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sert and it shall dry up his springs, and ride upon horses; neither will we say any shall make his fountain desolate: and he more: The works of our hands are our shall carry off the treasure of every desira-gods: for thou wilt have mercy on the fable vessel. therless that is in thee.

CHAP. XIV.

Samaria shall be destroyed. An exhortation to repentance: God's favour through Christ to the penitent.

5 I will heal their breaches: I will love them freely: for my wrath is turned away from them.

6 I will be as the dew; Israel shall spring as the lily; and his root shall shoot forth as

LET Samaria perish because she hath that of Libanus

stirred up her God to bitterness; let

7 His branches shall spread and his them perish by the sword; let their little glory shall be as the olive-tree; and his ones be dashed; and let the women with smell as that of Libanus.

child be ript up.

2 Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen down by thy iniquity.

3 Take with you words, and return to the Lord, and say to him: Take away all iniquity, and receive the good: and we will render the calves of our lips.

4 Assyria shall not save us; we will not

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10 Who is wise, and he shall understand Perish because she hath stirred up her these things? prudent, and he shall know God to bitterness. "Tis not a curse or im- these things? for the ways of the Lord are precation, but a prophecy of what should right; and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall in them.

come to pass.

THE PROPHECY OF JOEL.

Joel, whose name, according to St. Jerom, the locust hath eaten and that which the signifies the Lord God; or, as others say, locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten : the coming down of God; pphesied and that which the bruchus hath left, the about the same time in the kingdom of Ju-mildew hath destroyed.

dea, as Osee did in the kingdom of Israel. 5 Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep; He foretels under figures the great evils and mourn all ye that take delight in drinkthat were coming upon the people for their ing sweet wine: for it is cut off from your sins; earnestly exhorts them to repent- mouth. ance and comforts them with the promise of a teacher of justice, viz. Christ Jesus our Lord, and of the coming down of his holy Spirit.

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6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong and without number; his teeth are like the teeth of a lion, and his cheek-teeth. as of a lion's whelp.

7 He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my fig-tree he hath stripped it 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 Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the priests, the Lord's ministers, have mourned":

10 The country is destroyed; the ground hath mourned: for the corn is wasted; the wine is confounded: the oil hath languished.

11 The husbandmen are ashamed; the vine-dressers have howled for the wheat, and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

That which the palmer-worm hath left, &c. Some understand this literally of the 12 The vineyard is confounded, and the desolation of the land by these insects; fig-tree hath languished: the pomegranateothers understand it of the different inva-tree, and the palm-tree, and the apple-tree, sions of the Chaldeans, or other enemies. and all the trees of the field are withered;

because joy is withdrawn from the children

of men.

16 Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altars go in, lie in sack-cloth, ye ministers of my God; because sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God.

14 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:

5 They shall leap like the noise of chariots Hupon the tops of mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, as a strong people prepared to battle.

6 At their presence the people shall be in grievous pains: all faces shall be made like a kettle.

7 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. 15 Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the 8 No one shall press upon his brother: day of the Lord is at hand: and it shall they shall walk every one in his path: yea, come like destruction from the mighty. and they shall fall through the windows, 16 Is not your food cut off before your and shall take no harm. eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

17 The beasts have rotted in their dung; the barns are destroyed; the store-houses are broken down: because the corn is confounded.

9 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.

10 At their presence the earth hath trem. bled, the heavens are moved: the sun and 18 Why did the beast groan, why did the moon are darkened and the stars have herds of cattle low? because there is no withdrawn their shining. pasture for them: yea, and the flocks of 11 And the Lord hath uttered his voice sheep are perished. before the face of his army: for his armies

19 To thee, O Lord, will I cry: because are exceeding great, for they are strong, fire hath devoured the beautiful places of and execute his word: for the day of the the wilderness; and the flame hath burnt Lord is great and very terrible: and who all the trees of the country. can stand it?

20 Yea, and the beasts of the field have 12 Now therefore saith the Lord: Be looked up to thee, as a garden bed that converted to me with all your heart, in fastthirsteth after rain; for the springs of ing, and in weeping, and in mourning. waters are dried up and fire hath devour- 13 And rend your hearts, and not your ed the beautiful places of the wilderness. garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and The prophet foretels the terrible day of the rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the Lord: exhorts sinners to a sincere conver-evil.

