Axial Commons
Hebrew / JewishChristianity
Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God.
Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly, gather together the ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and cry ye to the Lord:
Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the mighty.
The beasts have rotted in their dung, the barns are destroyed, the storehouses are broken down: because the corn is confounded.
Why did the beasts groan, why did the herds of cattle low? because there is no pasture for them: yea, and the flocks of sheep are perished.
To thee, O Lord, will I cry: because fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness: and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the country.
Yea, and the beasts of the field have looked up to thee, as a garden bed that thirsteth after rain, for the springs of waters are dried up, and fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness.
Blow ye the trumpet in Sion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: because the day of the Lord cometh, because it is nigh at hand.
A day of darkness, and of gloominess, a day of clouds and whirlwinds: a numerous and strong people as the morning spread upon the mountains: the like to it hath not been from the beginning, nor shall be after it, even to the years of generation and generation.
Before the face thereof a devouring fire, and behind it a burning flame: the land is like a garden of pleasure before it, and behind it a desolate wilderness, neither is there any one that can escape it.
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and they shall run like horsemen.
They shall leap like the noise of chariots upon the tops of mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, as a strong people prepared to battle.
At their presence the people shall be in grievous pains: all faces shall be made like a kettle.
They shall run like valiant men: like men of war they shall scale the wall: the men shall march every one on his way, and they shall not turn aside from their ranks.
No one shall press upon his brother: they shall walk every one in his path: yea, and they shall fall through the windows, and shall take no harm.
They shall enter into the city: they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up the houses, they shall come in at the windows, as a thief.
At their presence the earth hath trembled, the heavens are moved: the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining.
And the Lord hath uttered his voice before the face of his army: for his armies are exceedingly great, for they are strong, and execute his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible: and who can stand it?
Now, therefore, saith the Lord. Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and mourning.
And rend your hearts, and not your garments and turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil.
Who knoweth but he will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing behind him, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God?
Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly,
Gather together the people, sanctify the church, assemble the ancients, gather together the little ones, and them that suck at the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride out of her bridal chamber.
Between the porch and the altar the priests, the Lord's ministers, shall weep, and shall say: Spare, O Lord, spare thy people: and give not thy inheritance to reproach, that the heathens should rule over them. Why should they say among the nations: Where is their God?
The Lord hath been zealous for his land, and hath spared his people.
And I will remove far off from you the northern enemy: and I will drive him into a land unpassable, and desert, with his face towards the east sea, and his hinder part towards the utmost sea: and his stench shall ascend, and his rottenness shall go up, because he hath done proudly.
Fear not, O land, be glad, and rejoice: for the Lord hath done great things.
Fear not, ye beasts of the fields: for the beautiful places of the wilderness are sprung, for the tree hath brought forth its fruit, the fig tree, and the vine have yielded their strength.
And you, O children of Sion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord your God: because he hath given you a teacher of justice, and he will make the early and the latter rain to come down to you as in the beginning.
And the floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overflow with wine, and oil.
And I will restore to you the years which the locust, and the bruchus, and the mildew, and the palmerworm hath eaten; my great host which I sent upon you.
And you shall eat in plenty, and shall be filled and you shall praise the name of the Lord your God; who hath done wonders with you, and my people shall not be confounded for ever.
And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: and I am the Lord your God, and there is none besides: and my people shall not be confounded forever.
And it shall come to pass after this, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
Moreover, upon my servants and handmaids in those days I will pour forth my spirit.
And I will shew wonders in heaven; and in earth, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood: before the great and dreadful day of the Lord doth come.
And it shall come to pass, that every one that shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved: for in Mount Sion, and in Jerusalem shall be salvation, as the Lord hath said, and in the residue whom the Lord shall call.
For behold in those days, and in that time when I shall bring back the captivity of Juda, and Jerusalem:
I will gather together all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Josaphat: and I will plead with them there for my people, and for my inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and have parted my land.
And they have cast lots upon my people: and the boy they have put in the stews, and the girl they have sold for wine, that they might drink.
But what have you to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the coast of the Philistines? will you revenge yourselves on me? and if you revenge yourselves on me, I will very soon return you a recompense upon your own head.
For you have taken away my silver, and my gold: and my desirable, and most beautiful things you have carried into your temples.
And the children of Juda, and the children of Jerusalem, you have sold to the children of the Greeks, that you might remove them far off from their own country.
Behold, I will raise them up out of the place wherein you have sold them: and I will return your recompense upon your own heads.
