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made an ende of eating the grasse of the land, then I said; O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee, by whom shal Iacob arise? for he is small. The LORD repented for this. It shall not be, saith the LORD.

CHAPTER

VII

Thus hath the Lord GoD shewed unto me; and behold, the and of the fire, Lord GoD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great are diverted by the prayer of deepe, and did eate up a part. Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I Amos. beseech thee, by whom shal Iacob arise? for he is small. The LORD repented for this. This also shall not bee, saith the Lord GOD.

Thus hee shewed mee, and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall By the wall of made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. And the a plumb-line, is signified the LORD said unto mee, Amos, what seest thou? And I sayd, A reiection of plumb-line. Then sayd the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumb-line Israel. in the midst of my people Israel, I will not againe passe by them any more. And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the Sanctuaries of Israel shalbe laide waste: and I will rise against the house of Ieroboam with the sword.

Amos.

Then Amaziah the Priest of Beth-el sent to Ieroboam king of Amaziah comIsrael, saying; Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of plaineth of the house of Israel: the land is not able to beare all his words. For thus Amos saith, Ieroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive, out of their owne land. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou Seer, goe, flee thee away into the land of Iudah, and there eate bread, and prophecie there. But prophecie not againe any more at Beth-el: for it is the Kings Chappell, and it is the Kings Court.

Then answered Amos, and sayde to Amaziah; I was no Prophet, Amos sheweth neither was I a Prophets sonne, but I was an heardman, and a his calling, gatherer of Sycomore fruit. And the LORD tooke me as I followed the flocke, and the LORD said unto me, Goe, prophecie unto my people Israel.

Now therefore heare thou the worde of the LORD; Thou sayest, and Amaziahs Prophecie not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the judgement. house of Isaac. Therfore thus sayth the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sonnes 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 goe into captivitie foorth of his land.

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CHAPTER
VIII
By a basket of
Summer fruite,
is shewed the
propinquitie of
Israels end.

Oppression is reproved.

A famine of the word threatned.

The certeintie

of the desolation.

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CHAPTER VIII

HUS hath the Lord GoD shewed unto me, and beholde, a basket of Summer fruit. And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I sayde, A basket of Summer fruite. Then said the LORD unto mee, The ende is come upon my people of Israel; I will not againe passe by them any more. And the songs of the Temples shalbe howlings in that day, sayth the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place, they shall cast them foorth with silence.

Heare this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poore of the land to faile, saying, When will the newe Moone be gone, that we may sell corne? and the Sabbath, that wee may set forth wheat, making the Ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? that wee may buy the poore for silver, and the needie for a paire of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheate? The LORD hath sworne by the excellencie of Iacob, Surely I will never forget any of their workes. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourne that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. And it shall come to passe in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the Sunne to go downe at noone, and I will darken the earth in the cleare day. And I will turne your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation, and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loynes, and baldnesse upon every head: and I will make it as the mourning of an onely sonne, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

Behold, the daies 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. And they shall wander from Sea to Sea, and from the North even to the East they shall runne to and fro, to seeke the worde of the LORD, and shall not finde it. In that day shall the faire virgines and young men faint for thirst. They that sweare by the sinne of Samaria, and say, Thy God, O Dan, liveth, and the manner of Beer-sheba liveth, even they shall fall, and never rise up againe.

CHAPTER IX

SAW the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said, Smite the lintell of the doore, 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: hee that fleeth of them, shall not flee away, and he

IX

that escapeth of them, shall not be delivered. Though they digge CHAPTER into hell, thence shall mine hand take them: though they clime up to heaven, thence will I bring them downe. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence, and though they be hid from my sight in the bottome of the Sea, thence will I commaund the serpent, and he shall bite them. And though they goe into captivitie before their enemies, thence will I commaund the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evill, and not for good. And the Lord GOD of hostes is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwelleth therein shall mourne, and it shall rise up wholly like a flood, and shall be drowned as by the flood of Egypt. It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troupe in the earth, he that calleth for the waters of the Sea, and powreth them out upon the face of the earth: the LORD is his name. Are yee not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel, saith the LORD? have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? Behold, the eyes of the Lord GoD are upon the sinfull kingdome, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Iacob, saith the LORD. For loe, I will commaund, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corne is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least graine fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say: The evill shall not overtake nor prevent us.

the Tabernacle

In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen, The restoring of. and close up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up his ruines, of David. and I will build it as in the dayes of old; that they may possesse the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen; which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doth this. Behold, the daies come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seede, and the mountaines shall drop sweete wine, and all the hils shall melt. And I will bring againe the captivitie of my people of Israel: and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drinke the wine thereof: they shall also make gardens, and eate the fruite of them. 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.

The destruction of Edom,

for their pride,

and for their wrong unto Iacob.

OBADIAH

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HE vision of Obadiah: Thus saith the Lord GOD, concerning Edom; Wee have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen: Arise yee, and let us rise up against her in battell. Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee: thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rocke, Whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart; Who shall bring me downe to the ground? Though thou exalt thy selfe as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the starres, thence will I bring thee downe, saith the LORD. If theeves came to thee, if robbers by night (how art thou cut off?) would they not have stollen til they had enough? if the grape gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? How are the things of Esau searched out? how are his hid things sought up? All the men of thy confederacie have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee, have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee: they that eate thy bread have laide a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him. Shal I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? And thy mightie men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.

For thy violence against thy brother Iacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers caried away captive his forces, and forreiners entred into his gates, and cast lots upon Ierusalem, even thou wast as one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that hee became a stranger, neither shouldest thou have reioyced over the children of Iudah in the day of their destruction: neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distresse. Thou shouldest

not have entred into the gate of my people in the day of their calamitie: yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamitie, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamitie. Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crosse way to cut off those of his that did escape, neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remaine in the day of distresse. For the day of the LORD is neere upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall bee done unto thee, thy reward shall returne upon thine owne head. For as ye have drunke upon my holy mountaine, so shall all the heathen drinke continually: yea, they shall drinke, and they shall swallow downe, and they shall bee as though they had not bene.

But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be The salvation holinesse, and the house of Iacob shall possesse their possessions. and victory of Iacob. And the house of Iacob shall bee a fire, and the house of Ioseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them and devoure them, and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau, for the LORD hath spoken it. And they of the South shall possesse the mount of Esau, and they of the plaine, the Philistines and they shall possesse the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria, and Beniamin shall possesse Gilead. And the captivitie of this hoste of the children of Israel shall possesse that of the Canaanites even unto Zarephath, and the captivitie of Ierusalem which is in Sepharad, shall possesse the cities of the South. And Saviours shall come up on mount Zion to iudge the mount of Esau, and the kingdome shall be the LORDS.

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