²¹ that make a man an offender in `his' cause, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just with a thing of nought.

¹⁰ They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.

¹¹ Forasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, and take exactions from him of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink the wine thereof.

¹² For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins-ye that afflict the just, that take a bribe, and that turn aside the needy in the gate `from their right'.

⁶ Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous `one'; he doth not resist you.

¹⁴ But ye denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted unto you,

⁵³ And when he was come out from thence, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press upon `him' vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things;

⁵⁴ laying wait for him, to catch something out of his mouth.

¹⁵ and said, What are ye willing to give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they weighed unto him thirty pieces of silver.

¹⁵ Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might ensnare him in `his' talk.

⁵ And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the sojourner `from his right', and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts.

⁶ Prophesy ye not, `thus' they prophesy. They shall not prophesy to these: reproaches shall not depart.

⁷ Shall it be said, O house of Jacob, Is the Spirit of Jehovah straitened? are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?

¹⁰ Then Amaziah the priest of Beth-el sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.

¹¹ For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.

¹² Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:

¹³ but prophesy not again any more at Beth-el; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house.

¹⁴ Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycomore-trees:

¹⁵ and Jehovah took me from following the flock, and Jehovah said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

¹⁶ Now therefore hear thou the word of Jehovah: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not `thy word' against the house of Isaac;

¹⁷ therefore thus saith Jehovah: Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou thyself shalt die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.

¹⁹ And ye have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hearken unto lies.

² Thus saith Jehovah: Stand in the court of Jehovah's house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Jehovah's house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word.

³ It may be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way; that I may repent me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.

⁴ And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah: If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,

⁵ to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send unto you, even rising up early and sending them, but ye have not hearkened;

⁶ then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.

⁷ And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Jehovah.

⁸ And it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Jehovah had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.

⁷ O Jehovah, thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded; thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocketh me.

⁸ For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and destruction! because the word of Jehovah is made a reproach unto me, and a derision, all the day.

⁹ And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot `contain'.

¹⁰ For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we will denounce him, `say' all my familiar friends, they that watch for my fall; peradventure he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

¹⁸ Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

⁷ And the instruments of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the meek with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.

²¹ To have respect of persons is not good; Neither that a man should transgress for a piece of bread.

⁶ then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth; and he said Sibboleth; for he could not frame to pronounce it right: then they laid hold on him, and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. And there fell at that time of Ephraim forty and two thousand.