B

CHAP. II.

sion and comforts God's people with pro- 14 Who knoweth but he will return, and mises of future blessings under Christ. forgive and leave a blessing behind him, LOW ye the trumpet in Sion; sound sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God? an alarm in my holy mountain; let all 15 Blow the trumpet in Sion; sanctify a the inhabitants of the land tremble: because fast; call a solemn assembly, the day of the Lord cometh; because it is nigh at hand.

16 Gather together the people; sanctify the church; assemble the ancients; gather 2 A day of darkness, and of gloominess, together the little ones, and them that suck a day of clouds and whirlwinds: a numerous at the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth and strong peoplet as the morning spread from his bed, and the bride out of her brideupon the mountains: the like to it hath not chamber. been from the beginning, nor shall be after 17 Between the porch and the altar the it even to the years of generation and gen- priests the Lord's ministers shall weep, and shall say: Spare, O Lord, spare thy people:

eration.

3 Before the face thereof a devouring fire, and give not thy inheritance to reproach, and behind it a burning flame: the land is that the heathens should rule over them. like a garden of pleasure before it, and be- Why should they say among the nations: hind it a desolate wilderness; neither is Where is their God? there any one that can escape it. 18 The Lord hath been zealous for his 4 The appearance of them is as the ap- land, and hath spared his people. pearance of horses: and they shall run like horsemen.

19 And the Lord answered, and said to his people: Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil: and you shall be filled with them: and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

The day of the Lord. That is, the time, when he will execute justice upon sinners. A numerous and strong people. The Assyrians, or Chaldeans. Others understand the all this of an army of locusts laying waste

the land.

20 And I will remove far off from you northern enemy and I will drive him

The northern enemy. Some understand

into a land unpassable, and desert, with his will bring them down into the valley of Joface towards the east sea, and his hinder saphat: and I will plead with them there part towards the utmost sea: and his stench for my people, and for my inheritance Isshall ascend, and his rottenness shall go up, rael, whom they have scattered among the because he hath done proudly. nations, and have parted my land.

21 Fear not, O land; be glad, and re- 3 And they have cast lots upon my peojoice for the Lord hath done great things. ple: and the boy they have put in the 22 Fear not, ye beasts of the fields: for stews and the girl they have sold for wine the beautiful places of the wilderness are that they might drink.

:

sprung; for the tree hath brought forth its 4 But what have you to do with me, O fruit; the fig-tree and the vine have yield-Tyre, and Sidon, and all the coast of the ed their strength. Philistines? will you revenge yourselves on

23 And you, O children of Sion, rejoice, me? and if you revenge yourselves on me, and be joyful in the Lord your God: be-I will very soon return you a recompence cause he hath given you a teacher of justice upon your own head.

and he will make the early and the latter 5 For you have taken away my silver and rain to come down to you as in the begin-my gold and my desirable and most beauning. tiful things you have carried into your tem

:

:

24 And the floors shall be filled with ples. wheat and the presses shall overflow with|| 6 And the children of Juda, and the chilwine and oil. dren of Jerusalem you have sold to the chil25 And I will restore to you the years dren of the Greeks, that you might remove which the locust, and the bruchus, and the them far off from their own country. mildew, and the palmer-worm hath eaten ;|| 7 Behold, I will raise them up out of the my great host which I sent upon you. place wherein you have sold them and I 26 And you shall eat in plenty, and shall will return your recompence upon your be filled; and you shall praise the name of own heads. the Lord your God, who hath done wonders 8 And I will sell your sons and your with you and my people shall not be con-daughters by the hands of the children of founded for ever. Juda: and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far off; for the Lord hath spoken it.

27 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 for ever.

28 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.

29 Moreover upon my servants and handmaids in those days I will pour forth my spirit.

30 And I will shew wonders in heaven ;|| and in earth, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke.

9 Proclaim ye this among the nations: prepare war, rouse up the strong: let them come; let all the men of war come up.

10 Cut your plough-shares into swords, and your spades into spears. Let the weak say: I am strong.

11 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.

