14 For I will be uuto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: 1, even I will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.

151 will go, and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.

CHAPTER VI.

COME, and let us return unto

the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

40 Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.

5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.

6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.

7 But they, like men, have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.

9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

10 I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

11 Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.

CHAPTER VII.

WHEN I would have healed

Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without:

2 And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face.

3 They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.

4 They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.

5 In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine: he stretched out his hand with scorners.

6 For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.

to the Assyrian monarch then on the throne.

Ver. 11. He hath set an harvest: that is, it would seem, hath prepared a day of punishment for you, when the guilty ones shall be cut down as corn ripe for the sickle.

452

7 They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges: all their kings are fallen; there is none among them that calleth unto me.

8 Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.

9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not, yea, grey hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.

10 And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.

11Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

12 When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the

heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.

13 Woe unto them! for they have fled from me; destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.

14 And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds; they assembled themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.

15 Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me.

16 They return, but not to the most High; they are like a deceitful bow their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

CHAPTER VIII.

SET the trumpet to thy mouth:

he shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.

2 Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.

3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.

4 They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

5 Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?

6 For from Israel was it also: the worku:an made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

8 Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.

9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

10 Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.

Ver. 11. See 2 Kings, xv. 19; xvii. 4.

Ver. 5. Thy calf: that is, the golden calf set us by Jeroboam.-Ver. 10. And they shall sorrow, &c. that is, they shall begin to utter complaints respecting the

11 Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.

12 I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

13 They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it: but the LORD accepteth them not now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.

14 For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fence cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

CHAPTER IX.

REJOICE not, O Israel, for joy.

as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God; thou hast loved a reward upon every corn-floor

2 The floor and the wine-press shall not feed them, and the new wine shail fail in her.

3 They shall not dwell in the LORD's land: but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

4 They shall not offer wineofferings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the LORD.

5 What will we do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD?

6 For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorus shall be in their tabernacles.

7 The days of visitation are come, the days of recompenee are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.

8 The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.

9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah : therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree at her first time: but they went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.

11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.

12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!

13 Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.

14 Give them, O LORD: what wilt thou give? give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. 15 All their wickedness is in burdens imposed on them by the powerful king of Babylon.

Ver. 9. Judges, xix. 18. Ver. 10. Numb. xxv. 3; Ps. cvi. 89.

Gilgal; for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.

16 Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved Fruit of their womb.

17 My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

CHAPTER X.

ISRAEL is an empty vine, he

bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the alters; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.

2 Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.

3 For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?

4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.

5 The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it.

6 It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the

water.

8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us.

9 O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.

10 It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.

11 And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim

eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

14 Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.

15 So shall Beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.

CHAPTER XI.

WHEN Israel was a child, then

I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

2 As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burnt incense to graven images.

3 I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.

4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.

5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.

6 And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.

7 And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.

8 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim ? Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

9 I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.

10 They shall walk after the LORD; he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.

11 They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD.

12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.

CHAPTER XII.

12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

13 Ye have plowed wickedness, ve have reaped iniquity; ye have

Ver. 15. Gilgal had been long celebrated as the scene of popular wickedness: it was there that Samuel was treated with base disrespect, and subsequent ages had marked it out as one of the chief places of idolatrous worship.

Ver. 5. Beth-aven is the same as Bethel; but while the latter name means the house of God, the former signifies the house of vanity. Ver. 8. Aven: that is, Bethel.

followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.

2 The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.

3 He took his brother by the

Ver. 14. Shalman, Shalmanezer abridged. Beth-arbel was a district of Syria conquered by that monarch. See 2 Kings, xviii. 34; xix. 13.

Ver. 1. See Matth. ii. 15; Exod. iv. 22, 23. Ver. 8. Gen. xiv. 8; xix. 24; Deut. xxix. 23.-Ver. 11. Isa. Ix. 9.

Ver. 1. 2 Kings, xvii. 4. Ver.

heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:

4 Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us;

5 Even the LORD God of hosts; The LORD is his memorial.

6 Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.

