Paraphrase of the Hard Texts of Scripture, Scripture 26
AMOS.
CAP. I.
1 The words of Amos, who was among the heard-men of Tekoah, which he saw concerning Israel in the dayes of Vzziah King of Iudah, and in the dayes of Ieroboam the Sonne of Ioash King of Israel, two yeare before the earthquake.THE words of Amos, who was one of the heard-men of Tekoah in the land of Judah, which hee received from God, concerning the ten tribes of Israel especially; in the dayes of Vzziah King of Judah (who was noted for his presumption in daring to offer incense in the Temple,) and in the dayes Jeroboam the son of Joash King of Israel; two yeares before that famous earth quake which fell out in the dayes of Vzziah.
2 And he said, the Lord wil roare from Sion, and utter his voice from Ierusalem, and the habitations of the Shepheard shall mourne, and the top of Carmel shall wither.And he said; The Lord, who hath hitherto kept himselfe silent, and exercised his patient long suffering, shall now shew himselfe terrible to the world; his judgements shall no lesse affright the people, then the roaring of a Lyon shal terrifie the beasts of the field; so as his drought shall scorch the pastures, & cause the fruitfullest grounds to wither.
3 Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Damascus, and for foure I will not turne away the punishment thereof, because they have threshed Gilead, with threshing instruments of yron.Thus saith the Lord, for the manifold trasgressions of Damascus I will surely punish that wicked city and people; because they have grievously oppressed Israel, and especially the nearest border thereof, which is Gilead.
4 But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael which shall devoure the palaces of Benhadad.But I will send a destruction upon the house of Hazael, the King thereof; which shall not rest in his person, but shal wast and devoure the palaces of his sonne Benhadad; and this will I cause to be done by the hands of the King of Assyria.
By whose power I will breake downe the forts of Damascus,5 I will breake also the barre of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plaine of Aven, and him that holdeth the scepter frō the house of Eden, and the people of Syria shall goe into captivitie unto Kir, saith the Lord. and cut off the inhabitants of the borders of Syria; and slay Rezin their King, from his palace of pleasure; and the people of Syria shall goe into captivity into Kir.
as 2 Kings 16.
For the many & great offences of the Philistims,6 Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Gaza, and for foure I will not turne away the punishment thereof: because they caried away captive the whole captivitie, to deliver them up to Edom. & particularly, of their city Gaza, I wil be sure to inflict punshment upon them; because they carried away my people into an absolute and remedilesse captivity to the Edomites.
I will therefore plague them accordingly;7 But I will send a fire on the wall of the Gaza. for I will send the sword, and the fire of the enemie upon all the land of the Philistims, and specially, upon the walls of Gaza, &c.
And I will cut off the inhabitants of all the severall cities thereof;8 And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turne mine hand against Ekron, & the remnant of the Philistimes shal perish, saith the Lord God. and the King of that people will I cut-off from his royall palace, and I will set my selfe against all the strong holds; and shall utterly extinguish the remainder of the Philistins, saith the Lord.
And remembred not that friendly league,9 And remembred not the brotherly covenant. and covenant, that was betwixt Hiram their King, and Salomon.
Because he hath beene ever too forward to pursue the posterity of Jacob (brother to their ancestor Esau) in an hostile fashion; without all pitty;11 Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Edom, and for foure, I will not turne away the punishment thereof, because hee did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pitty, and his anger did teare perpetually, and kept his wrath. and would not admit of any reconciliation, but hath still raged incessantly against those of his owne blood.
But I will send Nebuchadnezzar into his country, to waste and spoile it,12 But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devoure the palaces of Bozrah. who shall destroy the city and region of Teman, and raze the palaces of Bozra.
Because they used extreme cruelty towards Israel,13 Because they have ript up the women with child of Gilead that they might enlarge their border ripping up the women with child; that there might bee no posterity left of them, to inherit those parts, which they had now taken in, to inlarge their owne borders.
But I will bring upon them Nebuchadnezzar,14 But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devoure the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battell, with a tempest in the day of the whirlewinde. who shall invade their countrey, and set a fire on their chiefe city Rabbah; and shall come upon them with great fiercenesse and fury, like a tempestuous whirle-winde, and shall vtterly destroy all before him.
CAP. II.
1 Because he burnt the bones of the King of Edom into lime.BEcause he so hated the Jsraelites, as that whē the Edomites joyned thēselves to the ayd of Israel; Moab, for extrem despight therof burnt the very bones of the King of Edoms sonne to ashes, in way of sacrifice to his gods.