12 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.

31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood; before the great 13 Put ye in the sickles, for the barvest and dreadful day of the Lord doth come. is ripe: come and go down, for the press is 32 And it shall come to pass, that every full, the fats run over: for their wickedness one that shall call upon the name of the is multiplied. 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.

CHAP. III.

14 Nations, nations in the valley of destruction: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of destruction.

15 The sun and the moon are darkened: and the stars have withdrawn their shining. The Lord shall judge all nations in the valley 16 And the Lord shall roar out of Sion, of Josaphat. The evils that shall fall upon and utter his voice from Jerusalem and the enemies of God's people: his blessing the heavens and the earth shall be moved: upon the church of the saints. and the Lord shall be the hope of his peo

FOR

OR behold, in those days, and in that ple, aud the strength of the children of Istime when I'shall bring back the cap-rael.

tivity of Juda and Jerusalem:

17 And you shall know that I am the

2 I will gather together all nations, and Lord your God, dwelling in Sion my holy mountain and Jerusalem shall be holy, and this of Holofernes and his army; others of strangers shall pass through it no more. 18 And it shall come to pass in that day,

the locusts.

that the mountains shall drop down sweet-]| 19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom ness, and the hills shall flow with milk: and a wilderness destroyed: because they have waters shall flow through all the rivers of done unjustly against the children of Juda, Juda and a fountain shall come forth of and have shed innocent blood in their land. the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of thorns.

20 And Judeat and Jerusalem shall be inhabited for ever, to generation and generation.

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21 And I will cleanse their blood, which

* A fountain shall come forth of the house I had not cleansed: and the Lord will dwell of the Lord, &c. viz. The fountain of grace in Sion.

in the church militant, and of glory in the

church triumphant: which shall water the flicted with the thorns of crosses and tributorrent or valley of thorns, that is, the souls lations.

that before, like barren ground, brought Judea and Jerusalem. That is, the forth nothing but thorns: or that were af spiritual Jerusalem, viz. the church of Christ.

THE

PROPHECY OF AMOS.

Amos prophesied in Israel about the same||Azael: and it shall devour the houses of time as Osee; and was called from follow-Benadad.

ing the cattle to denounce God's judgments 5 And I will break the bar of Damascus : to the people of Israel, and the neighbour-and I will cut off the inhabitants from the ing nations, for their repeated crimes, in plain of the idol, and him that holdeth the which they continued without repentance. sceptre from the house of pleasure: and the people of Syria shall be carried away to Cyrene, saith the Lord.

CHAP. I.

The prophet threatens Damascus, Gaza, 6 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes Tyre, Edom, and Ammon with the judg-of Gaza, and for four I will not convert it : ments of God, for their obstinacy in sin. because they have carried away a perfect captivity to shut them up in Edom.

The words of Amos, wa, which he saw HE words of Amos, who was among the 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.*

7 And I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza: and it shall devour the houses thereof. 8 And I will cut off the inhabitant from Azotus, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ascalon: and I will turn my hand 2 And he said: The Lord will roar from against Accaron: and the rest of the PhilisSion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem: tines shall perish, saith the Lord God. and the beautiful places of the shepherds 9 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes have mourned; and the top of Carmel is of Tyre, and for four I will not convert it: withered. because they have shut up an entire cap

3 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes tivity in Edom, and have not remembered of Damascus, and for fourt I will not con- the covenant of brethren. vert it because they have threshed Galaad with iron wains.

10 And I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre: and it shall devour the houses

4 And I will send a fire into the house of thereof.

11 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes

The earthquake. Many understand this of Edom, and for four I will not convert of a great earthquake, which, they say, was him: because he hath pursued his brother felt at the time that king Ozias attempted with the sword, and hath cast off all pity, to offer incense in the temple. But the best and hath carried on his fury, and hath kept chronologists prove that the earthquake his wrath to the end.

here spoken of must have been before that 12 I will send a fire into Theman; and time: because Jeroboam the second, under it shall devour the houses of Bosra. whom Amos prophesied, was dead long before that attempt of Ozias.