7 He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.

8 And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity in me that were sin.

9 And I, that am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feasts.

10 I have also spoken by the prophets; and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.

11 Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.

12 And Jacob fled into the country of Syria; and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.

13 And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.

14 Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly: therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him.

WE

CHAPTER XIII.

WHEN Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died.

2 And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten. images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

3 Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke. out of the chimney.

4 Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me; for there is no saviour besides me.

5 I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.

6 According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.

7 Therefore I will be unto them as a lion; as a leopard by the way will I observe them.

8 I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.

3. Gen. xxv. 26; xxxii. 24. - Ver. 4. Gen. xxviii. 12-19; xxxv. 9-15. Ver. 12. Gen. xxviii. 5; xxix. 20-28. Ver. 13. Exod. xii. 50; xili. 3.

Ver. 1. That is, when he walked. humbly and faithfully before God he obtained wealth and honour; but when he sinned he perished.

90 Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.

10 I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?

11 I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.

12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up his sin is hid.

13 The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children.

14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; 1 will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

Ver. 11. 1 Sam. viii. 5; xv. 22; xvi. 1.-Ver. 14. Repentance shall be hid, &c.: that is, there shall be forgiveness and peace. The prophet in this place looks for a moment beyond the darkness of the present, and is allowed to behold the happiness of that remnant of

15 Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.

16 Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dasbed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

CHAPTER XIV.

ISRAEL, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

2 Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips.

God's people which shall in the end see the perfect fulfilment of his promises to the father of the faithful. Ver. 16. 2 Kings, viii. 12.

Ver. 2. Take with you words: a very striking expression to signify prayer.

3 Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

4I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olivetree, and his smell as Lebanon.

7 Ther that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir-tree: from me is thy fruit found.

9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

JOEL.

CHAPTER I. THE word of the LORD that came

to Joel the son of Pethuel.

2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?

3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another genera

tion.

4 That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten ; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.

5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek-teeth of a great lion.

7 He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.

9 The meat-offering and the drink-offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn.

10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted:

Ver. 4. The object of the prophet is to describe, under the figure of a swarm of locusts, the invasion of the Assyrians and Babylonians. Travellers give accounts of the frightful ravages of these insects, which fully justify the strongest language of the prophet, even when applied literally; but there is a most awful grandeur in the des

the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

11 Be ye ashamed, Oye husbandmen: howl, O ye vine-dressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

12 The vine is dried up, and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from

the sons of men.

13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests; howl, ye ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat-offering and the drinkoffering is withholden from the house of your God.

14 Sanctify se a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land, into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,

15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall

19 O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burat all the trees of the field.

20 The beasts of the field ery also unto thee; for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

CHAPTER II.

BLOW ye the trumpet in Zion,

and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand.

2 A day of darkness and of gloom!ness, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong: there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

3 A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.

5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

6 Before their face the people shall be much pained; all faces. shall gather blackness.

7 They shall run tike mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks :

8 Neither shall one thrust ano

Ver. 4. See Rev. ix. 7.-Ver. 10. Isa. xiii. 10; Ezek. xxxii. 7.

ther; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.

9 They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall; they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

11 And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army; for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning;

13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat-offering and a drink-offering unto the LORD your God?

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly;

16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet:

17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where as their God?

18 Then will the LORD be Jealous for his land, and pity his people.

19 Yea, the LORD will answer

and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith; and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:

20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea: and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.

21 Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice for the LORD will do great things.

Ver. 12. How beautiful a proof is afforded that the same Holy Spirit dictated every book of Scripture, in this circumstance, that in every book we see the same assurance given that repentance shall find mercy. Ver. 17. Matth. xxiii. 35. Many reasons are assigned why the priests were directed to weep between the porch and the altar: it was not lawful to weep in the holy place itself, or the place might be chosen because their lamentations would thence be audible to the people, or they might be considered as unworthy to approach nearer the mercy-seat of the Almighty.-Ver. 20. Exod. x. 19; Jer. i. 14; Ezek.