2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devoure the palaces of Kerioth, and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of a trumpet.There I will send Nebuchadnezzar, as a fire upon Moab; which shall utterly destroy the chiefe city Kerioth; and Moab shall die in much horror in the midst of the tumults, and shrickes of warre.
For that upon every base, and worthlesse bribe, they have yeelded so farre to bee corrupted,6 Because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poore for a paire of shooes. as to sell justice, and to betray innocence, and to undoe the poore, and helpesse.
All their desire is after this unprofitable dust of the earth,7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poore, and turne aside the way of the meeke, and a man and his father will goe into the same maide, to prophane my holy Name. silver and gold; which they eagerly affect to gaine, even by trāpling on the heads of the poore; & those that are meeke spirited doe they tyrannize over, and proudly oppresse; and so are they given over to their filthy and incestuous lust, as that the father, and the sonne shame not to defile themselves with one and the same strumpet, to the great profanation & dishonor of my Name, which they have professed.
8 And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge upon every altar, and they drinke the wine of the condemned in the house of their God.In their feasts, which they make to their Idols, they lay themselves downe upon the carpets, which are laid to pawne for the neede of their bretheren; wherein their Idolatry is not lesse odious, then their cruelty; for thus doe they before every altar; and in the same feasts, they drinke that wine, which is bought with the fines, and mulcts of those, whom they have unjustly condemned; even in the house of their Idols.
9 Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the Cedars, and he was strong as the oakes, yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his rootes from beneath.Yet I had deserved better things of them; for I destroyed the Amorites before them; which were tall and mighty Gyants; above the ordinarie proportion of strength, or stature; yet I utterly rooted them out, for the sake of my people, and left no remnant of that race for their annoyance.
But ye, contrary to my law, gave the Nazarites wine to drinke,12 But yee gave the Nazarites wine to drinke, and commanded the Prophets, saying, Prophesie not that ye might corrupt them, and injoyned silence to my Prophets, whom I sent to tell you of your sinnes, and my judgments.
Behold I am even over-laid with your wickednes, it is with me as with a cart that is over-pressed with a loade of sheaves,13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a Cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. which goes heavily, and is ready to breake under the burden.
CAP. III.
YOu onelyonly have I chosen out from all other nations for my peculiar people,2 You onelyonly have I knowne of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for al your iniquities. and have bestowed much cost and care upon you; therefore, since you have abused my mercies, and rebelled against me, yee shall be sure to be punished.
Ye did walke holily with me,3 Can two walke together, except they bee agreed. and then I walked gratiously with you; but now since we are falne out by reason of your great iniquities, it is not to be expected, we should hold together any longer, in those faire correspondences which were betweene us.
Will the Lyon roare in the forest when he hath no prey? or the young Lyon in his den,4 Will a Lyon roare in the forrest, when he hath no pray? will a young Lyon cry out of his den, if hee have taken nothing? when he hath taken nothing? No more will the Lord denounce, or inflict his fearefull judgements upon a people, but where there is just matter of their sinnes, to be avenged.
Ye are as the bird, Gods judgements are as the gin,5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth where no ginne is for him, shall one take up a snare from the earth, and having taken nothing at all? or snare; yee can not fall into the snare, or gin of my judgements, if your sinnes had not cast you thereinto; the snare is not wont to be taken up, if it have caught nothing; neither shall the judgements bee removed till they have effected that which they were sent for.
Shal a Trumpet be blowne in the city,6 Shall a trumpet bee blowne in the citie, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evill in a citie, and the Lord hath not done it? to summon the inhabitants to the walls, when as the people find no cause of the feare of an enemie? no more would God by his Prophets denounce these imminent judgments, if there were not just cause to expect, and feare their speedy execution; and who shall, or can execute them, but the just and powerfull hand of God? can there be any evill of punishment in the city, yea in the world, which is not of his sending, his inflicting?
The Lord, like a dreadfull and strong Lyon,8 The Lyon hath roared, who will not feare? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophecie? hath roared out these menaces of judgements, who can choose but feare? The Lord hath committed his word of reproofe and threatning to his Prophets; who can then hold his peace, and forbeare to publish it?
