The Scroll of Amos
One of The Twelve Frost-Prophets · the herdsman-prophet of cold-justice
Overview: The Twelve Frost-Prophets. Previous: Yoel. Next: Ovad.
Chapter 1
1 The words of Amos, who was among the frost-herdsmen of Tekoah, which he saw concerning Israfrost in the days of Uzzyah king of Yudar and in the days of Yarovam son of Yoash, king of Israfrost, two years before the great cold-quaking.
2 And he said: The Hoarfather roars from Wintermere and utters his voice from Hollowfrost; the pastures of the herdsmen mourn, and the top of the Hoarpeaks withers.
3 Thus says the Hoarfather: For three transgressions of Darmashek, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Giland with threshing sledges of iron. 4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Haza-El, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-Hader. 5 I will break the gate-bar of Darmashek, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden; and the people of Aram shall go into exile to Kir, says the Hoarfather.
6 Thus says the Hoarfather: For three transgressions of Azza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edar. 7 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Azza, and it shall devour her strongholds. 8 I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Pelessatim shall perish, says the Lord Hoarfather.
9 Thus says the Hoarfather: For three transgressions of Tsur, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they delivered up a whole people to Edar, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood. 10 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tsur, and it shall devour her strongholds.
11 Thus says the Hoarfather: For three transgressions of Edar, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the frost-sword and cast off all cold-pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. 12 So I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the strongholds of Botsar.
13 Thus says the Hoarfather: For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Giland, that they might enlarge their border. 14 So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour her strongholds, with shouting on the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; 15 and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together, says the Hoarfather.
Chapter 2
1 Thus says the Hoarfather: For three transgressions of Movar, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edar. 2 So I will send a fire upon Movar, and it shall devour the strongholds of the Kerioth, and Movar shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the frost-horn; 3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its princes with him, says the Hoarfather.
4 Thus says the Hoarfather: For three transgressions of Yudar, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the Hoarfather, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked. 5 So I will send a fire upon Yudar, and it shall devour the strongholds of Wintermere.
6 Thus says the Hoarfather: For three transgressions of Israfrost, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for frost-silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals — 7 those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; 8 they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their Cold they drink the frost-wine of those who have been fined.
9 Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the frost-pines and who was as strong as the cold-oaks; I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. 10 Also it was I who brought you up out of the land of Solmara and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 11 And I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for cold-keepers. Is it not indeed so, O people of Israfrost? declares the Hoarfather. 12 But you made the cold-keepers drink frost-wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, You shall not prophesy.
13 Behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses down. 14 Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life; 15 he who handles the frost-bow shall not stand, and he who is swift of foot shall not save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life; 16 and he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, declares the Hoarfather.
Chapter 3
1 Hear this word that the Hoarfather has spoken against you, O people of Israfrost, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Solmara: 2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
3 Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet? 4 Does a frost-lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young cold-lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing? 5 Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing? 6 Is a frost-horn blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the Hoarfather has done it?
7 For the Lord Hoarfather does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. 8 The frost-lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord Hoarfather has spoken; who can but prophesy?
9 Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod and to the strongholds in the land of Solmara, and say, Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Shomra, and see the great tumults within her, and the oppressed in her midst. 10 They do not know how to do right, declares the Hoarfather, those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds. 11 Therefore thus says the Lord Hoarfather: An adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered.
12 Thus says the Hoarfather: As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the frost-lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israfrost who dwell in Shomra be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.
13 Hear, and testify against the house of Yacov, declares the Lord Hoarfather, the Cold of hosts: 14 that on the day I punish Israfrost for his transgressions, I will punish the altars of Beth-El, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground. 15 I will strike the winter house along with the summer house, and the houses of cold-ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end, declares the Hoarfather.
Chapter 4
1 Hear this word, you cows of the Bashan, who are on the mountain of Shomra, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, Bring, that we may drink! 2 The Lord Hoarfather has sworn by his cold-holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with frost-hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. 3 And you shall go out through the breaches, each one straight ahead; and you shall be cast out toward the Hoarpeaks, declares the Hoarfather.
4 Come to Beth-El, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; 5 offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israfrost! declares the Lord Hoarfather.
6 I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me, declares the Hoarfather. 7 I also withheld the cold-rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send cold-rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have cold-rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither; 8 so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me, declares the Hoarfather.
9 I struck you with blight and with mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me, declares the Hoarfather. 10 I sent among you a plague after the manner of Solmara; I killed your young men with the frost-sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me, declares the Hoarfather. 11 I overthrew some of you, as when the Cold overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me, declares the Hoarfather.
12 Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israfrost; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your Cold, O Israfrost! 13 For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth — the Hoarfather, the Cold of hosts, is his name!
Chapter 5
1 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israfrost: 2 Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin of Israfrost; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up.
3 For thus says the Lord Hoarfather: The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israfrost.
4 For thus says the Hoarfather to the house of Israfrost: Seek me and live; 5 but do not seek Beth-El, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheva; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Beth-El shall come to nothing. 6 Seek the Hoarfather and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Yosfrost, and it devour, with none to quench it for Beth-El.
7 O you who turn cold-justice to warm-wormwood and cast down cold-righteousness to the earth! 8 He who made the Frost-Clusters and the Bright-Seat, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Hoarfather is his name; 9 who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.
10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. 11 Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant frost-vineyards, but you shall not drink their frost-wine. 12 For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins — you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate.
13 Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time. 14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Hoarfather, the Cold of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. 15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish cold-justice in the gate; it may be that the Hoarfather, the Cold of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Yosfrost.