And I will sell your sons, and your daughters, by the hands of the children of Juda, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far off, for the Lord hath spoken it.
Proclaim ye this among the nations: Prepare war, raise up the strong: let them come, let all the men of war come up.
Cut your ploughshares into swords, and your spades into spears. Let the weak say: I am strong.
Break forth, and come, all ye nations from round about, and gather yourselves together: there will the Lord cause all thy strong ones to fall down.
Let them arise, and let the nations come up into the valley of Josaphat: for there I will sit to judge all nations round about.
Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe: come and go down, for the press is full, the fats run over: for their wickedness is multiplied.
Nations, nations in the valley of destruction: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of destruction.
The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining.
And the Lord shall roar out of Sion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall be moved, and the Lord shall be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Sion, my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall pass through it no more.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk: and waters shall flow through all the rivers of Juda: and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of thorns.
Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a wilderness destroyed: because they have done unjustly against the children of Juda, and have shed innocent blood in their land.
And Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to generation and generation.
And I will cleanse their blood, which I had not cleansed: and the Lord will dwell in Sion.
The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Thecua: which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Ozias king of Juda, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joas king of Israel two years before the earthquake.
And he said: The Lord will roar from Sion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: and the beautiful places of the shepherds have mourned, and the top of Carmel is withered.
Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Damascus, and for four I will not convert it: because they have thrashed Galaad with iron wains.
And I will send a fire into the house of Azael, and it shall devour the houses of Benadad.
And I will break the bar of Damascus: and I will cut off the inhabitants from the plain of the idol, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of pleasure: and the people of Syria shall be carried away to Cyrene, saith the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Gaza, and for four I will not convert it: because they have carried away a perfect captivity to shut them up in Edom.
And I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour the houses thereof.
And I will cut off the inhabitant from Azotus, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ascalon: and I will turn my hand against Accaron, and the rest of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God.
Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Tyre, and for four I will not convert it: because they have shut up an entire captivity in Edom, and have not remembered the covenant of brethren.
And I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour the houses thereof.
Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Edom, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath pursued his brother with the sword, and hath carried on his fury, and hath kept his wrath to the end.
I will send a fire into Theman: and it shall devour the houses of Bosra.
Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of the children of Ammon, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath ripped up the women with child of Galaad to enlarge his border.
And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabba: and it shall devour the houses thereof with shouting in the day of battle, and with a whirlwind in the day of trouble.
And Melchom shall go into captivity, both he, and his princes together, saith the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Moab, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath burnt the bones of the king of Edom even to ashes.
And I will send a fire into Moab, and it shall devour the houses of Carioth: and Moab shall die with a noise, with the sound of the trumpet:
And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all his princes with him, saith the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Juda, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath cast away the law of the Lord, and hath not kept his commandments: for their idols have caused them to err, after which their fathers have walked.
And I will send a fire into Juda, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem.
Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Israel, and for four I will not convert him: because he hath sold the just man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of shoes.
They bruise the heads of the poor upon the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the humble: and the son and his father have gone to the same young woman, to profane my holy name.
And they sat down upon garments laid to pledge by every altar: and drank the wine of the condemned in the house of their God.
Yet I cast out the Amorrhite before their face: whose height was like the height of cedars, and who was strong as an oak: and I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots beneath.
It is I that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and I led you forty years through the wilderness, that you might possess the land of the Amorrhite.
And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not so, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord?
And you will present wine to the Nazarites: and command the prophets, saying: Prophesy not.
Behold, I will screak under you as a wain screaketh that is laden with hay.
And flight shall perish from the swift, and the valiant shall not possess his strength, neither shall the strong save his life.
And he that holdeth the bow shall not stand, and the swift of foot shall not escape, neither shall the rider of the horse save his life.
And the stout of heart among the valiant shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord.
Hear the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O ye children of Israel: concerning the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:
You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities.
Shall two walk together except they be agreed?
Will a lion roar in the forest, if he have no prey? will the lion's whelp cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?
Will the bird fall into the snare upon the earth, if there be no fowler? Shall the snare be taken up from the earth, before it hath taken somewhat?
Shall the trumpet sound in a city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done?
For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.
The lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who shall not prophesy?
Publish it in the houses of Azotus, and in the houses of the land of Egypt, and say: Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the many follies in the midst thereof, and them that suffer oppression in the inner rooms thereof.
And they have not known to do the right thing, saith the Lord, storing up iniquity, and robberies in their houses.