13 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of the children of Ammon, and for four I

For three crimes, and for four. That is, will not convert him: because he hath ript for their many unrepented of crimes. I will up the women with child of Galaad to ene not convert it. That is, I will not spare them, large his border. nor turn away the punishments I design to inflict upon them.

14 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,|| 14 And flight shall perish from the swift; and with a whirlwind in the day of trouble.and the valiant shall not possess his strength; 15 And Melchom* shall go into captivity, neither shall the strong save his life. both he, and his princes together, saith the Lord.

CHAP. II.

15 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

The judgments with which God threatens life.

Moab, Juda, and Israel for their sins, and|| 16 And the stout of heart among the their ingratitude. valiant shall flee away naked in that day,

NHUS saith the Lord: For three crimes saith the Lord.

THUS

of Moab, and for four I will not convert

CHAP. III.

him because he hath burnt the bones of The evils that shall fall upon Israel for their the king of Edom even to ashes.

2 And I will send a fire into

sins.

[EAR the word that the Lord hath spo

it shall devour the houses of Carioth: and H ken concerning you, O ve children of

Moab shall die with a noise, with the sound Israel; concerning the whole family that I of the trumpet: brought up out of the land of Egypt, say

3 And I will cut off the judge from the ing: midst thereof, and will slay all his princes 2 You only have I known of all the famiwith him, saith the Lord. lies of the earth: therefore will I visit

4 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes upon you all your iniquities.

of Juda, and for four I will not convert him: 3 Shall two walk together, except they because he hath cast away the law of the be agreed?

Lord, and hath not kept his commandments: 4 Will a lion roar in the forest, if he have for their idols have caused them to err, af-no prey? will the lion's whelp cry out of ter which their fathers have walked. his den, if he have taken nothing?

5 And I will send a fire into Juda: and

it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem.

5 Will the bird fall into the snare upon the earth if there be no fowler? Shall the 6 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes snare be taken up from the earth, before it of Israel, and for four I will not convert hath taken somewhat?

him because he hath sold the just man 6 Shall the trumpet sound in a city, and for silver, and the poor man for a pair of shoes. the people not be afraid? Shall there be 7 They bruise the heads of the poor upon evil in a city,§ which the Lord hath not the dust of the earth, and turn aside the done? way of the humble: and the son and his father have gone to the same young woman to profane my holy name.

7 For the Lord God doeth nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.

8 And they sat down upon garments laid 8 The lion shall roar: who will not fear? to pledge by every altar and drank the The Lord God hath spoken: who shall not wine of the condemned in the house of prophesy?

their God.

9 Publish it in the houses of Azotus, and

9 Yet I cast out the Ammorrhite before in the houses of the land of Egypt and their face whose height was like the say: Assemble yourselves upon the mounheight of cedars, and who was strong as an tains of Samaria, and behold the many foloak and I destroyed his fruit from above, lies in the midst thereof, and them that sufand his roots beneath. fer oppression in the inner rooms thereof. 10 It is I that brought you up out of the 10 And they have not known to do the land of Egypt: and I led you forty years right thing, saith the Lord, storing up ini through the wilderness, that you might quity, and robberies in their houses. possess the land of the Ammorhite. 11 Therefore thus saith the Lord God:

11 And I raised up of your sons for pro- The land shall be in tribulation and shall phets, and of your young men for Nazarites. be compassed about : and thy strength shall Is it not so, O ye children of Israel, saith be taken away from thee; and thy houses the Lord? shall be spoiled.

12 And you will present wine to the Nazarites, and command the prophets, saying: Prophesy not.

13 Behold, will I screakt under you, as wain screaketh that is laden with hay.

12 Thus saith the Lord: As if a shepherd should get out of the lion's mouth

a The spirit of God, as St. Jerom takes notice, accommodates himself to the education of the prophet, and inspires him with com* Melchom. The god or idol of the Am-parisons taken from country affairs. monites, otherwise called Moloch, and Me- Visit upon. That is, punish. lech: which in Hebrew signifies a king, § Evil in a city. He speaks of the evil of and Melchom their king. punishments of war, famine, pestilence, deI will screak. Unable to bear any lon-solation, &c. but not of the evil of sin, of ger the enormous load of your sins, &c.which God is not the author.

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