Hæc ostendit mihi Dominus Deus: et ecce fictor locustæ in principio germinantium serotini imbris, et ecce serotinus post tonsionem regis.

These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the locust was formed in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter rain, and lo, it was the latter rain after the king’s mowing.

This was a vision the Lord God shewed me; here were locusts a-making, just at the time when the aftergrowth was coming up, after the king’s crop had been carried.

Et factum est, cum consummasset comedere herbam terræ, dixi: Domine Deus, propitius esto, obsecro; quis suscitabit Jacob, quia parvulus est?

And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, I said: O Lord God, be merciful, I beseech thee: who shall raise up Jacob, for he is very little?

Short work had these made of all the land yielded; Ah, Lord God, said I, be merciful! How should Jacob survive, the puny creature he is?

Misertus est Dominus super hoc: Non erit, dixit Dominus.

The Lord had pity upon this: It shall not be, said the Lord.

And with that, the Lord relented; Happen it shall not, said he.

Hæc ostendit mihi Dominus Deus: et ecce vocabat judicium ad ignem Dominus Deus; et devoravit abyssum multam, et comedit simul partem.

These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the Lord called for judgment unto fire, and it devoured the great deep, and ate up a part at the same time.

And a second vision the Lord God shewed me, how he would summon them to ordeal by fire; fire should devour the waters below the earth, and devoured some part of them were.

Et dixi: Domine Deus, quiesce, obsecro; quis suscitabit Jacob, quia parvulus est?

And I said: O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee, who shall raise up Jacob, for he is a little one?

Ah, Lord God, said I, for pity! How should Jacob survive, the puny creature he is?

Misertus est Dominus super hoc: Sed et istud non erit, dixit Dominus Deus.

The Lord had pity upon this. Yea this also shall not be, said the Lord God.

And with that, the Lord relented again; Happen it shall not, said he.

Hæc ostendit mihi Dominus: et ecce Dominus stans super murum litum, et in manu ejus trulla cæmentarii.

These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold the Lord was standing upon a plastered wall, and in his hand a mason’s trowel.

But now the Lord shewed me a third vision; a plastered wall, and the Lord himself standing by it with a trowel in his hand,

Et dixit Dominus ad me: Quid tu vides, Amos? Et dixi: Trullam cæmentarii. Et dixit Dominus: Ecce ego ponam trullam in medio populi mei Israël; non adjiciam ultra superinducere eum.

And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A mason’s trowel. And the Lord said: Behold, I will lay down the trowel in the midst of my people Israel. I will plaster them over no more.

asking me if I could see what he had there. Why, Lord, I said, a plasterer’s trowel! Ay, he answered, and here, in full view of Israel’s folk, that trowel I lay aside; cementing they shall have from me no more.

Et demolientur excelsa idoli, et sanctificationes Israël desolabuntur, et consurgam super domum Jeroboam in gladio.

And the high places of the idol shall be thrown down, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste: and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

Hill-shrines of Aven shall tumble down, sanctuaries of Israel be laid waste; at the sword’s point I will try conclusions with the race of Jeroboam.

Et misit Amasias, sacerdos Bethel, ad Jeroboam, regem Israël, dicens: Rebellavit contra te Amos in medio domus Israël; non poterit terra sustinere universos sermones ejus.

And Amasias the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying: Amos hath rebelled against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.

Hereupon, a message came to Jeroboam, king of Israel, from Amasias that was priest at Bethel. Here is Amos, said he, raising revolt against thee in the realm of Israel; there is no room in all the land for such talk as his;

Hæc enim dicit Amos: In gladio morietur Jeroboam, et Israël captivus migrabit de terra sua.

For thus saith Amos: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be carried away captive out of their own land.

Jeroboam to die at the sword’s point, Israel to be banished from its native country!

Et dixit Amasias ad Amos: Qui vides, gradere: fuge in terram Juda, et comede ibi panem, et prophetabis ibi.

And Amasias said to Amos: Thou seer, go, flee away into the land of Juda: and eat bread there, and prophesy there.

And this was his counsel to Amos, Sir prophet, get thee gone; in Juda take refuge if thou wilt, and there earn thy living by prophecy.

Et in Bethel non adjicies ultra ut prophetes, quia sanctificatio regis est, et domus regni est.

But prophesy not again any more in Bethel: because it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom.

Prophesy here in Bethel thou mayst not, where the king’s chapel is, and the king’s court.

Responditque Amos, et dixit ad Amasiam: Non sum propheta, et non sum filius prophetæ: sed armentarius ego sum vellicans sycomoros.

And Amos answered and said to Amasias: I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet: but I am a herdsman plucking wild figs.

What, said Amos, I a prophet? Nay, not that, nor a prophet’s son neither; I am one that minds cattle, one that nips the sycamore-trees;

Et tulit me Dominus cum sequerer gregem, et dixit Dominus ad me: Vade, propheta ad populum meum Israël.

And the Lord took me when I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel.

I was but tending sheep when the Lord took me into his service. It was the Lord bade me go and prophesy to his people of Israel.

Et nunc audi verbum Domini: Tu dicis: Non prophetabis super Israël, et non stillabis super domum idoli.

And now hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, thou shalt not prophesy against Israel, and thou shalt not drop thy word upon the house of the idol.

He has a message for thee: Thou wilt have no prophesying against Israel, no word dropped against Bethaven?

Propter hoc hæc dicit Dominus: Uxor tua in civitate fornicabitur, et filii tui et filiæ tuæ in gladio cadent, et humus tua funiculo metietur: et tu in terra polluta morieris, et Israël captivus migrabit de terra sua.

Therefore thus saith the Lord: Thy wife shall play the harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be measured by a line: and thou shalt die in a polluted land, and Israel shall go into captivity out of their land.

Here, then, is the divine doom pronounced on thee: Wife of thine, here in the city streets, shall be dishonoured; sons and daughters of thine shall die at the sword’s point; lands of thine shall feel the measuring-rope. And for thyself, on unhallowed soil death awaits thee, when Israel is banished, as banished it needs must be, from the land of its birth.