dren, and for the innocent blood which they have shed in their cruel persecutions.

III. 20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from ge neration to generation.

But the elect of God shall dwell for ever in his holy habitation; and, after their translation from the Church militant on earth, shall reign everlastingly in the glory of heaven.

III. 21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed : for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.

For I will cleanse and purge away the sins of those mine elect, which I had not before done away; and will deliver the chosen of the Gentiles from those iniquities, wherewith they were polluted which done, and the number of the elect being fully made up, the Lord shall dwell everlastingly with them in his heavenly Zion.

AMOS.

I. 1 The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Isracl, two years before the earthquake.

The words of Amos, who was one of the herdmen of Tekoa in the land of Judab, which he received from God, concerning the Ten Tribes of Israel especially; in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, who was noted for his presumption in daring to offer incense in the temple; and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash king of Israel; two years before that famous earthquake, which fell out in the days of Uzziah.

I. 2 And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.

And he said, The Lord, who hath hitherto kept himself silent, and exercised his patient longsuffering, shall now shew himself terrible to the world: his judgments shall no less affright the people, than the roaring of a lion shall terrify the beasts of the field; so as his drought shall scorch the pastures, and cause the fruitfullest grounds to wither.

I. 3 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof: because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of

iron:

Thus saith the Lord; For the manifold transgressions 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:

I. 4 But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

But I will send a destruction upon the house of Hazael, the king

thereof; which shall not rest in his person, but shall waste and devour the palaces of his son Ben-hadad; and this will I cause to be done by the hands of the king of Assyria:

I. 5 I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD.

By whose power I will break down the forts of Damascus, 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 go into captivity, into Kir. As 2 Kings xvi.

I. 6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof: because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom:

For the many and great offences of the Philistines, and particularly of their city Gaza, I will be sure to inflict punishment upon them; because they carried away my people into an absolute and remediless captivity to the Edomites.

I. 7 But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza.

I will therefore plague them accordingly; for I will send the sword and the fire of the enemy upon all the land of the Philistines, and specially upon the walls of Gaza.

I. 8 And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD.

And I will cut off the inhabitants of all the several cities thereof; and the king of that people will I cut off from his royal palace, and I will set myself against all the strong holds, and shall utterly extinguish the remainder of the Philistines, saith the Lord.

I. 9 And remembered not the brotherly covenant.

And remembered not that friendly league and covenant, that was betwixt Hiram their king, and Solomon.

- I. 11 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof: because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity; and his anger did tear perpetually, and kept his wrath for

ever :

Because he hath been ever too forward to pursue the posterity of Jacob, brother to their ancestor Esau, in a hostile fashion, without all pity; and would not admit of any reconciliation, but hath still raged incessantly against those of his own blood:

I. 12 But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.

But I will send Nebuchadnezzar into his country, to waste and spoil it; who shall destroy the city and region of Teman, and raze the palaces of Bozrah.

I. 13 Because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border,

VOL. IV.

Because they used extreme cruelty towards Israel, ripping up the women with child; that there might be no posterity left of them, to inherit those parts, which they had now taken in, to enlarge their own borders.

I. 14 But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind.

But I will bring upon them Nebuchadnezzar, who shall invade their country, and set a fire on their chief city Rabbah; and shall come upon them with great fierceness and fury, like a tempestuous whirlwind, and shall utterly destroy all before him.

II. 1 Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. Because he so hated the Israelites, as that when the Edomites joined themselves to the aid of Israel, Moab, for extreme despite thereof, burnt the very bones of the king of Edom's son to ashes, in way of sacrifice to his gods.

II. 2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth 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 chief city Kirioth; and Moab shall die in much horror, in the midst of the tumults and shrieks of war.

II. 6 Because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes.

For that, upon every base and worthless bribe, they have yielded so far to be corrupted, as to sell justice, and to betray innocence, and to undo the poor and helpless.

II. 7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:

All their desire is after this unprofitable dust of the earth, silver and gold; which they eagerly affect to gain, even by trampling on the heads of the poor; and those, that are meek spirited, do they tyrannize over, and proudly oppress: and so are they given over to their filthy and incestuous lust, as that the father and the son shame not to defile themselves with one and the same strumpet, to` the great profanation and dishonour of my Name, which they have professed.

II. 8 And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge upon every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their God.

In their feasts, which they make to their idols, they lay themselves down upon the carpets, which are laid to pawn for the need of their brethren wherein their idolatry is not less odious, than their cruelty; for thus do they before every altar; and in the same feasts, they drink that wine, which is bought with the fines and mulcts of those, whom they have unjustly condemned; even in the house of their idols.

U. 9 Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was

like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

Yet I had deserved better things of them; for I destroyed the Amorites before them, which were tall and mighty giants, above the ordinary proportion of strength or stature; yet I utterly 100t ed them out, for the sake of my people, and left no remnant of that race for their annoyance.

II. 12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.

But ye, contrary to m: law, gave the Nazarites wine to drink, that ye might corrupt them; and enjoined silence to my prophets, whom I sent to tell you of your sins, and my judgments.

II. 13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.

Behold I am even overlaid with your wickedness: it is with me, as with a cart that is overpressed with a load of sheaves, which goes heavily, and is ready to break under the burden.

III. 2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

You only have I chosen out from all other nations for my peculiar people, and have bestowed much cost and care upon you: therefore, since you have abused my mercies and rebelled against me, ye shall be sure to be punished.

III. 3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

Ye did walk holily with me, and then I walked graciously with you; but now, since we are fallen out by reason of your great iniquities, it is not to be expected we should hold together any longer, in those fair correspondences which were between us.

III. 4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he hath taken nothing? Will the lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? or the young lion in his den, when he hath taken nothing? No more will the Lord denounce or inflict his fearful judgments upon a people, but where there is just matter of their sins, to be avenged.

III. 5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?

Ye are as the bird; God's judgments are as the gin or snare: ye cannot fall into the snare or gin of my judgments, if your sins had not cast you thereinto: the snare is not wont to be taken up, if it have caught nothing; neither shall the judgments be removed, till they have effected that which they were sent for.

III. 6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, to summon the inhabitants to the walls, when as the people find no cause of the fear of an enemy? no more would God by his prophets denounce these imminent judgments, if there were not just cause to expect and fear their speedy execution; and who shall or can execute

them, but the just and powerful hand of God? can there be any evil of punishment in the city, yea in the world, which is not of his sending, his inflicting?

III. 8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

The Lord, like a dreadful and strong lion, hath roared out these menaces of judgments; who can choose but fear? The Lord hath committed his word of reproof and threatening to his prophets, who can then hold his peace, and forbear to publish it?

III. 9 Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof.

Ye, O my prophets, publish this in the very palaces of the Philistines and of the Egyptians; and call to those heathenish nations, to be witnesses and judges of the heinous sins 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.

III. 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.

III. 11 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; &c.

Therefore thus saith the Lord; A mighty adversary, even the As syrian, shall come and invade thy land, and shall spoil and waste it round about.

III. 12 Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; 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.

As the shepherd, when a lion hath been devouring amongst his flock, finds left some mangled remnants of a leg or an ear, which he carries home, to shew the spoil that hath been 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 proof of that general slaughter and captivity; and those two perhaps sick and feeble persons which were not able to stir out of their beds or couches: and thus shall it be both with Samaria and Damascus.

III. 14 That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Beth-el: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.

In the day that I shall punish Israel, and call him to account for his many sins, I will reckon with him for his idolatries in Dan and Beth-el; and for those altars, which he hath erected there; and will cause those miserected altars to be beaten down to the ground.

III. 15 And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD.

And the stately houses of their kings, both their warm winter