ETHICS OF THE PROPHETS.

AMOS.

From 800-778, B. C. E.

I.

The sins of Judah and Israel.

1. The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa, which he prophesied 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. (Chap. 1; 1.)

2.

THUS saith the LORD: For three transgressions of Judah, And for four, will I not turn away their punishment;

For they have despised the law of God,

And have not kept his statutes,

And their idols have caused them to err,

After which their fathers walked.

3. But I will send a fire upon Judah,

4.

Which shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

Thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of Israel,

And for four, will I not turn away their punishment.

For they sell the righteous for silver,

And the needy for a pair of shoes.

5. And pervert the cause of the afflicted.

They lay themselves down upon pledged garments
Near every altar; and drink wine procured by fines,
In the house of their gods.

6.

Yet I destroyed the Amorites before them,

Who were tall as the cedars, and strong as the oaks.
I destroyed their fruit above, and their roots beneath.
7. I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
And led you in the desert forty years,

That ye might possess the land of the Amorite. 8. Of your sons also I raised up prophets,

And of your young men Nazarites;

Is it not even so, O ye sons of Israel? saith the LORD. 9. But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink,

10.

And commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not!

(Chap. II: 4-12.)

Hear these words, which the LORD speaketh against you, ye
sons of Israel;

Against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of
Egypt!

11. You only have I known of all the families of the earth;
Therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities.
12. Can two walk together, unless they agree together?
13. Shall a trumpet be blown in the city,

14.

And the people not be afraid?

Shall there be an evil upon a city,

And the LORD not have done it?

Proclaim

ye, in the palaces in Ashdod,

And in the palaces in the land of Egypt,

And say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria!
Behold the great tumults in the midst of her,

And the oppressions within her!

15. For they have no care to do right, saith the LORD;

They treasure up rapine and robbery in their palaces.

16. Therefore thus saith the Lord Eternal:

An enemy shall encompass the land,

And shall bring down thy strength from thee,

And thy palaces shall be plundered.

(Chap. III; 1-3, 6, 9-11.)

17. Therefore thus will I deal with thee, O Israel!
Yet since I will thus deal with thee,
Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel!

(Chap. IV; 12.)

II.

Admonition to return to God. The preacher of repentance is hated. Worthlessness of feasts and sacrifices without a righteous

1.

life. Woes denounced against the luxurious

and oppressive aristocracy of Israel.

THUS saith the LORD to the house of Israel :
ye me, and ye shall live!

Seek

2. Ye who turn justice into wormwood,

And cast righteousness down to the ground.

3. Seek him, that made the Pleiads and Orion ; That changeth death-like darkness into morning, And darkeneth day into night;

That calleth up the waters of the sea,

And poureth them out upon the face of the earth;
The LORD is his name!

4. Who sendeth sudden destruction upon the strong,
And bringeth desolation upon the fortress.
5. They hate him that pleadeth in the gate,
And abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
6. Since, then, ye trample upon the poor,
And take from him presents of wheat,

Though ye

build houses of hewn stone, ye shall not dwell in them; Though ye plant pleasant vineyards ye shall not drink their wine; 7. For I know that your sins are many,

And your transgressions manifold;

Ye who afflict the righteous, and take a bribe,

And

oppress the poor in the gate!

8. Therefore the wise man shall be silent at that time, For it shall be an evil time.

9. Seek ye good, and not evil, that ye may live;

Then shall the LORD, the God of hosts, be with you, as ye boast. 10. Hate ye evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will have pity upon the remnant of Joseph.

It

may

11. "I hate, I despise your feasts;

I have no delight in your solemn assemblies.

12. When ye offer me burnt-offerings and flour-offerings,

I will not accept them;

And upon the thank-offerings of your fatlings I will not look. 13. Take ye away from me the noise of your songs,

And the music of your harps let me not hear!

14. Let justice flow forth as waters,

And righteousness as a mighty stream!"

(Chap. V; 4, 7-15, 21-24.)

15.

Woe to them that dwell at ease in Zion;
That feel secure upon the mountain of Samaria;
The honorable men of the chief of the nations,

To whom the house of Israel resort!

16. Pass over to Calneh, and see; and thence go to great Hamath; Then go down to Gath of the Philistines:

Are they better than these kingdoms,

Or is their border greater than your border?

17. Woe to them, that put far away the day of evil,

And bring near the seat of oppression;

18. That lie upon beds of ivory,

And stretch themselves upon their couches;

That eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall; 19. That chant to the sound of the harp,

And invent for themselves instruments of music, like David; 20. That drink wine in bowls,

And anoint themselves with the most precious perfumes,

But grieve not for the destruction of Joseph!

21. Therefore now shall they go captive at the head of the captives;

22.

Yea, the shouting of them that stretch themselves upon their couches shall cease.

Shall horses run up rocks, or will one plough rocks with oxen, That ye change justice into hemlock,

And the fruit of equity into wormwood,

Ye that rejoice in a thing of naught,

And say, have we not acquired domimion by our own strength? 23. Behold, O house of Israel, saith the LORD, the God of hosts, I will raise against you a nation that shall oppress you, From Hamath even to the brook of the desert.

(Chap. VI; 1, 3-7, 12-14.)

III.

Amos is ordered to depart from the kingdom of Israel. Answer of the prophet. Israel ripe for destruction. The spiritual famine.

1.

THEN sent Amaziah, the priest of Bethel,

To Jeroboam, the king of Israel, and said:

Amos conspireth against thee in the midst of the house of
Israel:

The land is not able to bear all his words.

2. For thus hath Amos said: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, And Israel shall surely be led captive from their own land.

3.

And Amaziah said to Amos,

Go, thou seer! flee into the land of Judah!

There eat thy bread, and there prophesy !

4. But prophesy no more at Bethel.

5.

For it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the king's abode.
Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah :

I was no prophet, nor the son of a prophet;

I was a shepherd and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.

6. And the LORD took me from the flock;

And the LORD said to me, Go prophesy to my people Israel ! 7. Now, therefore, hear the word of the LORD:

Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel,

And speak no word against the house of Isaac !

8. Therefore thus saith the LORD:

Thy land shall be divided by the line,

And thou shalt die in a polluted land,

And Israel shall surely be led captive from his own land. !

9. The Lord Eternal showed me this vision :

Behold a basket of ripe fruits!

10. And he said, Amos, what seest thou?

And I said a basket of ripe fruits.

(Chap. VII; 10-17.)

Then said the LORD to me, the destruction of my people Israel

is ripe ;

I will not spare them any more.

11. The songs of the palace shall be shrieks in that day,

12.

Saith the Lord Eternal.

There shall be many dead bodies in every place,

And they shall be cast forth in silence.

Hear this, ye that pant to oppress the needy,

And to destroy the poor of the land.

13. That say, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell

corn,

And the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat,

14. Making the ephah small, and the shekel heavy,
And falsifying the balances for deceit,

That we may buy the poor for silver,
And the needy for a pair of shoes,
And sell the refuse of the wheat?

15. The LORD hath sworn by the glory of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
Shall not the land tremble for this,