Yee, O my Prophets,9 Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Aegypt, and say, Assemble your selves upō the mountaines of Samaria, and behold the great trumpets in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof. publish this in the very palaces of the Philistims, and of the Aegyptians; and call to those heathenish nations, to bee witnesses, and judges of the hainous sinnes of my people; wish them to assemble themselves into the midst of Israel, and to take view of the great oppressions, and tumultuous disorders that are amongst them.
10 Who store up violence, and robbery in their palaces.Who store up in their houses those treasures which they have gotten together by rapine, and violence.
11 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, An adversary there shall be, even round about the land.Therefore, thus saith the Lord; A mighty adversary, even the Assyrian shall come and invade thy land, and shall spoyle and waste it round about, &c.
As the shepheard, when a Lyon hath beene devouring amongst his flocke,12 Thus saith the Lord, as the shepheard taketh out of the mouth of the Lyon two legges, or a piece of an eare, so shall the children of Israel be taken out, that dwell in Samaria in the corners of a bed and in Damascus in a couch. findes left some mangled remnants of a leg, or an eare, which hee carries home, to shew the spoyle that hath beene done by that fierce beast, so shall it be with Israel; of all the body of Samaria, there shall be some one, or two left undevoured, for proofe of that generall slaughter & captivitie; & those two perhaps sick and feeble persons; which were not able to stirre out of their beds, or couches; and thus shall it be both with Samaria, and Damascus.
14 That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel, and the hornes of the altar shall bee cut off, and fall to the ground.In the day that I shall punish Israel, and call him to account for his many sinnes, I will reckon with him for his Idolatries in Dan, and Bethel; and for those altars which he hath erected there; and will cause those mis-erected altars to be beaten downe to the ground.
15 And I will smite the winter house, with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shal perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the Lord.And the stately houses of their Kings; both their warme winter houses, and their pleasant summer houses, and their curious and beautifull houses of Ivory shall be utterly demolished, and perish.
CAP. IV.
1 Heare this word, yee kine of Bashan, that are in the mountaine of Samaria, which oppresse the poore, which crush the needy, which say to your masters; bring and let us drinke.HEare this, O ye great, and rich men of Samaria that feed full & carelesly, like the Kine in the fat pastures of Bashan; yee who oppresse the poore, and crush the needy, and say to your princes and Judges, set deepe fines, and condemne freely, that we may feast upon the offences of the people.
That he will by the power of the Assyrian snatch you away,2 That he wil take you away with hookes, and your posterity with fish-hookes. out of your country, as the fish is caught up out of the water, by the hooke of the angler.
And yee shall goe forth of your cities, (as an heard of cattell out of a close; every cow through that gappe of the hedge which lies before her;3 And ye shall goe out at the breaches, ever cow at that which is before her, and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the Lord.) so shall ye passe through the next breaches which are made in your walls, and shall cast away whatsoever is deare and precious to you in your forsaken palaces.
4 Come to Bethel and transgresse, at Gilgal multiplie transgression, and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three yeares.Go ye up now, O ye foolish Israelites, to your Bethel, if you please, and sinne your fill; goe up to Gilgal, and glut your selves with the full scope of your iniquities; bring those your morning sacrifices (which are due unto God) bring and offer them to your Idolls; and, that which the law of God requires of you, for the maintenance of his Levites, (viz. to lay aside the tithes every third yeare for sacred use) doe ye that to the priests of your Idolls.
So also verse 5.
Also, I have desired to reclaime you by afflictions,6 And I also have given you cleannesse of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have yee not returned unto me, saith the Lord. and therefore have sent want and scarcity amongst you, in all your cities, &c.
I have sent unto you a very noisome and deadly pestilence; such a one as I sent upon the land of Aegypt,10 I have sent among you the pestilence, after the manner of Aegypt. &c.
I have overthrowne some of your cities by the fire of the Assyrians,11 I have overthrowne some of you, as God overthrew Sodome and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand pluckt out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. as Sodome and Gomorrah were destroyed with fire from heaven, and ye of Samaria were left out of the common destruction, as a brand taken out of the fire; yet all this hath not moved you to returne unto me, saith the Lord.
Therefore since thou hast sleighted all these judgements, and mercies, I am resolved to execute upon thee the severest of all my vengeances;12 Therefore thus wil I doe unto thee, O Israel: and because I will doe this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. and since thou hearest I have taken up this determination to proceed against thee, therefore prepare thy selfe, O Israel, to meet thy God, with unfained humiliation and repentance.
