by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and A.C. 784. thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land. AMOS VIII. 1 By a basket of summer fruit is shewed the propinquity of Israel's end. 4 Oppression is reproved. 11 A famine of the word threatened. 1 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is.come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. howl. 3 And the songs of the temple * shall be howlings in Heb. shall that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with + Heb. be si silence. 4¶ Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, tent. 5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we tor, month. may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may § set forth ◊ Heb. open. wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit ? || Heb. perverting the ba 6 That we may buy the poor for a silver, and the needy lances of defor a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? 7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. 8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn 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. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: 10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. 11 Behold, the days 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: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. 13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. ceit. a ch. ii. 6. A. C. 784. or, knop. 14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again. AMOS IX. 1 The certainty of the desolation, 11 The restoring of the tabernacle of David. 1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, *Or, chapiter, Smite the * lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: Or, wound and + cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. them. b Ps. cxxxix. 8, &c. 2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: 3 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 bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: 4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: c Jer. xliv. 11. and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. +Or, spheres. Heb. ascensions. с 5 And the Lord GoD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 6 It is he that buildeth his + § stories in the heaven, and hath founded his || troop in the earth; he that calleth for Or, bundle. the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name. d Ps. civ. 3, 13. e ch. v. 8. 7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought f Jer. xlvii. 4. up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? * Heb. cause to move. 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GoD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. 9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet + Heb. stone. shall not the least + grain fall upon the earth. g Acts xv. 16. 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. 11 ¶ & In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I A.C. 784. will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: * Heb. hedge, or, wall. 12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the +Heb. upon LORD that doeth this. 14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 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. 2 KINGS XIV. VER. 29. 29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead. SECTION VI. Interregnum after the Death of Jeroboam the Second. HOSEA IV 24. 1 God's judgments against the sins of the people, 6 and of the priests, 12 and against their idolatry. 15 Judah is exhorted to take warning by Israel's calamity. i whom my name is called. t Heb. draw eth forth. wr, new wine. 776. 1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the i Mic. vi. 2. land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. 2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and | blood toucheth || Heb. bloods. blood. *The fourth chapter of Hosea contains a description of the violence, ido latry, and disorder, which existed in Israel during the interregnum between the death of Jeroboam and the accession of Zachariah. A civil war raged in the country, and a general and increasing corruption of manners characterized the apostate tribes. The chapter is inserted here on the joint authorities of D.. Wells and Taylor. A. C. 776. 3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. 4 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. 5 Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet * Heb. cut qf. also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will * destroy thy + Heb. cut off. + Heb. lift up their soul to mother. 6 ¶ My people are † destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. 7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame. 8 They eat up the sin of my people, and they ‡ set their their iniquity. heart on their iniquity. k k Is. xxiv. 2. 9 And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I Heb. visit will punish them for their ways, and || reward them their doings. upon. II Heb. cause to return. not, &c. 10 For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD. 11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart. 12 ¶ My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. 13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. * Or, Shall I 14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery : for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall + fall. + Or, be pu nished. 15¶Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up 11 Kings xii. to Beth-aven, nor swear, The LORD liveth. 29. 16 For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place. 17 Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. 18 Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom A. C. 776. continually her + rulers with shame do love, Give ye. *Heb. is gone. 19 The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they + Heb. shields. shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. SECTION VII. Reign of Zachariah. 2 KINGS XV. VER. 8-13. 8¶ In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months. 9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 10 And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead. 11 And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. m 773. 12 This was the word of the LORD which he spake unto m ch. x. 30. Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass. 13 SECTION VIII. Reign of Shallum. 2 KINGS XV. VER. 13—16. Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of " Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria. n 772. Matt. 1.8, 9, called Ozias, and ver. 1, Azariah. Heb. a 14 For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh month of days. in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead. 15 And the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspi racy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. SECTION IX. Reign of Menahem. 2 KINGS XV. ver. 16—23. 16¶Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that were therein, and the coasts thereof from Tirzah: because they |