

7 He has put my vineyard into desolation, and he has pulled off the bark of my fig tree. He has stripped it bare and cast it away; its branches have become white.

8 Lament like a betrothed virgin, wrapped in sackcloth at the loss of the husband of her youth.

9 Sacrifice and libation have perished from the house of the Lord; the priests who are ministers of the Lord have mourned.

10 The region has been depopulated, the soil has mourned. For the wheat has been devastated, the wine has been disfigured, the oil has languished.

11 The farmers have been confounded, the vineyard workers have wailed over the crop and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.

12 The vineyard is in ruin, and the fig tree has languished. The pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the fruit tree, and all the trees of the field have withered. For joy has been thrown into disorder before the sons of men.

13 Priests, gird yourselves and lament. Ministers of the altars, wail. Enter, ministers of my God, lie in sackcloth. For sacrifice and libation have passed away from the house of your God.

14 Sanctify a fast, call an assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God. And cry out to the Lord:

15 “Ah, ah, ah, the day!” For the day of the Lord is near, and it will arrive, like a devastation, before the powerful.

16 Has not your nourishment perished from before your eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

17 The mules have rotted in their own manure, the barns have been demolished, the wine cellars have been destroyed, because the grain has been ruined.

18 Why have the animals groaned, the herds of cattle bellowed? because there is no pasture for them. Yes, and even the flocks of sheep have been lost.

19 To you, O Lord, I will cry out, because fire has devoured the beauty of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the countryside.

20 Yes, and even the beasts of the field have gazed up at you, like the dry ground thirsting for rain, because the fountains of waters have dried up, and fire has devoured the beauty of the wilderness.

Joel 2

1 Blow the trumpet in Zion, wail on my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land be stirred up. For the day of the Lord is on its way; for it is near:

2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and whirlwinds. Like the morning reaching over the mountains, they are a numerous and strong people. Nothing like them has existed since the beginning, nor will exist after them, even in the years of generation upon generation.

3 Before their face is a devouring fire, and behind them is a burning flame. The land before them is like a lush garden, and behind them is a desolate desert, and there is no one who can escape them.

4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and they will rush forward like horsemen.

5 Like the sound of a four-horse chariot, they will leap over the tops of the mountains. Like the sound of a burning flame devouring stubble, they are as a strong people prepared for battle.

6 Before their face, the people will be tortured; each one’s appearance will retreat, as if into a jar.

7 They will rush forward, as if they were strong. Like valiant warriors, they will ascend the wall. The men will advance, each one on his own way, and they will not turn aside from their path.

8 And each one will not hem in his brother; every one will walk in his own rough path. Moreover, they will drop through the breach and not be harmed.

9 They will advance into the city; they will rush through the wall. They will scale the houses; they will go in through the windows, like a thief.

10 Before their face, the earth has trembled, the heavens have been moved. The sun and moon have been obscured, and the stars have retracted their splendor.

11 And the Lord has bestowed his voice before the face of his army. For its military camps are very numerous; for they are strong and they carry out his word. For the day of the Lord is great and so very terrible, and who can withstand it?

12 Now, therefore, the Lord says: “Be converted to me with your whole heart, in fasting and weeping and mourning.”

13 And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and convert to the Lord your God. For he is gracious and merciful, patient and full of compassion, and steadfast despite ill will.

14 Who knows if he might convert and forgive, and bequeath a blessing after him, a sacrifice and a libation to the Lord your God?

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call an assembly.

16 Gather the people, sanctify the church, unite the elders, gather together the little ones and infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom depart from his bed, and the bride from her bridal chamber.

17 Between the vestibule and the altar, the priests, the ministers of the Lord, will weep, and they will say: “Spare, O Lord, spare your people. And do not bequeath your inheritance into disgrace, so that the nations would rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ “

18 The Lord has been zealous for his land, and he has spared his people.

19 And the Lord responded, and he said to his people: “Behold, I will send you grain and wine and oil, and you will again be filled with them. And I will no longer give you disgrace among the Gentiles.

20 And he who is from the North, I will drive far from you. And I will expel him into an impassable land, and into the desert, with his face opposite the Eastern sea, and his furthest part towards the furthest sea. And his stench will ascend, and his rottenness will ascend, because he has acted arrogantly.

21 Earth, do not be afraid. Exult and rejoice. For the Lord has great esteem for what he has done.

22 Animals of the countryside, do not be afraid. For the beauty of the wilderness has sprung forth. For the tree has borne its fruit. The fig tree and the vine have bestowed their virtue.

