Hæc ostendit mihi Dominus Deus: et ecce uncinus pomorum.

These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold a hook to draw down the fruit.

Then the Lord God shewed me another vision, of a hook such as they use for fruit-gathering.

Et dixit: Quid tu vides, Amos? Et dixi: Uncinum pomorum. Et dixit Dominus ad me: Venit finis super populum meum Israël; non adjiciam ultra ut pertranseam eum.

And he said: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A hook to draw down fruit. And the Lord said to me: The end is come upon my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more.

And when he asked, could I see what he had there, Why, Lord, I said, a grappling-hook for fruit-trees! Ay, said he, and right autumn it is for my people of Israel; no further chance shall they have of repentance.

Et stridebunt cardines templi in die illa, dicit Dominus Deus: multi morientur; in omni loco projicietur silentium.

And the hinges of the temple shall screak in that day, saith the Lord God: many shall die: silence shall be cast in every place.

Day of doom! How shriek the hinges of yonder temple gates; then, what massacre! Everywhere deep silence falls.

Audite hoc, qui conteritis pauperem, et deficere facitis egenos terræ,

Hear this, you that crush the poor, and make the needy of the land to fail,

Here is word for you, oppressors of the poor, that bring ruin on your fellow-citizens in their need;

dicentes: Quando transibit mensis, et venundabimus merces? et sabbatum, et aperiemus frumentum, ut imminuamus mensuram, et augeamus siclum, et supponamus stateras dolosas,

Saying: When will the month be over, and we shall sell our wares: and the sabbath, and we shall open the corn: that we may lessen the measure, and increase the sicle, and may convey in deceitful balances,

you that long for new moon and sabbath to be at an end, for trading to begin and granary to be opened, so you may be at your shifts again, the scant measure, the high price, the false weights!

ut possideamus in argento egenos et pauperes pro calceamentis, et quisquilias frumenti vendamus?

That we may possess the needy for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes, and may sell the refuse of the corn?

You that for a debt, though it were but the price of a pair of shoes, will make slaves of poor, honest folk; you that sell refuse for wheat!

Juravit Dominus in superbiam Jacob: Si oblitus fuero usque ad finem omnia opera eorum.

The Lord hath sworn against the pride of Jacob: surely I will never forget all their works.

By Jacob’s ancient renown the Lord swears it, crimes of yours shall remain for ever unforgotten.

Numquid super isto non commovebitur terra, et lugebit omnis habitator ejus, et ascendet quasi fluvius universus, et ejicicetur, et defluet, quasi rivus Ægypti?

Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein: and rise up altogether as a river, and be cast out, and run down as the river of Egypt?

Well may the earth quake over such doings, to the hurt of all that dwell in it; everywhere mount up, and shift, and sink, like Egypt’s river in flood.

Et erit in die illa, dicit Dominus Deus: occidet sol in meridie, et tenebrescere faciam terram in die luminis:

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that the sun shall go down at midday, and I will make the earth dark in the day of light:

Day of doom, says the Lord God, when there shall be sunset at noon, and earth shall be overshadowed under the full light!

et convertam festivitates vestras in luctum, et omnia cantica vestra in planctum, et inducam super omne dorsum vestrum saccum, et super omne caput calvitium: et ponam eam quasi luctum unigeniti, et novissima ejus quasi diem amarum.

And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation: and I will bring up sackcloth upon every back of yours, and baldness upon every head: and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the latter end thereof as a bitter day.

All your feasting turned to lament, all your songs to dirge and dole; not a loin but goes clad in sackcloth, not a head but is shaved bald; never was such mourning made, though it were for an only son; bitter the day, bitter its ending.

Ecce dies veniunt, dicet Dominus, et mittam famem in terram: non famem panis, neque sitim aquæ, sed audiendi verbum Domini.

Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord.

A time is coming, says the Lord God, when there shall be great lack in the land, yet neither dearth nor drought. Hunger? Ay, they shall hunger for some message from the Lord,

Et commovebuntur a mari usque ad mare, et ab aquilone usque ad orientem: circuibunt quærentes verbum Domini, et non invenient.

And they shall move from sea to sea, and from the north to the east: they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.

yet go they from eastern to western sea, go they from north to south, making search for it everywhere, message from the Lord they shall have none.

In die illa deficient virgines pulchræ et adolescentes in siti,

In that day the fair virgins, and the young men shall faint for thirst.

Thirst, ay, they shall thirst, fair maid and brave warrior both.

qui jurant in delicto Samariæ, et dicunt: Vivit Deus tuus, Dan, et vivit via Bersabee; et cadent, et non resurgent ultra.

They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say: Thy God, O Dan, liveth: and the way of Bersabee liveth: and they shall fall, and shall rise no more.

Fools, that by the shame of Samaria take their oaths, pin their faith to Dan’s worship or Bersabee pilgrimage! Here is fall there is no amending.