¹ These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold a hook to draw down the fruit.

² 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.

³ 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.

⁴ Hear this, you that crush the poor, and make the needy of the land to fail,

⁵ 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,

⁶ That we may possess the needy for money, and the poor for a pair of shoes, and may sell the refuse of the corn?

⁷ The Lord hath sworn against the pride of Jacob: surely I will never forget all their works.

⁸ 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?

⁹ 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:

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ 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.

¹² 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.

¹³ In that day the fair virgins, and the young men shall faint for thirst.

¹⁴ 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.

¹ The parables of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.

² To know wisdom, and instruction:

³ To understand the words of prudence: and to receive the instruction of doctrine, justice, and judgment, and equity:

⁴ To give subtilty to little ones, to the young man knowledge and understanding.

⁵ A wise man shall hear and shall be wiser: and he that understandeth, shall possess governments.

⁶ He shall understand a parable, and the interpretation, the words of the wise, and their mysterious sayings.

⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

⁸ My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother :

⁹ That grace may be added to thy head, and a chain of gold to thy neck.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners shall entice thee, consent not to them.

¹¹ If they shall say: Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us hide snares for the innocent without cause:

¹² Let us swallow him up alive like hell, and whole as one that goeth down into the pit.

¹³ We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoils.

¹⁴ Cast in thy lot with us, let us all have one purse.

¹⁵ My son, walk not thou with them, restrain thy foot from their paths.

¹⁶ For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

¹⁷ But a net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have wings.

¹⁸ And they themselves lie in wait for their own blood, and practise deceits against their own souls.

¹⁹ So the wage of every covetous man destroy the souls of the possessors.

²⁰ Wisdom preacheth abroad, she uttereth her voice in the streets:

²¹ At the head of multitudes she crieth out, in the entrance of the gates of the city she uttereth her words, saying:

²² O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate knowledge?

²³ Turn ye at my reproof: behold I will utter my spirit to you, and will shew you my words.

²⁴ Because I called, and you refused: I stretched out my hand, and there was none that regarded.

²⁵ You have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my reprehensions.

²⁶ I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared.

²⁷ When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand: when tribulation and distress shall come upon you:

²⁸ Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear: they shall rise in the morning and shall not find me:

²⁹ Because they have hated instruction and received not the fear of the Lord,

³⁰ Nor consented to my counsel, but despised all my reproof.

³¹ Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with their own devices.

³² The turning away of little ones shall kill them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

³³ But he that shall hear me, shall rest without terror, and shall enjoy abundance, without fear of evils.