22 Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength.

23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.

25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you.

26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you; and my people shall never be ashamed.

27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else and my people shall never be ashamed.

28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see

visions :

29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out n y Spirit.

30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD coine.

32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom. the LORD shall call.

CHAPTER HI

FOR, behold, in those days, and

in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people, and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

4 Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;

5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

xlvii. 18.-Ver. 28. That this sublime prophecy refers to the times of the gospel we are taught by the highest authority. See Acts, ii. 17; John, vii. 39; Matth. xxiv. 29; Mark, xiii. 24; Luke, xxi. 25. Ver. 32. Rom. x. 13.

Ver. 2. The language of this chapter is obscure, but it manifestly

6 The children also of Judah, and the children of Jerusalem, have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:

8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up :

10 Beat your plough-shares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.

12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jeho shaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.

13 Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow for their wickedness is great.

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain; then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any

more.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

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

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

points to the coming of Christ in the last times, when the enemies of his elect people shall be finally overthrown, and those whom he has redeemed and sanctified shall be gathered from all quarters of the earth to witness his judgment upon the heathen, and to receive the everlasting rewards which he has promised to their faithfulness and zeal. Ver. 21. That is, I will then forgive and perfectly purify those whom I shall till then have left to feel the burden of sin, and to mourn over the sorrows with which they have thereby been afflicted.

CHAPTER I.

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 Israel, two years before the earthquake.

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.

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

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

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.

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 four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant:

10 But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof.

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 he kept his wrath for ever:

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

13 Thus saith the LORD, For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border:

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:

15 And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD.

CHAPTER II.

wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof:

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.

9 Thus saith the LORD, For three transgressions of Tyrus, and

Ver. 1. Tekoa was a village about four leagues to the south of Jerusalem, and stood on the borders of the wilderness, where it is supposed the prophet fed his herds; and where, probably, the Spirit of the Lord fell upon him when he was called to his sacred office.-Ver. 3. The prophet prefaces his denunciations against Israel, by predicting the downfall of those nations who had preceded them in wicked

ness.

Damascus is named for the whole of Syria: and the numbers three and four appear to be used to signify, according to idiomatic usage, an indefinite succession of transgressions. See 2 Kings, x. 33; xiii. 7.-Ver. 5. The plain of Aven, and the house of Eden, were districts, or cities in Syria, celebrated for their beauty and luxuriousness. Kir was, according to some writers, the same as Cyrene in Africa; according to others, it was a place in Assyria.-Ver. 6. Of Gaza: that is, of the Philistines, of whose country Gaza was the capital. Ver. 8. Ashdod, &c. were other cities belonging to the Philis, tines. Ver. 9 By the brotherly

transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burnt the bones of the king of Edom into lime:

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 the trumpet.

3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with. him, saith the LORD.

4 Thus saith the LORD, For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them. to err, after the which their fathers. have walked :

5 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

6 Thus saith the LORD, For three transgressions of Israel, and

covenant, allusion is supposed to be made to Jacob and Esau; or to the alliance which was entered into by David and Hiram, and subsequently by Solomon and Hiram. Ver. 11. Isaiah, xxi. 11; xxxiv. 5 Gen. xxvii. 40; Deut. xxiii. 7. Ver. 1. 2 Kings, iii. 27.-Ver. 4. The name of Judah of the chosen people of God comes with a terrible sound upon the ear, at the close of this long list of transgressors. How terrible will it be when, at the day of judgment, the names of many myriads of known

for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;

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:

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

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 de stroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

10 Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.

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

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

14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:

15 Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.

16 And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.

CHAPTER III.

HEAR this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,

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

3 Can two waik together, except they be agreed?

4 Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den if he have taken nothing?

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?

6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid?

sinners shall be pronounced; but at the end, the names of those who were the called, and were in their generation, perhaps, regarded as the elect of God! Ver. 11. See Numb. vi. 2.

Ver. 2. Deut. vii. 6; x. 15.