For well thou knowest, it is no hoping to resist the power of the Almighty;13 For loe, he that formeth the mountaines, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man, what is his thought, that maketh the morning darknesse, & treadeth upon the high places of the earth: the Lord the God of hosts is his name. it is he that formeth the mountaines, and infuseth the spirit into man, and knoweth, and declareth the thoughts of mans heart before he conceives them; it is he that can cloud the brightest day at pleasure; and can bring downe the highest and strongest fortifications upon earth; he is the Lord of hosts, all things are at his command.
CAP. V.
THat Israelitish common-wealth which was as a virgin untouched,2 The virgin of Israel is fallen, she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land, there is none to raise her up. is now falne under the yoake of bondage; and so falne, as that she shall no more rise; so is she forsaken, as that there is none to raise her up againe.
For so few shall be left alive, after the hard,3 The city that went out by a thousand, shall leave an hundred. and long sieges of the Assyrians, that in those cities of Israel, whereout a thousand able men had wont to goe forth to war, there now shall be left but an hundred, &c.
5 But seeke not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and passe not to Beersheba.But goe not up to the calves of Bethel, nor to the high places, and Idolatrous altars of Gilgal, and Beersheba; for, &c.
6 Lest hee breake out like fire in the house of Ioseph.Lest he send the enemy upon you, which like a consuming fire shall devoure the royall tribe of Ephraim, the posterity of Joseph, &c.
7 Ye who turne judgement to wormewood.Ye, who corrupt judgement, and make it grievous, and hatefull to my people, &c.
8 Seeke him that maketh the seven starres and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day darke with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and powreth them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord is his name.Seeke yee him who maketh the great frame of the heaven, and all the glorious starres therein, who turneth the blackest night into a cleare morning, and causeth the brightest day to end in a darke night; who causeth the waters of the sea to over-swell their bankes, and to drowne the face of the earth; the Lord is his name.
They hate him that judgeth uprightly, and that doth freely and unpartially rebuke the wicked man upon the bench of justice;10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhorre him that speaketh uprightly. and they abhorre him that speaketh justly.
Forasmuch therefore, as ye doe grievously oppresse the poore;11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poore, and ye take frō him burdens of wheat, yee have built houses of hewen stone, but yee shall not dwell in them. and extort from him costly gifts; howsoever ye have by your bribes, and exactions, built unto your selves houses of hewen stone, yet yee shall not dwell in them, &c.
Therefore those that are prudent, when they shall see these fore-told calamities to fall upon Israel, shall lay their hands upon their mouthes, in an humble silence, and acknowledge the justice of God in these events;13 Therefore the prudent shall keepe silence in that time, for it is an evill time. for the times shall be very grievous and miserable.
Wherefore, that ye may avoid these plagues, frame your selves to all holy,14 Seeke good and not evill, that ye may live. and good waies, and avoid those wicked courses of the rest of Israel; so shall yee live, &c.
16 And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation, to wailing.And husbandmen shall have their part in the common sorrow, for so much as their corne shall bee wasted and devoured, and those, whose trade and practice is to make common lamentation, shall now mourne in earnest, without an hyre.
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darknesse, and not light.Woe to those amongst you that mock at the tidings of this sad day of the Lord, and scornfully aske why it doth not come; and when it will come; they shall finde that it will come, smally to their comfort; they shall finde it is not a day for mirth, or pleasure, but for heavinesse and sorrow.
19 As if a man did flee from a lyon, and a beare met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a Serpent bitte him.It shall be with you, as with a man, who flying from a Lyon, meets in his way, with a Beare; and, to escape both, flyes into an house; and laying his hand upon the wall, to get over, is bitten by a Serpent; so shall you shunning one danger, fall into another.
Doe not thinke to please mee with the musicall harmonie of your formall devotions; whiles I heare,23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs. and abhorre the discordous noise of your sins, &c.
No,24 But let judgment runne downe as waters, and righteousnesse as a mightie streame. notwithstanding all these your outward services I will cause my judgements to gush out upon you as waters; and my righteous vengeance as a mighty streame shall beare you over.
Have ye not whole fourty yeares together,25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wildernesse fourtie yeares, O house of Israel? in the wildernesse, bewrayed your aversenesse from me, and your inclination to Idolatrie, was it to me, that in this while ye offered your sacrifices; O ye house of Israel?
