VI. 14. But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD, the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness.

But, behold, I will raise up against you, O house of Israel, a mighty nation, even that of Assyria; and they shall plague you, even from the one end of your country to the other; from Hamath, which is in the borders of the north, to Sihor the river of the wilderness, to the south.

VII. 1. Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me; and, behold he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.

Thus hath the Lord God shewed me the judgment, which he is about to bring upon the land; even that extreme famine, which he shall cause, through the abundance of locusts and other noisome worms, which he will send upon the earth: early therefore in the shooting up of the grass, after the first mowing thereof for the king's use, which is wont to be sooner than the common mathe, he formed store of those hurtful vermin, and sent them upon the land.

VII. 2. Then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee : by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.

Then I, seeing the proceedings of this famine, said, O Lord God, forgive us I beseech thee: if thou go on thus to plague us, who shall be left alive, to continue the name and generation of thy people? For even now, as it is, the number of thy people is but small.

VII. 3. The LORD repented for this; it shall not be, saith the LORD.

The Lord thereupon ceased from this plague; and, did, as it were, say, No; it shall not proceed; Israel shall not be quite wasted.

VII. 4. Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me : and, behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.

The Lord God foreshewed me the judgment that he meant to bring upon Israel, by the sword of Tigleth Pileser, king of Assyria ; represented by a fire, which should devour up the deep, and did eat up a part; signifying, that the fury and force of this king of Asshur should utterly swallow up the kingdom of Syria first, and afterwards that part of Israel which is beyond Jordan.

VII. 8. Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more.

As I have built up Israel by line and level, so will I also now make an exquisite destruction of it, and will lay it level

with the ground; and I will not any more pardon and pass by their wickednesses.

VII. 10. Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.

Amos hath conspired against thee in Beth-el, where is the greatest confluence of thy subjects. The words of his prophecy are intolerable; for he dishearteneth the people, and works in them a mean and dishonourable opinion of thy government, and despair of their own safety.

VII. 12. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there :

And Amaziah said to Amos, What makest thou here, O thou prophet, out of thine own country: go thy ways home: take this friendly and private counsel from me; retire home closely to thy own country of Judah, and there maintain thyself, and there bestow thy pains and admonitions :

VII. 13. But prophesy not again any more at Beth-el : for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court.

But venture not any more to vent thy prophecies in Beth-el; for thou knowest the condition of this place: it is both the king's sanctuary, for his devotion; and the king's court, for state: meddle not any more with prophesying here, lest thou provoke the king's anger against thee.

VII. 14. Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.

I was no prophet by my breeding and institution: I never was trained up to any such vocation; but was by my profession a herdman, and spent my time amongst my cattle; and, in that solitary life, contented myself with such wild diet, as the sycamores did afford me.

VII. 15. And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

And even then, when I little thought of any such matter, it pleased the Lord to take me from that homely employment, and enjoined me this task of prophesying.

VII. 16. And drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.

Do not let fall the menaces of judgment upon the chosen people of God.

VII. 17. Therefore thus saith the LORD, fc. Thou shalt die in a polluted land.

Because thou hast forbidden me to prophecy, thus saith the Lord, &c. Thou shalt die in the land of Assyria, which is polluted by detestable idolatries.

VIII, 2. And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon my people I will not again pass by them any more. And I said, A basket of summer fruit.

Then salu unto me, I have heretofore gathered and plucked on thy fruits, that is thy people; but now I come to t basket, to gather all that grows upon Israel; and w... an end of this gathering, that there shall be no ili's kind left for hereafter.

VIII. 3. And the songs of the temples shall be the day, saith the Lord God.

Instead of the songs and music of the temples and other high places, there shall be nothing but ! shriekings of those that are slain.

VIII. 5. Saying, When will the new moon be may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set making the ephah small, and the shekel great, aí. the balances by deceit?

Saying, When shall we have done with these wherein we are not allowed to buy and sell? these new moons and sabbaths were once past, ti. sell our corn at a high rate; making the measure small, and the weights, wherein the silver is wi and heavy; and falsifying the balances by deceit.

VIII. 6. That we may buy the poor for silver, i for a pair of shoes; and sell the refuse of the wire

That we may cause the poor to sell themselves vitude, for a little silver, as being not able to selves; and that we may buy the needy for a 1 even for the basest necessaries: yea, and that, li. we may put off, at an unreasonable rate, the is offal of the wheat.

VIII. 8. And it shall rise up wholly as a floor, be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Eg!!!

And the judgment of God shall rise up, and land, as a flood; and the whole country shall }, ạnd drowned therewith, as the plains are wont inundations of the river Nilus.

VIII. 9. And it shall come to pass in that a Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go

down to will darken the earth in the clear day.

Your sorrow shall be so extreme in that des shall be to you so black and gloomy, as if they down at noon-day, and as if darkness had cover, the clearest day.

VIII. 10. And I will make it as the mourn

son.

Such a mourning will I cause amongst you, a ther mourns for her only son.

may

the Lord unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.

And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, I have heretofore gathered and plucked off some of thy fruits, that is thy people; but now I come to thee, with a basket, to gather all that grows upon Israel; and will so make an end of this gathering, that there shall be no more of this kind left for hereafter.

VIII. 3. And the songs of the temples shall be howlings in the day, saith the Lord God.

Instead of the songs and music of the temples of Beth-el, and other high places, there shall be nothing but howlings and shriekings of those that are slain. VIII. 5. Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we

.

sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?

Saying, When shall we have done with these solemn feasts, wherein we are not allowed to buy and sell? Would to God, these new moons and sabbaths were once past, that we might sell our corn at a high rate; making the measure of the wheat small, and the weights, wherein the silver is weighed, great and heavy; and falsifying the balances by deceit.

VIII. 6. That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and sell the refuse of the wheat?

That we may cause the poor to sell themselves to our servitude, for a little silver, as being not able to sustain themselves; and that we may buy the needy for a pair of shoes, even for the basest necessaries: yea, and that, by this means, we may put off, at an unreasonable rate, the very refuse and offal of the wheat.

VIII. 8. And it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.

And the judgment of God shall rise up, and overflow the land, as a flood; and the whole country shall be overspread and drowned therewith, as the plains are wont to be by the inundations of the river Nilus.

VIII. 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.

Your sorrow shall be so extreme in that day, and that day shall be to you so black and gloomy, as if the sun were gone down at noon-day, and as if darkness had covered the earth in the clearest day.

VIII. 10. And I will make it as the mourning of an only son.

Such a mourning will I cause amongst you, as when a mother mourns for her only son.

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