23 And you, sons of Zion, exult and rejoice in the Lord your God. For he has given you a teacher of justice, and he will make the early and the late rains descend to you, just as it was in the beginning.

24 And the threshing floors will be filled with grain, and the presses will overflow with wine and oil.

25 And I will repay you for the years which the locust, and the beetle, and the mildew, and the caterpillar consumed: my great strength which I sent upon you.

26 And you will eat with enjoyment, and you will be satisfied, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked miracles with you, and my people will not be confounded forever.

27 And you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and I am the Lord your God, and there is no other, and my people will not be confounded forever.

28 And after this, it will happen that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy; your elders will dream dreams, and your youths will see visions.

29 Moreover, in those days I will pour out my spirit upon my servants and handmaids.

30 And I will grant wonders in the sky and on earth: blood and fire and the vapor of smoke.

31 The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall arrive.

32 And it will happen that everyone who will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. For on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and in the remnant whom the Lord will call, there will be salvation, just as the Lord has said.

Joel 3

1 For, behold, in those days and in that time, when I will have converted the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will gather all the Gentiles, and will lead them into the valley of Jehoshaphat. And there I will dispute with them over my people, and over Israel, my inheritance, for they have scattered them among the nations and have divided my land.

3 And they have cast lots over my people; and the boy they have placed in the brothel, and the girl they have sold for wine, so that they might drink.

4 Truly, what is there between you and me, Tyre and Sidon and all the distant places of the Philistines? How will you take vengeance on me? And if you were to revenge yourselves against me, I would deliver a repayment to you, quickly and soon, upon your head.

5 For you have carried away my silver and gold. And my desirable and most beautiful, you have taken into your shrines.

6 And you, sons of Judah and sons of Jerusalem, you have sold the sons of the Greeks, so that you might drive them far from their own territory.

7 Behold, I will raise them up from the place into which you have sold them, and I will turn back your retribution on your own head.

8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a distant nation, for the Lord has spoken.

9 Proclaim this among the Gentiles: “Sanctify a war, raise up the strong. Approach, ascend, all men of war.

10 Cut your ploughs into swords and your hoes into spears. Let the weak say, ‘For I am strong.’

11 Break out and advance, all nations of the world, and gather together. There the Lord will cause all your strong ones to meet death.”

12 Let them arise and ascend to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit, so as to judge all the nations of the world.

13 Send forth the sickles, because the harvest has matured. Advance and descend, for the press is full, the pressing room is overflowing. For their malice has been increasing.

14 Nations, nations in the valley of being cut to pieces: for the day of the Lord fittingly takes place in the valley of being cut to pieces.

15 The sun and the moon have been darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their splendor.

16 And the Lord will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem. And the heavens and the earth will be moved. And the Lord will be the hope of his people and the strength of the sons of Israel.

17 And you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will not cross through it anymore.

18 And it will happen, in that day, that the mountains will drip sweetness, and the hills will flow with milk. And the waters will pass through all the rivers of Judah. And a fountain will go forth from the house of the Lord, and it will irrigate the desert of thorns.

19 Egypt will be in desolation, and Edom will be a wilderness destroyed, because of what they have unfairly done to the sons of Judah, and because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20 And Judea will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem for generation upon generation.

21 And I will cleanse their blood, which I had not cleansed. And the Lord will remain in Zion.

Hosea 1

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel.

2 The beginning of the Lord’s conversation with Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea: “Go, take to yourself a wife of fornications, and make for yourself sons of fornications, because, by fornicating, the land will fornicate away from the Lord.”

3 And he went out and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And the Lord said to him: “Call his name Jezreel because, after a little while, I will visit the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and I will put the kingdom of the house of Israel to rest.

5 And in that day, I will crush the stronghold of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”

6 And after a while, she conceived and bore a daughter. And he said to him: “Call her name, Without Mercy, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly forget them.

7 Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. And I will not save them by bow and sword and battle and horses and horsemen.”

8 And she weaned her, who was called Without Mercy. And she conceived and bore a son.

9 And he said: “Call his name, Not My People, for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.

10 And the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which is without measure and cannot be numbered. And in the place where it will be said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ this will happen: it will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’

11 And the sons of Judah, and the sons of Israel, will be gathered together. And they will place over themselves one head, and they will rise up from the earth, for great is the day of Jezreel.”