No,26 But yee have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your Images, the starre of your god, which yee made to your selves. howsoever ye pretended to beare my Tabernacle, yet indeed ye did your services and oblations to your god Moloch, and the other images of those planetary gods, whom ye worshipped.
CAP. VI.
WOe to those that live securely,1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountaine of Samaria, which are named chiefe of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came. and pleasurably in Zion, and that trust to the impregnable situation of the citie of Samaria, the mountaines whereof are held the strongest forts of that nation, whereto the house of Israel resorts.
Look ye unto the most famous and best traded cities,2 Passe ye unto Calneh, and see, and from thence goe yee to Hemath the great, then goe downe to Gath, of the Philistims. Be they better thē these kingdomes, or their border greater then your border? and countries round about you; looke to Calneh that wealthy citie of Assyria; looke to the great citie Antiochia, then take view of Gath the well-knowne citie of the Philistims, and compare your blessings with theirs; and tell me whether these kingdomes be richer, and stronger, and larger then yours; yet these shall ye shortly see brought downe.
Yet ye are carelesse, and confident,3 Ye that put farre away the evill day, and cause the seate of violence to come neere. and put away from you all feare of danger; and thereupon grow outragious, and cruell; in so much as ye strike into others a feare of your violence, and oppression.
Ye give up your selves to pride, and ease,4 That lie upon beds of yvory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eate the lambes out of the flocke, and the calves out of the midst of the stal. and delicacie: stretching your selves upon your soft couches, and beds of yvorie, and pamper your selves with the daintiest fare.
They make themselves merry with the most pleasant musicke;5 That chaunt to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musicke, like David: and devise instruments of melodie for their vaine and wanton mirth, such as David invented for the praising and cheerfull service of God.
They let themselves loose to all intemperance and carnall pleasure, powring in wine out of their large bowles and anointing themselves with the most precious,6 That drinke wine in bowles, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Ioseph. and fragrant ointments; but in the meane time, they are not sensible of the miserable condition of Gods wrongfully oppressed servants.
7 Therefore now shall they goe captive, with the first that goe captive, & the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall bee removed.Therefore, since ye are the prime offenders, and (as it were) leaders of these sinnes, ye shall bee the first in the punishment thereof, even in that wofull captivity, which shall shortly insue; and then there shall be an end of these your riotous and wanton pleasures.
8 I abhorre the excellencie of Iacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the citie, with all that is therein.I abhorre this proud excesse of my people of Israel, and hate those their palaces, which they have built in blood, and oppression, and therefore I will deliver up Samaria, and all that is therein to the hands of the Assyrians.
10 And a mans uncle shall take him up, and hee that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house; is there yet any with thee? and hee shall say, no; Then shall he say, hold thy tongue, for wee may not make mention of the name of the Lord.And a man shall not have a brother, or a sonne left, to doe him the last offices of his buriall, but if his uncle or kinsman shall undertake to bring out his corps, he that is the overseer of these funerall rites of burning the dead joyning with him in that worke, shall say to that one which is left alive in the house, Is there any more remaining of the whole number of the family? and hee shall say, no; Then shall the other answere againe; Rest thou humbly, and silently in the just pleasure of the Almighty; this is his worke; as for us, our sins have beene so grievous, that in the conscience thereof, it is not for us to call upon the name of the Lord, for a release, or mitigation of his judgement.
11 For behold, the Lord commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.For behold, the Lord whom we have provoked, commandeth these executions from the hands of the Assyrians; and will by their arme smite both the small and the great.
12 Shall horses run upon the rocke? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgement into gall, and the fruit of righteousnesse into hemlockeIs it possible, that horses should run upon the steepe and craggy cliffes? or can it be that the husbandman should draw his plow through those hard rocks? So impossible is it that yee Israelites should continue to prosper, whiles ye remaine thus sinfull; for ye have corrupted judgement, and justice, and made it hatefull, and deadly to the innocent.
13 Ye which rejoyce in a thing of nought, which say, have wee not taken to us hornes by our owne strength.Ye which rejoyce in your owne strength, which is vaine, and nothing worth; and say in the pride of your heart, have we not made our selves strong and impregnable by our wit and power?
14 But behold, I will raise up against you a nation, (O how of Israel, saith the Lord the God of hosts) and they shall afflict you from the entring in of Hemath unto the river of the wildernesse.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 Hemath, which is in the borders of the North, to Sihor the river of the wildernesse, to the South.
CAP. VII.