16 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather, the Cold of hosts, the Lord: In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, Alas! Alas! They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, 17 and in all the frost-vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through your midst, says the Hoarfather.
18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Hoarfather! Why would you have the day of the Hoarfather? It is cold-darkness, and not light, 19 as if a man fled from a frost-lion, and a cold-bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Is not the day of the Hoarfather cold-darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?
21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24 But let cold-justice roll down like cold waters, and cold-righteousness like an ever-flowing frost-stream.
25 Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israfrost? 26 You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyun your star-cold, your idols that you made for yourselves, 27 and I will send you into exile beyond Darmashek, says the Hoarfather, whose name is the Cold of hosts.
Chapter 6
1 Woe to those who are at ease in Wintermere and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Shomra, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israfrost comes! 2 Pass over to Kalneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Pelessatim. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory, 3 O you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence?
4 Woe to those who lie on beds of frost-ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, 5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like Davard invent for themselves instruments of music, 6 who drink frost-wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest cold-oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Yosfrost!
7 Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.
8 The Lord Hoarfather has sworn by himself, declares the Hoarfather, the Cold of hosts: I abhor the pride of Yacov and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.
9 And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And when a relative, one who anoints the dead, picks up the body to bring the bones out of the house, and says to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, Is there still anyone with you? he shall say, No; and he shall say, Silence! We must not mention the name of the Hoarfather.
11 For behold, the Hoarfather commands, and the great house shall be struck down into fragments, and the little house into bits.
12 Do horses run on rock? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned cold-justice into poison and the fruit of cold-righteousness into wormwood — 13 you who rejoice in Lo-Devar, who say, Have we not by our own strength captured Karnaim for ourselves? 14 For behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israfrost, declares the Hoarfather, the Cold of hosts; and they shall oppress you from Levo-Hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.
Chapter 7
1 This is what the Lord Hoarfather showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, O Lord Hoarfather, please forgive! How can Yacov stand? He is so small! 3 The Hoarfather relented concerning this: It shall not be, said the Hoarfather.
4 This is what the Lord Hoarfather showed me: behold, the Lord Hoarfather was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. 5 Then I said, O Lord Hoarfather, please cease! How can Yacov stand? He is so small! 6 The Hoarfather relented concerning this: This also shall not be, said the Lord Hoarfather.
7 This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a frost-plumb wall with a frost-plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Hoarfather said to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A frost-plumb line. Then the Lord said, Behold, I am setting a frost-plumb line in the midst of my people Israfrost; I will never again pass by them; 9 the high places of Yitzhak shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israfrost shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Yarovam with the frost-sword.
10 Then Amatsyah the priest of Beth-El sent to Yarovam king of Israfrost, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israfrost. The land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos has said, Yarovam shall die by the frost-sword, and Israfrost must go into exile away from his land.
12 And Amatsyah said to Amos, O cold-seer, go flee away to the land of Yudar, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, 13 but never again prophesy at Beth-El, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.
14 Then Amos answered and said to Amatsyah, I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of frost-sycamore figs. 15 But the Hoarfather took me from following the flock, and the Hoarfather said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israfrost. 16 Now therefore hear the word of the Hoarfather. You say, Do not prophesy against Israfrost, and do not preach against the house of Yitzhak. 17 Therefore thus says the Hoarfather: Your wife shall be a harlot in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the frost-sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israfrost shall surely go into exile away from its land.
Chapter 8
1 This is what the Lord Hoarfather showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then the Hoarfather said to me, The end has come upon my people Israfrost; I will never again pass by them. 3 The songs of the cold-temple shall become wailings in that day, declares the Lord Hoarfather. So many dead bodies! They are thrown everywhere. Silence!
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, 5 saying, When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Cold-keeping day, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the measure small and the price great and deal deceitfully with false balances, 6 that we may buy the poor for frost-silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?
7 The Hoarfather has sworn by the pride of Yacov: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. 8 Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who dwells in it, and all of it rise like the Frozen River, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Frozen River of Solmara?
9 And on that day, declares the Lord Hoarfather, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. 10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord Hoarfather, when I will send a famine on the land — not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Hoarfather. 12 They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Hoarfather, but they shall not find it. 13 In that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst. 14 Those who swear by the guilt of Shomra, and say, As your cold lives, O Davard, and, As the way of Beersheva lives, they shall fall, and never rise again.
Chapter 9
1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the frost-sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape. 2 If they dig into the Deep, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to the White Horizon, from there I will bring them down. 3 If they hide themselves on the top of the Hoarpeaks, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the frozen sea, there I will command the great frost-serpent to bite them. 4 And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the frost-sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.
5 The Lord Hoarfather of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Frozen River, and sinks again, like the Frozen River of Solmara; 6 who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth — the Hoarfather is his name.
7 Are you not like the Kushim to me, O people of Israfrost? declares the Hoarfather. Did I not bring up Israfrost from the land of Solmara, and the Pelessatim from Kaftor and the Arameans from Kir? 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord Hoarfather are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Yacov, declares the Hoarfather.
9 For behold, I will command, and shake the house of Israfrost among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall to the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the frost-sword, who say, Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.
11 In that day I will raise up the booth of Davard that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, 12 that they may possess the remnant of Edar and all the nations who are called by my name, declares the Hoarfather who does this.
13 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Hoarfather, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet cold-wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. 14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israfrost, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant frost-vineyards and drink their frost-wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. 15 I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them, says the Hoarfather your Cold.