Amos - Ferrar Fenton Bible Translation page 618

5-5

5 will live; but seek not Bethel, and go not to Gilgal, nor pass on to Bar- sheba.,~——fox· Gilgal will be carried 06, and Bethel become empty. 6 Seek the LIFE and you shall live l If not He will falllike fire on the House IO II I2 I4 :6 18 20 of joseph, and consume and be un- quenchable in Bethel !——You who turn justice into distress, and fling right to the ground !—concocti¤g clouds and stupidity, and pouring the shadow of deathson the morning, and dark Night upon Day, and demand the waters of the Sea, and pour them on the face ofthe land! His Name is the L1FE,‘Whoflashes

destruction on Power, and brings destruction on the Mighty! They hate the public reprover, abhor the speaker of truth. Therefore, although you trample

upon the poor, and take a tax on his corn, to build yourselves houses of cut stone;-—·-you shall not reside in them. You plant delightful vineyards, but shall not drink their wine. For I know, your many vices, and your mighty sins !—~·you oppressors of right ;··~·you takers of bribes ;-—and you wrong the wretched in the Courts of justice. So the Prudent in this age is dumb !——-—for it is a bad period l Seek Good and not evil! that you

may live,»—-—and then the LoRD Gon 0F HOSTS will be with you, as you assert.~·~Hate Evil and love Good, Establish justice in your Law Courts I Perhaps the Loma or Hosrs will

be merciful to the fragments of joseph! However, thus says the LORD Gob

Tliere shall be mourning in all the squares i and they shall exclaim in all the streets, ‘Alasl’ Alas! ’ and call- the farmer to grieve, and the professors of wailing to mourn ;-—And all vine-dressers to lament, when I says the EvER·L1v1NG. Woe to you, wishing for the Day of

the LORD !—It will be darkness and not Light! As a man dying from the presence of a lion,—-—and .a bear meets him, or entering a house, and laying his hand on the wall, and a serpent bites;-·’1`he Day ofthe L01zD will be Darkness and not Light,-—and Blackness and without splendour! § Bzumrcinlimz nf ligpurrizg. I hate, I reject your feasts! I am

not pleased with your assemblings! When you offer burnbofferings with foods, I am not gratified !—and I will not look at your fat thank-offerings! Take away the drone of your songs ! And let Me not hear the tone of your lutes !——l3ut let justice How like brooks, and right like a constant river ! Did you present to Me for the forty

years in the Desert, sacrihces and offerings ?--·-House of Israel ?—When you erected your tent to Molok, and shrines for your Star—god, Kion ?—— whom you made for yourselves So I will transport you from here to Damascus, the EvER—Llv1NG declares, Whose name is the LoRD Goo oF Hosrsl Woe to the luxurious in Zion, and

the idle in Shomeron! What worth- less chiefs of the heathen you go to, House of Israel! You went to Kalnah and looked ; and from there to Hamath the Great, and thence to the House of Philistia! Are these king- doms better? Their boundaries than your boundaries ?~·—You put off the bad day;-—-but bring on destruction and ruin! You lie on ivory and stretch yourselves on cushions and eat the fat lambs from the ilock and calves from the stal1.—You trill songs like lovers to the tune of the harp, contriving the means of song.——You quaff your cups of wine and dress your heads with the finest oils,——and !—— grieve not for broken joseph Therefore now they shall be trans- ported with the first transports-—-and the sound of luxury cease I The MIGHTY LORD has sworn by

His soul, says the Lomb GOD 0F I loathe the pride of jacob, and hate his palaces,—so I will abandon his city and. its contents. And then if two men lodge in a single house they shall die; and the man’s relative will take him up from the house and burn his bones in tht streets, and ask the others at the back of the house,-——‘ Are there any more with you? ' and they will reply None,' and add ‘ Be silent,-—for we

did not remember the Name of the For be sure the Even-1,1v11~:c; has

decreed it,·-and will knock the Great House to pieces, and the Cottage to splintersl 618 2I 22 26 IO II