THus hath the Lord God shewed me the judgement which he is about to bring upon the land;1 Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me, and behold he formed grashoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter grouth, and lo, it was the latter grouth after the Kings mowings. even that extreame famine which he shall cause through the abundance of locusts, and other noisome wormes, which hee will send upon the earth; early therefore in the shooting up of the grasse, after the first mowing thereof for the Kings use (which is wont to be sooner then the common mathe) he formed store of those hurtfull vermine, and sent them upon the land.
Then I, seeing the proceedings of this famine, said,2 Then I said (O Lord God) forgive, I beseech thee, by whom shall Iacob arise? for he is small. O Lord God, forgive us I beseech thee; if thou goe 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.
The Lord thereupon ceased from this plague,3 The Lord repented for this, It shal not be, saith the Lord. and did, as it were, say; No, it shall not proceed; Israel shal not be quite wasted.
The Lord God fore-shewed me the judgement that he meant to bring upon Israel by the sword of Tigleth Peleser, King of Assyria,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 eate up a part. (represented by a fire which should devoure up the deepe, and did eate up a part;) signifying that the fury and force of this King of Assur should utterly swallow up the Kingdome of Syria first, and afterwards that part of Israel, which is beyond Jordan.
As I have built up Israel by line and levell,8 Behold, I will set a plumbe line in the midst of my People Israel, I wil not againe passe by them any more. so will I also now make an exquisite destruction of it; and will lay it levell with the ground; and I will not any more pardon, and passe by their wickednesses.
Amos hath conspired against thee in Bethel,10 Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel the land is not able to bear all his words. where is the greatest confluence of thy subjects.
The words of his prophesie are intolerable; for hee dishartneth the people; and works in them a meane and dishonourable opinion of thy governement; and despaire of their owne safety.
And Amaziah said to Amos; what makest thou here,12 Also Amaziah said unto Amos, (O thou Seer) goe, flie thee away into the land of Iudah, and there eate bread, and prophesie there. O thou prophet, out of thine owne countrey; goe thy waies home; take this friendly and private counsell from mee, retire home closely to thy owne countrey of Judah; and there maintaine thy selfe; and there bestow thy paines, and admonitions.
But venture not any more to vent thy prophesies in Bethel; for thou knowest the condition of this place,13 But prophesie not againe any more at Bethel, for it is the Kings Chappel and it is the Kings court. it is both the Kings sanctuary, for his devotion, and the Kings court, for state; meddle not any more with prophesying here, lest thou provoke the Kings anger against thee.
14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophets sonne, but I was an heardman, and a gatherer of Sycomore fruit.I was no Prophet by my breeding and institution, I never was trained up to any such vocation, but was by my profession an heard-man, and spent my time amongst my cattle; and in that solitary life contented my selfe with such wild diet, as the Sycomores did afford me.
15 And the Lord tooke me as I followed the flock and the Lord said unto me Goe prophesie 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 imployment, and injoyned me this taske of prophesying.
16 And drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.Doe not let fall the menaces of judgement upon the chosen people of God.
Because thou hast forbidden me to prophesie, thus saith the Lord,17 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Thou shalt die in a polluted land. &c. thou shalt die in the land of Assyria, which is polluted by detestable Idolatries, &c.
CAP. VIII.
2 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 againe passe 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 growes upon Israel; and will so make an end of this gathering, that there shall be no more of this kinde left for hereafter.
3 And the songs of the temples shall be howlings, in the day, saith the Lord God.Instead of the songs, and musicke of the Temples of Bethel, and other high places, there shall be nothing but howlings, and shriekings of those that are slaine, &c.
5 Saying, when will the new moone be gone, that we may sell corne, and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the Ephah small, and the shekle great, and falsifying the balances of deceit.Saying, when shall we have done with these solemne feasts, wherein we are not allowed to buy and sell; would to God these new moones and Sabbaths were once past, that we might sell our corne at an high rate; making the measure of the wheate small, and the weights (wherein the silver is weighed) great and heavie; and falsifying the balances by deceit.
6 That we may buy the poore for silver, and the needy for a paire of shooes and sell the refuse of the wheat.That we may cause the poore to sell themselves to our servitude, for a little silver, as being not able to sustaine themselves; and that we may buy the needy for a paire of shooes, even for the basest necessaries; Yea and that by this meanes, we may put off, at an unreasonable rate, the very refuse and offall of the wheat.
8 And it shall rise up wholly as a flood: and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Aegypt.And the judgement of God shall rise up, and overflow the land, as a flood; and the whole countrey shallbe overspred, and drowned therewith, as the plaines are wont to be by the inundations of the river Nilus.
Your sorrow shall be so extreme in that day;9 And it shall come to passe in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the Sunne to goe downe at noone, and I will darken the earth in the cleare day. and that day shall be to you so blacke and gloomy, as if the Sunne were gone downe at noone-day; and as if darknesse had covered the earth in the clearest day.
Such a mourning will I cause amongst you,10 And I will make it as the mourning of an only sonne. as when a mother mournes for her onelyonly sonne, &c.
Not a famine of materiall bread,11 Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. &c. But a spirituall famine of the word of God which is onelyonly able to feed, and save your soules.
And they shall wander from the sea of Galilee,12 And they shall wander from Sea to Sea, and frō the North even to the East, they shall run to and fro, to seeke the word of the Lord, and shall not finde it. to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the North a-crosse unto the East to seeke the word of the Lord at the mouth of his Prophets, and shall not finde it.
Those Idolatrous Israelites that sweare by the molten Images of Samaria; and say;14 They that sweare by the sin of Samaria, and say, thy God, O Dan, liveth, & the manner of Beersheba liveth, even they shall fall, and never rise up againe. As the God which is worshipped in Dan, and the author of the religion of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall into utter perdition, and never rise againe.
CAP. IX.
IN my vision I saw the Lord (having left the Temple) to stand upon the altar without,1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and hee 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. and hee commanded his Angell saying, smite thou the lintell of the doore of the Temple, so vehemently, that the posts thereof may shake; in signification of that maine stroke, which I will give the rulers of Israel; for I wil cut them in the head (or principall men) every one of them; and as for the posts, which are the inferiors,2 Though they digge into hell, thence shall mine hand take them. I will slay them with the sword of the Assyrian, &c.
Neither shall they ever be able by any power, or policie, to escape my judgements,3 Thence will I command the Serpent, and hee shall bite them. though they should digge into hell, there shall my hand finde them, &c.
There will I command my Leviathan to swallow them up, &c.
See chapter 8. verse 8.5 And it shall rise up wholly like a flood, &c.
It is he that hath built,6 It is he that buildeth the stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troupe in the earth, he that calleth for the waters of the Sea. and preserved the severall contignations of his orbes in the heavens, and hath made provision of those infinite armies of his creatures, to execute his revenges upon earth; it is hee that by his command lets loose the waters of the Sea, &c.
7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel, saith the Lord, have not I brought up Israel out of Aegypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?Is there any reason in you, O ye children of Israel, why I should respect you more than the very Ethiopians? Why should I make any difference betwixt you, and very Philistims? If you say, I brought up Israel out of Aegypt, so also did I bring the Philistms out of Caphtor; and the Syrians from Cyrene, where they were captived.
9 Yet, shall not the least graine fall upon the earth.Yet shall not the least graine scape unsifted by falling to the earth, without agitation; every Israelite shall bee tossed up and downe and dispersed in this captivity, no one shall be free.
11 In that day will I raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, and I wil raise up his ruines and I will build it as in the dayes of old.In that day will I raise up my Evangelicall Church, which is the Tabernacle of the true and glorious sonne of David, the Messias of the world, even upon the ruines of the Jewish Church; which I will repaire, and so make up the breaches thereof as that, both Jewes and Gentiles, shall make up one Church; which shall be made as spiritually complete, as ever the Temple was materially of old.
12 That they may possesse the remnāt of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doth this.That the bounds thereof may be extended over all the earth, even to the remotest heathen, which shall then be called by my name, saith the Lord that doth this.
Behold I will continue such plentifull increase of my blessings under the Gospell, that one shall over take another,13 Behold, the dayes come, saith the Lord, that the Plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed, & the mountaines shall droppe sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. in a perpetuall succession; as it is in a rich & fruitfull soile, that the harvest is no sooner in, than the plough is put into the ground for another crop; and the vintage is no sooner done, that the seed is sowne for a new harvest; thus shall it be with my Church, where one blessing endeth, another shall begin. Then even the dryest and barrennest hearts shall yeeld excellent fruits of grace in very great abundance.
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.I will settle my Church upon earth, never to be rooted out by the violence of men, never to be prevailed against by the gates of hell, saith the Lord God.